Starter Account Size for Emini S&P?

For serious approach, a trader should focus on the risk that he will take.
And the risk should not pass max.% 2 ( % 1 is better ) of the account size.
If he takes 2 pts risk of any trade which is $ 100 ,then required account size would be $ 5000.
For % 1 its $ 10K. Its all about risk / reward. IMO
 
Forget account size. The question is how much can you afford to lose without it doing serious damage to your liquid net worth and/or your psyche?

If you can afford to lose $5,000 no sweat, then that's all you need to fund your account. I'm sure it varies, but I would say that most of the futures brokers are going to require around $5,000 to open an account, even if they offer $500 margins on the e-minis. There is no reason to have 25-50K or more in a futures account that is uninsured when $5,000 will do. Worst case scenario, you incur some losses and you have to wire more funds into the futures the account. I would much rather have my money in my bank than in some uninsured futures broker's sub-account.
 
Quote from EminitraderDM:

Insightful, thanks
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About as insightful as any other idea presented.

"5k sounds good" why the hell does that sound good? oh cuz thats what you have available.

adr70 is the only one who you should be listening to anyways. not me.....


Quote from adr70:

For serious approach, a trader should focus on the risk that he will take.
And the risk should not pass max.% 2 ( % 1 is better ) of the account size.
If he takes 2 pts risk of any trade which is $ 100 ,then required account size would be $ 5000.
For % 1 its $ 10K. Its all about risk / reward. IMO
More...
 
Quote from adr70:

For serious approach, a trader should focus on the risk that he will take.
And the risk should not pass max.% 2 ( % 1 is better ) of the account size.
If he takes 2 pts risk of any trade which is $ 100 ,then required account size would be $ 5000.
For % 1 its $ 10K. Its all about risk / reward. IMO
More...

I disagree. The 2% should be of liquid net worth, not account size. If I have $1,000,000 of liquid net worth but I chose to open a $5,000 futures account, I should only risk $100? Come on. Again, account size is irrelevant.
 
Quote from KingZardoz:

About as insightful as any other idea presented.

"5k sounds good" why the hell does that sound good? oh cuz thats what you have available.

adr70 is the only one who you should be listening to anyways. not me.....
More...

Now that was insightful! I have up to 30k that I would be willing to put in a trading account.

Although, I like to use the least amout of capital possible and create maximum results.
 
Quote from trendy:

I disagree. The 2% should be of liquid net worth, not account size. If I have $1,000,000 of liquid net worth but I chose to open a $5,000 futures account, I should only risk $100? Come on. Again, account size is irrelevant.
More...

You're right,I should have said "trading capital" .I'm correcting it.
 
you should have at least $7000.. thats higher then $6500, and because brokers are making higher intraday margins at this moment. no more $500 a contract in current volatility.

keep in mind CME ES margin is now at $6500.. thats almost a 50% rise since some months ago

If you start with 5000, lose only 2000 you could already be unable to trade to try to make back that money because margins have already been raised if the intraday ranges keep increasing.
 
Quote from bbqbbq:

you should have at least $7000.. thats higher then $6500, and because brokers are making higher intraday margins at this moment. no more $500 a contract in current volatility.

keep in mind CME ES margin is now at $6500.. thats almost a 50% rise since some months ago

If you start with 5000, lose only 2000 you could already be unable to trade to try to make back that money because margins have already been raised if the intraday ranges keep increasing.
More...

Search AMP Futures, they still have $400 intraday margins.
 
Quote from EminitraderDM:

Search AMP Futures, they still have $400 intraday margins.
More...

Is that an IB?

If thats so the FCM that clears for them can change margins overnight.. website arent always up to date
 
Quote from bbqbbq:

you should have at least $7000.. thats higher then $6500, and because brokers are making higher intraday margins at this moment. no more $500 a contract in current volatility.

keep in mind CME ES margin is now at $6500.. thats almost a 50% rise since some months ago

If you start with 5000, lose only 2000 you could already be unable to trade to try to make back that money because margins have already been raised if the intraday ranges keep increasing.
More...

Two things. First. You can still get $500 e-mini intra-day margins. Check out Velocity Futures for example. Secondly, the initial ES margin is $6,188, not $6,500.

http://www.cme.com/clearing/rmspan/pbadv/files/Chadv08-299.pdf
 
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