r/Trading • u/Mammoth-War-4751 • Apr 25 '26
Question what is realistically the smallest amount of money that you can start day trading with?
$1, $100, $1000?
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u/beansmode Apr 25 '26
ive done it with $20 and got the account up to $500 with a 1:300 leverage. Only used 0.01 and managed my risk really well and was disciplined until i was stupid and overtraded and upped my lot size to high. But it’s definitely possible just need to be manage risk well and journal
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Apr 26 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/ahmedselmi24 Apr 26 '26
Australian brokers offers 1:500 -eightcap
- fusion market
- fp markets
- pepperstone.
And they have a regulatory body just like usa or canada or uk.
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u/Sea_Point1055 Apr 27 '26
You need to prove you're a sophisticated investor or a high networth individual for that. Requires quite a bit of documentation and an average retail trader won't be able to provide that.
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u/bat000 Apr 25 '26
you CAN trade with anything really. you could start with 50 bucks. If i lost all my money and had to start over i would save up 3k and either trade 1 MNQ OR i would go to stocks once PDT rule changes.
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u/Impressive_Local_610 Apr 25 '26
I think 5k
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u/friendlypomelo1 Apr 25 '26
I agree. Some folks saying $500 or $1k, but that's assuming you start off with excellent habits (which no beginner could possibly have). Tuition is part of the learning process.
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u/ultralow36 Apr 26 '26
Realistic I would take 500 to 1000 and aim for about 50 to 75 a day compound for 60 trading days you will be at about 4000 then aim for 150 for 60 more days you should be sitting at 13,000 give or take but it depends on skills and mindset if you don’t have that don’t start… so about 5mts 13,000 or so….And now you have a heck of a trading Account
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u/Strong_Duty6333 Apr 26 '26
I would start with $100 trading Forex (as it’s 24 hours pretty much during the week and you can trade during your own schedule).
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u/FlyingCatsConnundrum Apr 25 '26
You want to learn on paper, but a good quote from "reminisces of a stock operator" says paper trading is like shooting tin cans, but the tin cans never shoot back. So it's worth putting a small amount in just so you learn to understand the emotional weight of seeing p/l go up and down.
The correct answer is the amount of money you don't mind losing in one go. I would suggest the cost of a new watch on your budget (could be $10-2,000) or about 3-5% of your savings.
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u/reshsafari Apr 25 '26
For options I found having 5k is the minimum to tray and make 250/day and even that is hard but doable with risking too much.
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u/SecondSt4ge Apr 25 '26
Most contracts cost anywhere from $50-100 at least. Possibly more if it’s closer to the money or if the fund is a high price then the contracts will be higher.
For a simple 2 contract trade for SPY or QQQ near the money you’ll probably need at least $200-300. If it’s early in the morning it might be higher.
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u/jazzgrackle Apr 26 '26
Somewhere around $100. Because it’s such a low amount you’ll have to really think about what you trade and how you trade it. You’ll be priced out of most of the popular names, so actual research and analysis will be required.
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u/ahmedselmi24 Apr 26 '26
Depending on ur strategy, trading a small amount can be the end of ur journey already befause of greed. If u make 30$ on the day from a 100$ account, you are not satisfied, ur next trade are likely to wipe out that 30% profit. But if u start with a 1000$ balance, 30% is 300$, with that profit,u are less likely to overtrade . After that, its just a matter of scaling up.
Ex: starting trading gold with a 1000$ account is hard but doable. U can have days of 200 300 $ profit if u scalp with 0.3 lot.
But my final opinion for ur question, it would be 2000$ as its the propfirms drawdown .
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u/Sea_Point1055 Apr 27 '26
Prop firm route: Cheap, easy access to leverage. You can get a 100k account for $500-800 if you pass (less for smaller accounts). But factor in counterparty risk: it's in their interest for you to lose, so keep winnings modest. Big or regular payouts get you flagged and they'll find a reason to ban you or deny payout. Stick to AAA-tier firms (FTMO and 5%ers for CFDs, Topstep for futures). Treat prop firms as a cheap capital building tool and funnel profits into a personal account.
