Making Your Trading Capital Work For You!

As most traders will tell you, there's no such thing as a set amount of trading capital when you start trading although it should be mentioned, the more you have to start off with, the easier it's going to be.

You'll tend to find that it's the brokerage you need to be aware of as the vast majority of brokers charge a set fee. Obviously, the more capital you start with, the more affordable the fee will be for you.

The advantage of a large fund becomes apparent when we for example take two traders, each using the same broker and each facing the same fees. While one trader has $1000 to trade with, the other has $10,000. If they are both being charged a fee of $100 per trade, the trader with $1000 would need to make at least 10% in order to break even. The trader with $10K on the other hand, would only need to make 1% in order to break even.

Yes, you can start trading with a small fund but you just need to be aware of the fact that those with a larger fund tend to have the advantage.

Yet another factor determined by float size, is the stock trading system you choose to use.

If you're starting out with a relatively small fund then I'd advise you to look at a long term trading system rather than a short term system like day-trading. Of course, while there are many reasons for me saying this, the most important benefit is that a long term system can be managed with great success even while you continue working in your regular job. As you gain experience and become more confident, then yes, start experimenting with a short term system.

If you want to start trading after having saved up a large sum of money then fine. After all, there's nothing wrong with planning ahead. However, if you're considering borrowing the money then you need to be extremely careful. Remember, investing a huge sum of money in a property is not the same as trading, and before you consider taking such a risk, you really need to gain some experience first. Whatever you do, don't be tempted to fund your trading with credit cards. Instead, gain some experience and then if need be, you can always loan money from the bank.

Quitting your regular job for the sake of trading is really not advisable unless you have enough financial backing to support yourself for at least a couple of years. Likewise, it's not advisable for you to accumulate debt for the sake of trading. If you do, you'll spend most of your time worrying about repayments rather than having all your focus on proper trading. In fact, Don Miller also covers this in Trading Markets World Meets the Traders when he says the primary interest of new traders should be to trade properly, rather than aiming to make money.

Part-time trading is ideally the way to go for beginners because it won't place excessive strain on your finances and apart from that, you'll have the peace of mind knowing you still have a steady income while you're learning the ropes.

Short-term trading systems and long-term trading systems:

Short-term systems where trades are typically from one to thirty days require a great amount of expertise and experience, not to mention the fact that they're extremely time consuming as well. In this case, traders seek to accomplish a high number of wins by taking part in more trades.

Long-term systems involves trades of a month or longer, hence the need for fewer trades. While this means less wins, it also means you require less capital and it's all round a better system for those who lack trading experience.

Essentially, the amount of money you have available will determine how much capital you start with. Of course, the tools you choose to use and the amount of risk you're willing to take will also have an impact on how much capital you choose to start with. As I've mentioned earlier, there's no "ideal amount" to but instead, decide how much you're starting out with and then keep it aside as an individual business.

As a personal bit of advice, I would suggest you have at least $10,000 to start off with, and remember, your trading venture is just like any regular business so please treat it that way.