As a struggling student money is often quite thin in my pocket. As ive been trading for the past year (prac acc in optionXpress) I feel as if I've made it to the point where im making pretty consistent profits and it has brought me to the point where im finally ready to load my account and take it to the next level. With all this in mind it hits me, I have only $1,500, how is one supposed to trade when it costs so much to even place a trade with all the fees. Since i have a small account I'd have to risk bigger percentages to make enough profit for it to be worth the initial risk. I guess what I'm asking is what securities do people with low amounts in their account trade? My forte is stocks and I was thinking of doing more research on the OTC market and then stake my claim there. Thanks for all the advice and help its much appreciated!

Having been in your shoes before, here's what I recommend (and what I did not do):

1. DON'T start trading with $1,500. Your chances of failure are super high, even if you have a method with an edge.

2. Take 6 months to a year, and read all the books you can on trading. Keep an open mind on what you read. After you read enough, you start to formulate an idea of what you like/dislike - ie, how you want to trade. This is KEY - having agreement with your psyche and your method. Use your local library, and then the costs will be minimal.

3. During this time, do everything you can (legally) to get more capital. Ideally, you want $10K or more. The less money you start with, the more likely you will lose it all.

4. Paper/demo trading is nice, but don't rely on it to "prove" your method. If you have a mechanical method, you can easily backtest. If you have discretionary method, your emotions will play a big role, which they don't with demo. I have never met a losing demo trader, but I have met a lot of losing real money traders.


I wish I had done these things 20 some years ago when I was living in Lake Forest, CA. Alas, I did not, and it took me years to recover.

I hope you have great success!

Kevin

You basically nailed my strategy right on the head haha, ive been reading and researching nearly nonstop to gain as much knowledge as possible. As of now I've gained an interest in forex and have been demotrading for the past month or so, I plan to keep studying until im comfortable (perhaps a year from now) and I appreciate all the great info that keeps coming in. Great to hear from a SoCal cat

I'd personally go with a spreadbetting account trading small stakes on forex, but i'm in the UK and it might be different elsewhere?

I have been trading on and off for years and years since when I was a teenager, as a hobby alongside my day job, always using VERY small stakes.
I'm talking 20p per pip! So, I could buy the EUR/USD at 1.2840, cover it at 1.2940, and only make £10.

Recently, I sometimes feel that I may be getting good enough to increase stakes, and let my mind wander off
and dream about the possibility of giving up 'working for a living' and beginning to trade instread....then I slap myself and wake up.

You can use a very small account with such brokers, though.
I once began an account with £300 and turned into nearly 4k, and soon after lost the lot!


I have had lots of accounts with lots of 'brokers' (spreadbet bookies)

This year, I began a new account with a broker because I like the metatrader platform which they use.

I put £1850 in the account, mainly trading at between 10p and 20p per pip and have made around 4k or so.

Contemplating at least increasing the stakes a little next year, and maybe even starting a journal somewhere.

something like over 90 something percent of beginners lose.