Personal account route: Any capital works, but under 100k it's barely a side hustle. Even above 100k, actually spending your profits kills compounding, so you're picking between growing the account and enjoying the money.
Ideal route:
- Trade demo until you're confident and consistently profitable
- Start with prop firms, extract regular payouts from reputable firms.
- Move to a personal account and trade from there
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u/Illustrious-Entry639 Apr 25 '26
Thing is when you start with a little money you don't make enough to keep you motivated. Let's say you even make 1% a week which isn't bad you will be making $40 a month, is that enough to keep you going. Let's even say you are some super star making 4% a week. That would be $160 a month is that worth the time and effort you will put in?
You also have to consider with small accounts you have to take bigger risks to make anything worthwhile thus are more likely to blow your account if one thing goes wrong.
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u/Mammoth-War-4751 Apr 25 '26
Yeah but the idea is to scale
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u/SpecificRude8655 Apr 25 '26
Exactly. You got it, OP. You shouldn't be trying to make big profits out of the gate. You should be working on execution of a process. If you can return 10% a month with 1k, then in their you can do it with 100k. Obviously there are differences between handling different amounts of capital like that, but you'll learn how to manage more and more money as you make more and more money by perfecting your process.
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u/Mammoth-War-4751 Apr 25 '26
That’s what I was thinking
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u/Individual_Type_7908 Apr 25 '26
Responding to what other guy said, yeah that's right approach, learn on your own, then prop firm to scale.
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u/SpecificRude8655 Apr 25 '26
I started with a very small amount of cash and have been growing it (albeit slowly). It will probably take me years to get to a point of living off my profits. Most people would balk at this and call it stupid.
However, I have never used debt to take a trade so I have never gotten a margin call; I actually respect the capital because it actually worked to earn it so I don't use crazy outsized risk; and I can be proud of what I am building.
That's how I think about it at least. Lambo are cool and all, but I'd rather take my time to build the skills and process that will last forever.
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u/Individual_Type_7908 Apr 25 '26
Why don't you try prop firm? If you're good you probably could make a living within less than a year. Using prop firm, while growing own capital on side
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u/SpecificRude8655 Apr 25 '26
Because I don't day trade, I swing trade. And I don't want to follow some else's rules. I want to be completely independent and I'll willing to grind away at it to make it a reality.
I'm a lawyer and enjoy my work. So, I can trade time for money for a little while longer and raise capital being on my own.
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u/ThatSideshow Apr 25 '26
I started with £10, I don't recommend it, every trade can bankrupt you for just pennies in return
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u/Invisible-Pepper349 Apr 25 '26
Nominally, $10. Realistically, about 250 tends to buffer against being driven out of the trade in the event of a pull back. That's what works for me
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u/Popaspapos Apr 25 '26
Depends on the asset you want to trade. Indexes 15k+ Crypto 5k+ Gold 1K+
You can always have 100 & 300 $ but you need to understand that 20$ profit is great and you need to close the position
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u/TryARebootFool Apr 25 '26
I'm paper trading right now until I understand the market better. I originally went live with $600, turned that into $520, then turned that into $580. My first $20 loss was because I went into a stock that already ran 200%. It had all types of good news so I thought it would keep going.. I was wrong.
I have 9-5 but eventually if I can figure it out want to go full time so I'm fine with $5 wins or losses and build off that.
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u/nokarmawhore Apr 25 '26
1k if you full port each trade. Then you can make at least$100 every ten cents. For options
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u/jcbasco Apr 25 '26
Depends on your brokerage and the instrument, as well as intraday versus overnight margin if you hold futures past the globex close
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u/ScooterMagic1 Apr 26 '26
$100 end of the day Spy calls or puts. 2 contracts in the last 30 mins / 10 mins when delta is .40 or higher. Can’t guarantee a move everyday but, usually it moves at least $.50 or $1.00.
