Start a small business, plunk $100k or more into it and have, at least statistically, less than a 15% chance to survive. Try daytrading if it is your ambition. You can start with $10k, no inventory, no rent, no economy to be concerned with, no employees. If you are successful, build the account. If not, you lost $10k. Just give yourself a real chance with a mentor that can teach you money mgt skills and manage expectations.
10k to day trading is a sure way to fail. since it is too tiny, you need margin. when margin is involved, you are under control by the brokage. market is valitle, 20% agversary happens everyday, when you are forced to get out, the market takes your money and smile back: you fool, bet again. you need very accurate timing, plus you need high rate of judgement correctness. just like walk on a thin steel rope bridge to pass a wide rapid river between two high mountains. you are nervous, one step miss, you are down to the hell. if you have a big account like 1m, 1 contract even 10, 20 contracts of ES, even against you 100points, to you, not hurt at all. but to a 100k account, already cut half. to a 50k account, the account dissapeared. 10k account, just 2 contracts at the most, if use intra-day margin, just 4 contracts, just 50points move, you are gone, so your accuracy must be within 50points. you may say you can put stop loss with 10points, or 5 points, or 3 points, even 1points, that is possible. but when you use tight stop, your chance of being stopped out is greatly increased, the tighter the stop loss, the more the chance to be stopped out. 10 points of ES move is just noises, but to a day trader using high margin or full margin, this whipsaw noise move can kill him in blink of eye. when you are stopped out and you see teh Mr. market smiles back, you may charge in again, "you want your money back", easily get another blow, you may find yourself your account quicly lost 10%, 20%, 30% value just in several trades. when you want to climb back, it is harder to climb since 50% reduction needs 100% gain! so with a small account, do day trading is stupid. better find some trending well market, park your money there, ride patiently. for example, if you are in aapl, several years ago, it was just 50bucks, but now it is almost 700bucks stock. lots lots of this kind of story. or QQQ, in 2009, it was 25ish, now it is almost 70. find the easiest and safest way to make money is the key. day trading a small account is highly risky!
an old lady bought some stocks and left his home country, travelled to U.S. to live with her daughter, after years, she went back, she found what she bought are 10fold increase. a young man just after he graduated, he bought some stocks, then he made some minor criminals, and was put into jail, several years late, when he went out of the jail, he thought he has nothing in the world, when he checked his account, he found he is the richest guy in his hometown based on his holding. ..... away from the market alittle farther, the farther the better you will see when Warren Buffet started to buy stock, DOW was around 200 why day trading, while there are better way to make big money
I have algos, but where is the fun in letting insects collect nickels and bring them back to the hive? It's so much more fun listening to the music of The Market and finding the hidden message. Discretionary trading a competitive sport. Great athletes don't just do it for the money.
Should you day trade? I don't know, should you week trade? I don't know. Should you month trade? I don't know. Should you year trade? I don't know. Should you decade trade? I don't know. You can pull up some charts and see what buy and hold got you. Less than 50% of market professionals beat the market in any one year and less than 28% have beat it three years in a row are you smart enough to pick the one that will beat it 4 years in a row? Daytrade? What's so special about a day other than if you are trading futures you can put it on at half the margin. You kids today crack me up. Daytrading was something people did back in the 90's when I was living out in the gay bay, every now and then about once a month, some kid from Indiana whould show up with a head band and a tie dyed t shirt with a peace symbol on it