December 11, 2009
What Is The Minimum Amount You Need To Open And Account And Start Doing Online Day Trading.?
like to start doing day trading, have been learning and reading books from the last 2 years. but the brokers tell me that you need lots of money to start doing day trading, what is the minimum amount to open and account and start doing online trading.
Are you sure you have been reading?which securities are you interested in?let’s say stocks! the amount ranges from 1$ with a discount broker like zecco.com(no minimum account deposit) to $200,000 using an ECN or more advanced brokers.It will be preferable to start with brokers like E*trade,TD Ameritrade,scottrade,shareBuilder and Zecco.Zecco will be the best option for a beginner to start with because it offers no minimum deposit,free trade,good live support and analysis.E*trade and Ameritade are also so good but i won’t recommend it for a beginner because of the fees and other restrictions.If you have got so much money i recommend you use an ECN;the level 2 direct access trading,i think the minimum deposit is about $200 000,with this you need no broker(i mean no commissions to pay) and you deal directly with the market;it is meant for senior individual traders,fund managers and banks.
But if you are serious to get going,you’ve read pretty well and practiced too and maybe you are not so rich..you should start with that $1000 you are willing to loose and you will make it big.But any amount less can do.Good luck dude
Well a lot of it depends on what you want to trade of course. Forex (currencies) for example, can be traded with just a few hundred dollars in an account.
Futures need a few thousand in your account. And stocks, as someone already pointed out, usually requires at least $25,000 in your account (in the USA). BUT, there are ways around that if you know where to look. You should check out Harvey Walshs site (in the sources to this reply) and sign up for his free report, not for the report itself (although it’s very good), but more for some of the emails he sends out as a follow up – there’s some good information in there for free, including how to trade stocks with much less money.
To be a pattern “day trader”, by SEC rules you need a minimum of $25,000.00 in your account.
The on-line brokers have much smaller amounts to open an account….. but they must enforce the governments rule. Your broker should have this information easily available.
There is no gov’t minimum for swing trading.
Welcome to my world!
Here’s some suggestions;
Mastering The trade, John Carter
Trading In The Zone, Mark Douglas
High Probability Trading, Link
Here’s a video/blog I look at every night;http://www.alphatrends.net/
Good brokers for day trading include;
Interactive Brokers – I use NinjaTrader instead of their platform.
Terranova Trading
Lightspeed
Best overall broker, esp for swing trading, options & education;
ThinkOrSwim