One of the main attractions that drives a lot of novice traders into the forex market is the lower entry requirements compared to other financial markets. This feature seems very attractive, especially for those who do not have enough savings to invest in stocks or commodity futures. Here the question may arise about the minimum capital that you need to enter this market? Can you really trade seriously and responsibly when you have only a small capital? You may have heard from some of the seasoned forex traders that it is impossible to enter the forex market with less than $10,000. Is this saying true?
There are good reasons for saying that the minimum capital required to trade forex is $10,000 — but that doesn't mean you can't start with less. Of course, the appropriate amount of capital depends on your trading style, capital management requirements, and above all, your degree of self-discipline. Also, don't forget the famous principle that you should not risk more than 2.5 - 5% of your account balance in a single trade. This means that you do not have to use the maximum available leverage! One of the hallmarks of successful forex traders is risking a small percentage of the capital per trade. This appears to be a real dilemma for new traders as abandoning this advice is the main reason the account balance evaporates within a few days.
Practically speaking, if you open an account with a capital of $1,000, for example, the maximum risk per trade will be between $25-$50. If you prefer long-term trading and therefore only open a few trades per month, and do not move your stops with a 1:1 risk-reward ratio, then your monthly profit will not exceed $100 at best. It simply means that you will waste your time and effort to win a few dollars that are neither rich nor fattened. In most cases, those who trade with little money will be tempted to give up their discipline and increase the degree of risk to 10-20% per trade and maybe even more - what is more, this ratio, or 10%, may seem a modest investment to many. That is why novice traders resort to excessive leverage, which leads to opening deals that far exceed the real capabilities of their capital. In these cases, a trader may only need one losing trade for the $1,000 balance to evaporate from the account.
We do not mean to frustrate those who trade with small balances, as long as you are able to maintain your self-discipline and not risk more than 2.5 - 5% of your capital on each trade, then you can start with little money without stopping you from achieving success. In fact, you can open a forex account with a few hundred dollars, and some brokers allow you to trade with minimal deal sizes – and whether you prefer to wait until you have built up enough capital to start trading (after spending a decent amount of time trading on a demo account with large capital) or you feel that It is better to start with a small balance and be patient, as you will benefit a lot from the practical experience that you get throughout this period. Despite all these manifold details, we have not yet answered the question about the appropriate amount of capital to start trading? It will entirely depend on the trading method and the number of trades you can open per day or month. Here, we would like to remind you that you should have another source of income to pay your bills and living expenses apart from the profits expected from currency trading. Going back to the previous example, it would take a few years of profitable trading to be able to turn $1,000 into $10,000, but note that a trader who manages to make a $100 monthly profit using their small balance will be able, at least in theory, to Achieving $1,000 per month when his capital increases to $10,000. The rule of thumb in this world is that great profits start slow and then increase at an accelerated pace — so no matter how much capital you intend to start with, the main approach to working in the forex market remains discipline, patience and belief in your ability and the ability of your chosen trading strategy to succeed.