Hi All , I am a newbie in trading and is currently residing in Singapore. I am interested in trading stocks and futures and is very keen of exploring the market. I have attended courses regarding risk management, technical analysis and how to manage money in terms of losses of profits. I am not expecting trade-to-get-rich-quick , but i want to have a feel of the market and be able to practice trades... As a newbie, i would like to start small and take it step by step until i get comfortable wit the market. Some of the questions I have are: 1. Is opening a live account with a brokerage just to get their simulation platform to have a feel of what market looks like worth it ? i understand that some brokerage firms will charge you when there is an inactivity in your account.... 2. With 1000 USD account for example , will I be able to trade futures or stocks. i believe futures require more because of the maintenance margin set by the exchange , but I believe there could be some room to trade for stocks to trade with it... Any reply will be appreciated... Thanks you Mark
Following what MattZ wrote, what might be better is either a commercial platform's free sim (where available) or even something as simple as CNBC, or MarketWatch, SeekingAlpha -- anywhere that lets you form/trade a portfolio. If it has indexes and futures, all the better. If it has options on these, all the better². The questions you'll be facing include (as you already know) fundamentals v technicals, or a mix? equities, indexes, futures, options... or a mix? market-long v market-short, or a mix? US? US/Europe? Asia? ..... "or a mix"?? The first thing on your list was "risk management" -- if you keep that first/foremost, you'll do SO much better than the rest of us......
Very new is the perfect place to be, you can get out before you allocate a large chunk of your life towards something that has on average a very low reward to effort ratio.
Let us look at some facts, so that you know what you are getting yourself into! Most on here, and other sites, do not even trade, so be very careful to whom you listen to. Those with advertising just want some of your money, which is understandable. With $1k you are very limited to what you can even trade ( you can open a sim account with many brokers for free, and even get free live futures quotes on some websites, with very good charting). Forget about the usual TA, as again, if it worked loads of people would make money, which is the exact opposite. So, the first useful thing you should do, is see if you can open a spread betting account in Singapore. If you can, come back and list your options, if not, you have to look for another way to get some experience with small funds.
I am in a sharing mood today With your next questions, be very specific. https://brokernotes.co/top-5-spread-betting-and-forex-brokers-for-traders-in-singapore/
For most, yes, but for anyone with a level head, the ability to think for themselves, the ability to differentiate between what is achievable and what is not, then, the answer is..well..it all depends on what you do, and how you do it. Simple really!
If I was opening an account with $1k I would look for a broker with no monthly fees that offers a lot of commission free ETFs and trade very infrequently - the idea is to make $, not to trade. New traders are inclined to over trade which will eat up your $ in not time. Keep piling $ in and have a long term goal. I would not use any leverage - not now, maybe once you have a few years in the market.