Is it possible to profit trading equities by starting with just $1,500 in capital?

No you need to have gobs of money to trade. That's the key. The more money you have....the more you have a right to trade.

lol this site is such a joke. You guys need to get real. Several people including myself started out with very little and are doing reasonably well. Sure it'll take years but you'll do it if it's what you really want to do.
 
Quote from crgarcia:

You have $1500 and commissions are $10 round trip, that is 0.67% for commissions.
Even if you use 2:1 leverage, you must catch a 0.33% upside move to breakeven.

So, you must either swingtrade or follow trends (legally, you couldn't daytrade without at least 25k either).

Does your broker allows margin on only 1.5K?
Most brokers require 2K for margin.

Buying a 2X index ETF (like DDM) on margin, you get 4:1 leverage, so you'll need a 0.17% move to breakeven commission costs.

$50 per day on a 1.5k account?
That is 2.33% of NET profits daily. You'll require to catch an even larger move, considering your high commission costs.

So, no, this is NOT a realistic expectation.
Consider 15-20% a good percentage.
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How come you don't use that type of math for you retarded "stop losses are for losers" thread?

haha Regardless I take everything you say with a grain of salt.
 
Quote from monty21:

I was wondering whether it would be possible to begin trading equities if I only had $1,500? This would be geared more for learning purposes and I am willing to lose it all.


- I would trade volatile stocks from NASDAQ and S&P 500.
- I am willing to trade IPOs.
- I would obviously only be allowed to be on the buy side.
- Commissions would amount to a total of $10 to buy and sell ($5 each).
-I am willing to trade the $1,500 on each trade (with a stop lose of course

Is a goal of making $50 per day realistic after commissions? Futhermore, is it possible to make small gains and slowly build up capital or are the initial funds too limited to make any significant growth?
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Yes it's all possible AND MORE!!! Just go to the Pureschtick room and let your dreams begin!!!!!!!

Good luck young fella.
 
Quote from monty21:

I was wondering whether it would be possible to begin trading equities if I only had $1,500? This would be geared more for learning purposes and I am willing to lose it all.


- I would trade volatile stocks from NASDAQ and S&P 500.
- I am willing to trade IPOs.
- I would obviously only be allowed to be on the buy side.
- Commissions would amount to a total of $10 to buy and sell ($5 each).
-I am willing to trade the $1,500 on each trade (with a stop lose of course

Is a goal of making $50 per day realistic after commissions? Futhermore, is it possible to make small gains and slowly build up capital or are the initial funds too limited to make any significant growth?
More...

Yes, if you manage your positions based on availble capital.
 
Quote from Arnie:

Wow! $160,000 for college?

If your parents had just given you that and you invested it at 8%, you'd have $3.47 million after 40 years.

The trading thing? You WILL lose it all, but hopefully you will learn something so the next time it takes a little longer to lose it.
Good luck. I have some of those books, but you do not learn to trade reading a book. But, we all had to start somewhere.
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Yes, but college is still the better investment. I feel like I have learned so much about the world that I took for granted in high school. I also studied abroad in Japan and in several countries throughout eastern and western Europe. If I fail as a trader, I am confident that down the road, I will have a job where I make 100,000+ a year anyway.

Obviously, this formal education will not directly improve my trading. Still, I don't think that I was nearly as smart as I was in highschool. I have evolved tremendously as a person. I am majoring in Political Science (governments role in the economy) and minoring in International Relations, so it certainly helps on the fundamental side of investing. Hopefully I will be able to develop my technical skills. I can't afford to scalp, nor would it be legal, but maybe a buy and hold strategy would be best. This method will also obviously combine fundamental aspects as well as technical ones. One advantage is that intermediate trends are stronger than intraday ones.

We'll see how it goes. I'm interviewing for several Investment Banks in May, so if I actually get hired in this horrible economy my trading will obviously come secondary. I won't nearly have as much time to learn to trade as I do now. That is the reason I am asking whether I can make it with such a small account. My parents can easily give me $25,000 if they trusted me, but they want me to get a real job with a salary. They are trying to teach me a lesson by not giving me anything financial because it is risky and speculative. Thats why I only have my money.
 
Quote from crgarcia:

You have $1500 and commissions are $10 round trip, that is 0.67% for commissions.
Even if you use 2:1 leverage, you must catch a 0.33% upside move to breakeven.

So, you must either swingtrade or follow trends (legally, you couldn't daytrade without at least 25k either).

Does your broker allows margin on only 1.5K?
Most brokers require 2K for margin.

Buying a 2X index ETF (like DDM) on margin, you get 4:1 leverage, so you'll need a 0.17% move to breakeven commission costs.

$50 per day on a 1.5k account?
That is 2.33% of NET profits daily. You'll require to catch an even larger move, considering your high commission costs.

So, no, this is NOT a realistic expectation.
Consider 15-20% a good percentage.
More...

This was helpful. The math certainly is not in my favor. Perhaps my goal of making $50 a day was ridiculous. I don't know how I feel about going on margin as well, particurarly because I can't "day trade"and scalp. The only realistic strategy is a short-term buy and hold one. I would like to get more accustomed to trading before going on margin. Your advice was very informative nonetheless.

Thanks
 
It seems difficult to me with stocks but it is possible to make $50 a day using options. Of course you're looking at a pretty high risk high reward trading. I gave up on trading stocks a few years ago and switched to strictly option trading and yeah it's possible to do $50 a day with your funds.....

but just remember it goes both ways, you can lose as easily as you win.
 
Quote from piezoe:


Don't like the idea of trading penny stocks, because you'll learn little about the real market that way. Penny stocks, as has been pointed out, are pump and dump, ponzi scheme, chain letters. The last one's in and those too slow to get out lose, and they are illiquid as hell sometimes.
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next time I get one that I think will move...I will post it in a new thread...peace...again, this is very risky but if done correctly I can assure you you will make a better return on your $1500.00 ....but again like piezoe said you wont learn shizzzo about trading....

look at gygc...got that email at .50...dont forget I also get tons of emails of ones that dont move or sink quickly... but as I said you need to figure out who is running the show....

look at bvrg, cajt...the guy is in jail now but his stocks are high flyers...so anything he would do , if bought at the right time would have tripled your money; bought at the wrong time would have killed ya...peace
 
Quote from huh:

It seems difficult to me with stocks but it is possible to make $50 a day using options. Of course you're looking at a pretty high risk high reward trading. I gave up on trading stocks a few years ago and switched to strictly option trading and yeah it's possible to do $50 a day with your funds.....

but just remember it goes both ways, you can lose as easily as you win.
More...

My broker allows me only to do Covered Calls. Do you think is adequate?

I'll also be completely honest and say that options are certainly not my forte. I obviously understand the concept of options trading, but I don't know how to guage a good premium or discount. I've read Stock Options for Dummies, but thats the only book. But I surely need to learn more about them. I don't know if I would be comfortable starting with them. My broker is TradeKing, and its apparently a good options broker. They have a lot of tutorial on their website about them. Do you think it is a good idea to start with options before stocks though?
 
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