I started with 300 bucks at MLPFB in 1957. I added half my weekly salary to the account. 135/week was my salary. I position traded. I read 4th Ed of Magee. I did 10 % per trade of 6 to 8 days. I had 7/8 winners. Non performers gave me cash for performers. I made an ink chart (11x17) with 17 points vertically and 6 months in days horizontally. Below price part was volume part. I made blank brownlines at IBM blueprint room. With 2H pencil I charted EOD daily for years and years and years. I drew channels out ahead of price. I bought on right line and sold on left line. I chose stocks from reading the paper (WSJ) I saved the last page on racks (wooden with screws like library) I back plotted new stocks for 6 months to add them to my charts. My first account withdrawl was cash to buy a 190SL (1960) which I picked up in Kopenhagen with my new bride. Most of the posts in this thread are off the mark. You start with what you have and you walk the walk. I had just finished working my way through college and had ZERO debt. The 300 bucks was leftovers.
My suggestion to you is to frame this post. Small frame (black) and look at it once a day in the bathroom when you are getting up. You do not have a subscription as yet do you? Do you save back copies?
i keep from 5k to 12k in my futures account MAX i sweep it every week it is very doable to trade futures with the money you have . i trade YM however, i recommend you HAVE a system before u even think about doing it don't just jump in obviously but futures have no pattern day trading rule, and the leverage makes small accounts very usable. with a 10k account, one contract is reasonable and two contracts is aggressive (but still reasonable)
Just get a handle on short/naked options on futures. You'll be around here to post for years to come. Seriously.
I spent $2,000 (losing it/commissions) in futures trading (YM trading) to learn the markets inside out. With your $5k, Thats what you should do Use it to learn trading inside out, Once you can make money in futures trading TA, then theres the next step of stock picking, and the next step of risk management. But with $5k, all you can afford is buy and hold and learning how to trade. I suggest you use it to learn how to trade for a few years, then continue to make some more money at a dayjob build up a capital of $25k , and start leveraging it once you are ready. A skilled sword fighter can kill you with a fork. Think about that.
Maybe you could also send him a picture of yourself, large frame (blue) preferably signed with an inspirational message. Maybe you could send me one too. 5yr PS I have already framed this post with a small black frame and look at it every day.
I started with 1,000 dollars with scottrade and now down to 800.. thanks bcrx!. Anyway, I dont see why some of the people on this forum dont like the techs...techs = volume, liquidity, and volatility..all the things a trader needs. NYSE stocks move too slow IMO. I'm sure you're aware of the different forms of day trading. Scalping and momentum traders need larger accounts to cover commissions and loses, however if your swing trading, you can start a lot smaller because you buy, sit back for a few days and capture a nice gain, sell it, move on. Here is my journal when I started trading with REAL money. date symbol buy/sell #shares price stop gain/loss 1/23/06 yhoo buy 14 34.13 n/a -3.50 1/24/06 yhoo sell 14 34.88 n/a 1/26/06 aapl buy 6 72.50 n/a -3.32 1/30/06 aapl sell 6 74.28 n/a 2/3/06 aapl buy 12 71.87 n/a -10.52 2/3/06 aapl sell 12 72.16 n/a 2/24/06 intc buy 20 20.16 n/a 2/24/06 intc buy 20 20.41 n/a 2/27/06 intc sell 40 20.68 n/a -5.20 2/27/06 aapl buy 10 70.96 n/a 1/23/06 aapl sell 10 68.57 n/a -30.90 total loss - 53.32 balance - 946.68 I would have made money on all these trades except one if I was only able to buy AT LEAST 100 shares. My journal stops here because I went back to paper trading where I gave myself 27,000 to start, and I am up 797 dollars in little over a week, buying apple in 100-400 share blocks.. that is why buying power is so important..you make more, and off-set the cost of commissions. If you have any more q's.. let me know - Nate
just wanted to clarify..the bcrx trade i made came after the above journal entry after i put my account back up to 1,000.