Here's my advice-- Just Do It!! I took out credit card advances for my first trade-- options on kingdom of denmark warrants. Made a killing, then bought LA Gear -- the rest is history. Build relationships with other real traders. Find several mentors, via the Bud Fox ( do a search here under poster ReardenMetal) method. Never ever ever pay a mentor unless its profit sharing or similar arrangement. surf
1. How long have you been profitable in your sim trading? 2. Which market are you day trading? 3. How many percentage could you make a month on average? (This will determine if you need a funder, or you can live off of your 5K.) Out of curiosity, and I believe some of us here would like to hear the same from you too.
I trade US stocks. I've only been doing it for a month for 20-40 minutes a day and make over 100 dollars profit a day trading only 30k. Might not sound great but if I got more hours in with the method I've kind of made I think I could make a lot more full time. I definitely would need a funder for some leverage.
If you have been trading sim for only a month, I would suggest you to trade for another few more months and see how it goes. Risking 5k on a-month-tested sim trading is not very safe in my opinion.
SIM trading leaves out the psychological aspects of day trading. I would never recommend anyone spend their last 5k on day trading but if you are just know you are most likely going to lose it. Good luck!
I agree, want to have a few more months where I'm winning steady. Then I will possibly invest my 5k to a prop firm for leverage. Of course if I did this Id learn their platform beforehand.
JL, you just might be in for one rude awakening! So, you are a "profitable" sim trader. If you want to give a very quick overview of your "approach", then maybe some of us can tell you whether you are wasting your time or not, and if you would be better off to try a different approach like using options to limit your risk as you gain real experience, and make some more money so you don't have to depend on anyone else - in case you do not know you can still daytrade stocks using options providing you identify the correct stock/strikes/expiry's with the help of Zeno and some of his acquaintances! "In a race, the quickest runner can never overtake the slowest, since the pursuer must first reach the point whence the pursued started, so that the slower must always hold a lead." J_S