If you are new, just trade 1 future, 100 shares, 1 option... until you have the necessary 100s of trades to evaluate if you have an edge.
While leverage, employed intraday, might be a potent weapon in the hands of a skilled, experience trader it is no friend to the novice. My limited experience shows me that without patience your risk of ruin goes through the roof. Be pleased that you are booking profits so early in your career -- I did not and many do not -- and build a bankroll as you climb the learning curve. Survive a few tough months and come out the other side humbled by it. And then stick around and have that experience again. Lots of talented guys wash out because they simply do not get the most basic of all principals: The goal for the novice is to survive as he learns. Have the greater confidence that the skills are your profit. It is that confidence -- rather than the bravado of trading size -- that sustains me as I struggle to learn. And do not kid yourself -- trading $300,000 on $3,500 in capital is size. Mav has it 100% right. Commissions are the least of your worries if you gear it up. You will not be paying any six months (or even 90 days) from now. Learning to trade is hard but figuring out that dramatically increasing risk while your still as green as grass is not hard. I can explain that concept to a high school kid in 10 minutes ... you should get it in two minutes. I am not a guy who has yet made it. I am a marginally profitable full time trader who still dips into capital I made in other businesses for most of my living expenses. I am fortunate to have enough capital to live modestly yet well. This is a skill centric game. Acquire those skills without blowing out and the money will come. At least that is what I tell myself every day ... lol.
i understand that i am still new to this learning curve and that i shouldn't be taking into too much positions. i am just trying to gradually make profits here and there and hope to improve my skills. i will be opening a journal for this journey if you would like to follow me and give me more advice that would be great.
i am not trying to trade as large as a volume as i can, it's just that if i used a lower commission place i.e. IB, it just won't give me much of anything to work with.
2 days is a tiny tiny sample size. My advice is trade for 6 months, and if things are still going well, then concern yourself with more leverage. Until then, there is really no reason to need more leverage
yes i understand that 2 days is not even worth using as a sample size. but are you saying that i should go with the lower commission then? instead of a bigger leverage?
You're missing the point. What the experienced traders here -- not me but them -- are telling you is to trade as small a size as you can. No one thinks you can put up the $10,000 required to trade at IB, no thinks that finding the rock bottom rate is key for you now. Everyone thinks you should trade tiny and work up to small.
thanks for the input. i will considerate that. with my current bp it seems i don't have much choice but to stay with the forex account that i have at the moment.