It is possible and it requires more consistency and stamina rather than pure brainpower. Also let's not to forget guts. I call it the bricklayer method.... Let's say you put that 5 K into a futures account and you can make 5 itsy-bitsy, tiny YM profit points everyday after broker''s fees. If you start out with 2 contracts and add more contracts traded for every $2500 in your growing account at the end of each month, you will be trading 60 contracts in the last month of the year, and overall end up with 212K....
It is possible. But the key is that you have to turn your 5k into an account of more signifcance (100-200k). However, there are some that make a living off of 25k deposit with prop firm where they can trade 25-1 day trading. I started with 3k at a prop firm a little over 5 years ago and now have made around 10 million from day trading and longer term position trading of stocks. But I turned 3k into 2 million the first year (all from day trading). Had I not made much money in 2002, it is doubtful i would of made nearly as much 2003-2006 as trading got much more difficult after 2002. Had I started with 3k in 2003 instead of 2001 I wonder if I would have 1/10th of what i have now as I made very little from day trading in 2003 and had tons of equity to back up my trading. Had I started with 3k after 2002 where would I be I wonder? The easy profits for the undercapitalized trader were wrung out of the system by 2003.
I'd say it is possible to make money on a $5k account if your expectations are properly set (and many of the other great suggestions from the the group have been followed). The key thing is that you have to look at a 5-10 year timeframe, not next year. There are some relatively conservative ways to trade that can net you 3-5%/month. On $5k, that doesn't seem like much, but compounded, it can turn out to be pretty decent.
I don't think only leverage is going to solve your problems. In fact, I'm 100% certain it won't. First you need to learn how to trade consistently. At first on paper. Then you need to learn how to trade consistently with real money, a completely different game. Once you master that, then it's possible to achieve your goal with 5k possibly doing futures or any high leverage trading method. Is it possible ? Well, techincally it is very much possible. However, so is winning the lottery Don't want to discourage you in anyway. Keep focus and stick with your dream, it ain't easy but its doable. Hope this helps.
Under the Psychology section I have a thread asking about the pressure when the account size grows and the money management. If you wouldn't mind, could you post your experience in that thread??? Thanks...
Uhmmmm...... Lets see at the time of this post AAPL was about $85. Now its over $97. About a $12 pps appreciation. So this cat who started this thread if he margined 150shares of APPL at this time would have turned his 5K to about $6800 !! Not bad . Thats over a 15% return in less than a week on his total equity account. Or translated in a year abut 780% return !! Not too shabby. Thats if he took my advice
It's very much possible if you get the right training or got the right system. Out of the blue without experience it's a long shot to the moon.