I see what you're saying. The problem is that i'm confident in myself and my abilities but i'm in graduate school with no other income and i'd be using 5k out of 7k to my name to trade with. Clearly this isn't something smart to do but i've been trading and learning for 6 years now and i really believe i can do it. But i do know that it's not uncommon for even great traders to have 4-5 losing small trades in the beginning. However, for a 5k account those 4-5 losses would amount to a huge obstacle to overcome. The safe path would be graduate and work a few years to save up a real trading stake and give it a go. So maybe i'm just being young and anxious but i know trading full time is what i want to eventually do.
if your willing to wait a few years and come back with more money...and its not a burden on you to wait....then obviously you will have better chance to succeed then. you are correct that with small amount of starting capital the risks are greater that a simple bad luck streak could take enough of a toll on your account to prevent you from continuing. its a risky gamble. if you can live with loosing half of that account if you have a bad luck streak...and you are confidant in your ability....find a $500 margin broker (eTrade?) and take a chance. if its your passion and you beleive you can do it after careful examination/ backtesting i say go for it now. why wait? sometimes you have to put your neck out there to succeed.
I think it is difficult given the choppiness in the market over the last few days. Depends on if your strategy is accounting for this or not.
I personally dislike the NQ (too fast-moving and random), but it's your call. I cannot say I've started out with 5k and never looked back. I've started out with 5k and blown up 3x over now, and am only now really starting to hit it big (in e-minis). If you have sufficient reserves, consider 5k the price of admission to a very, very good trading seminar and just go for it. What you'll learn about yourself and the market will be priceless.
If you can't be talked out of not trading, try simulated trading. If you can make profits four of five days for six weeks in a row, you have a chance of succeding, otherwise you will be throwing good money to the winds. In 28 years of trading, I have never ran into anyone who didn't lose most of stake before adding more money to their account. How did you do in forex in 2003?
Well since i had no idea what the hell i was doing i lost. Since then i've lost about 5k trading forex. Learned a lot about discipline and emotional aspects of trading which are the most important ones. Any retard can push a button but good traders are emotionally strong just like champion athletes.
So, you took the seminar then Yeah, you lost money, but gained knowledge. Welcome to the (unfortunately painful) learning process. If you can combine enough knowledge with that emotional strength you mentioned, you will make it (may take a couple more busts first though).
The problem I think is not the size of the account, but rather the total amount of money you have. If you have 7k in savings, losing 5k of that will be very painful. And if you trade with the fear of losing money constantly in the back of your mind, your decision making process will suffer no matter how good your trading plan is. You are more likely to cut your winning trades short and prolong losing trades simply because you will be afraid of losing money.
I too have been frustrated by recent choppiness, but if you wait it out every day (almost) has a setup that fits my trade plan and I am rather conservative. That said, last week, Jan 12-16 I had two days w/o a single signal.