Is £500 enough to begin trading with?

[SanMiguel]

Realistically - you cannot trade futures with $500. You'll have to use ridiculously tight stops and suffer from death of a thousand cuts.

In your case though, it won't actually take 1000 cuts.... Trade the ES - you'll be lucky to suffer 'death of 20 cuts"

Impossible on most. The absolute minimum in an account is around $500 because that;s the margin required for most contracts (maybe a bit less on bunds).
You will be automatically liquidated if your account gets below the margin.
Also, £3 for a trade is not too bad but it depends on what you trade.
A SB charging 3 pip spread at £1 a point will effectively be charging you £3.
Still, it's quite possible top open up an account with that and start but if you're new, I'd suggest trialling out a few things first. There are plenty of SBers offering £250-£500 loss covers for opening new accounts with them.
If I could do this all again, I'd have a much larger account than I first started with but you gotta start somewhere.

Also, go with a broker that offers less than £1 trade sizes - that will increase your effective account size / risk.

 

[MrGecko]

3. I have a job at RBS starting in Sept, but thanks any way for the patronizing comment MrGecko.

You're welcome. Well done on the job front.

As for your particular situation, I would suggest using an End-of-Day version of Ninjatrader (free), where you can access multiuple instruments (futures, stocks, FX etc) and export the data into another application for analysis (Excel or Matlab, for example).

And / Or, you can try to open a demo accounnt with ThinkOrSwim... they don't accept UK customers but you could always try a "workaround" and access their platform without depositing any cash.

Either way, I would use OandA for your brokerage, which I believe is what RBS have a white-label version of. Yes, it sucks, but they do have pretty good newswires for a freebie and custom deal sizes (which with 500 notes trading EOD will be v. handy).

 

[DionysusToast]

Impossible on most. The absolute minimum in an account is around $500 because that;s the margin required for most contracts (maybe a bit less on bunds).
You will be automatically liquidated if your account gets below the margin.
Also, £3 for a trade is not too bad but it depends on what you trade.
A SB charging 3 pip spread at £1 a point will effectively be charging you £3.
Still, it's quite possible top open up an account with that and start but if you're new, I'd suggest trialling out a few things first. There are plenty of SBers offering £250-£500 loss covers for opening new accounts with them.
If I could do this all again, I'd have a much larger account than I first started with but you gotta start somewhere.

Also, go with a broker that offers less than £1 trade sizes - that will increase your effective account size / risk.

SM - Global Futures do $300 margins I believe !

10 contracts with $3k - amazing...

 

[SanMiguel]

SM - Global Futures do $300 margins I believe !

10 contracts with $3k - amazing...

Yeah, I saw that though I'm using another at present with no software fees.
May change to them or Infinity when I feel like I want to pay for software

 

[sj8070]

You're welcome. Well done on the job front.

As for your particular situation, I would suggest using an End-of-Day version of Ninjatrader (free), where you can access multiuple instruments (futures, stocks, FX etc) and export the data into another application for analysis (Excel or Matlab, for example).

And / Or, you can try to open a demo accounnt with ThinkOrSwim... they don't accept UK customers but you could always try a "workaround" and access their platform without depositing any cash.

Either way, I would use OandA for your brokerage, which I believe is what RBS have a white-label version of. Yes, it sucks, but they do have pretty good newswires for a freebie and custom deal sizes (which with 500 notes trading EOD will be v. handy).

Thank you for this advice.

 

[selmer6]

If you're gonna spreadbet- SmartLiveMarkets.
You trade using MT4, and you can bet at 10p per point. Permanently if you like.

 

[forex2010]

I would have to recommend MT4 with a broker that trades micro lots. But before you start trading with the real money, use a practice account and make sure that you are consistently profitable in FOREX trading. No sense risking any money until you have got used to trading with the platform and the indicators you want to use.

 

[top trader]

trade less than 50p per point for first 3 months which are the most difficult for a newbie to survive. don't worry if you don't make even a penny as it is the experience which might lead to become a good long time trader.
if you do survive (and good luck) then use your 3 months experience to trade for next few months and see how you perform.

try 50p per point max. and aim for say 2% gain a week or even less.

 

[Zmark-trader]

buy trading books for 250, take your folks out for 100, the rest spend on yourself.
I cant believe you are encouraged to trade with 500.ridiculous.

 

[elitejets]

I think Mirus and PFG Best the account minimum is $2500 USD for futures and you get ninja trader.
I like Infinity too

 

[advfntrader]

I 2nd Smart Live Markets, MT4 spreadbetting from 10p a point on indices, Fx, commodities, equties. £500 should keep you going for a while...

 

[Mr.Emilio]

If I took my £500 out and opened up a proper futures account with a broker, I am aware that the cost per trade would be around £3 which seems to me to be unjustifiable given my starting capital...?

Thoughts?

On your position I would ask myself what else can i do with this amount. Lets count! You can make 5-10% a month. Even with some bad months you will double this amount in a year. we a talking about very good situation. So have it is about to 42 per month.

Are you ready to spend a lot for time every month for such money?

 

[Gabrial]

So have it is about to 42 per month.

Are you ready to spend a lot for time every month for such money?

Why do you think this will take a lot of time: longtime trading and you just check the account balance and send hour to find good enter-point! Or automated trading system can do all but itself.

 

[theroguetrader]

currency pair

£500 x 5% = £25.00

£25.00 divide by 25 pips (stop distance) = £ 1.00

£ 1.00 x 100 pips per week = £100.00

compound

 

[theroguetrader]

buy trading books for 250, take your folks out for 100, the rest spend on yourself.
I cant believe you are encouraged to trade with 500.ridiculous.

Ive seen people start trading with $50k and BLOW THE LOT !!
The money is irrelevant

patience and discipline are " ALL " that matters ........ !!

 

[Zmark-trader]

Ive seen people start trading with $50k and BLOW THE LOT !!
The money is irrelevant

patience and discipline are " ALL " that matters ........ !!

There are funds who went down with Billions..so what is your point?
"discipline" is over-rated, because you can "trade with the trend" "cut your losses short". "follow your plan", or all the other trading terms that are used are useless in the real world and dont earn you money. What earns you money is Capital+Good Method.
Tell me who now, who would NOT be disciplined if their method made them money?
I have found a method that works for me, I follow it, sometimes I lose, but at the end of the month I have a positive P%L. Am I disciplined? I am not sure, I just trust a method that makes money.

Trading with 500 is a GIFT for all the Market Maker and when he will blow his account, he will learn nothing. period.

 

[Zmark-trader]

I will start a thread as I promised how to develop good methods. I just have a partner that consumes all my time...wife...LOL

 

[SanMiguel]

I might try this for a laugh.
The way to start would be to bonus whore ( a common term known to poker players) and just try and double the stake by taking advantage of SB companies bonus offers.