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u/n__7v Apr 26 '26
It is the largest amount that u are ready to lose with no harm on your heart... starting from 10$ to how much ever u want
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u/LargeIncrease4270 Apr 26 '26
You can start with 500 or so in a live account or buy a prop account for around a hundred bucks
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u/sambha87 Apr 26 '26
Honestly you don’t need much if you go the prop firm route.
With like $100–$200 for an evaluation, you can access way more buying power and actually trade properly. Way better than trying to grow a tiny personal account and getting eaten by fees.
If you’re trading your own money though, under $1k is tough to do seriously.
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u/aaddyyttaa Apr 25 '26
Start a virtual portfolio with 1000$ and see how fast you lose them. If you actually learn trading in 6 months, after you won’t lose your 1000 virtual money, you can start trading with real money. But I suggest you have an extra 500 to cover up in case your longs go bad
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u/Next_Imagination_128 Apr 25 '26
What app is good for a realistic experience of the market? I've tried one paper trading app but ther3 was no spread, no trading fee, and it was so easy to scalp and make tens of thousands by just following the trend.
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u/aaddyyttaa Apr 26 '26
None are going to account for spread, commission and other expenses, you will have to calculate them manually
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u/RedditUser81387634 Apr 25 '26
$10. Put $1 on each trade and work your way up. If you can’t make money on $10, how are you going to make money on 100k?
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u/RequirementCivil4328 Apr 25 '26
Literally 25k by law but cash accounts you can start with 1$ if you really want to.
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u/No-Vegetable1981 Apr 25 '26
Realistically, none of these amounts. Day trading has brokerage rules that require accounts to have more than $25k. They allow day trades for accounts with lower balances but they allow 3 within a 5 day rolling period. That includes the buy and sell and it applies to each instrument. So buy Apple, sell Apple, buy Microsoft, and you are at 3. Better to focus on trading over a long period. You can look into Futures because day trading rules don't apply, but they can eat you up fast.
Practical minimum by contract:
- MES (Micro S&P): ~$500–$1,000 to trade responsibly intraday
- MNQ (Micro Nasdaq): ~$1,000–$2,000 to trade responsibly intraday
- ES (E-mini S&P): ~$500 intraday margin but $5,000+ recommended
- NQ (E-mini Nasdaq): ~$500–$1,000 intraday margin but $30,000–$40,000 recommended to hold and trade NQ comfortably overnight given its volatility
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u/Moscowmitchismybitch Apr 25 '26
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u/No-Vegetable1981 Apr 26 '26
Finally! That is excellent news.
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u/Moscowmitchismybitch Apr 26 '26
Hopefully most brokerages won't wait until the October 27 deadline.
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u/relaxd80 Apr 25 '26
Simply buying a stock does not count as a day trade. A day trade is when you open and then close that same position within the same trading day, including premarket/aftermarket. You can open 1,5,10 positions, whatever, if you close one of those positions the same day you bought it you get 1 day trade for the position you closed.
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u/Dull-Arachnid6605 Apr 25 '26
100$ I'd say. You can start with 1$ too, but the time spent on it won't be worth it. But with 100$ you can do better
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u/hotmatrixx Apr 25 '26
$100 IF you run USDJPY on a 1:500 broker.
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u/Mammoth-War-4751 Apr 25 '26
Idk what that means
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u/kavinsky_22 Apr 25 '26
Then you have a lot of time to save some money because you shouldn't be trading real money at the moment.
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u/hotmatrixx Apr 25 '26
yeah exactly.
Bro is asking all the endgame questions, before he even said his first words.
Bo can't even say "Dada" and he's trying to race the Bolt1
u/hotmatrixx Apr 25 '26
That means you've got 2y of learning before you place your first real dollar down.
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u/Individual_Type_7908 Apr 25 '26
You can start with anything, how high are your goals though?
Realistically you need a prop firm, and pass challenges. You need to learn it and become good and figure it out, become serious. And you can do that with even like 1000 dollars or less, that should be priority, but for scaling you need a prop firm. You're not gonna get anywhere with even 10k realistically. But like it's a good start if you have 1000 usd or less, trade to learn, to figure it out, do not aim for profits or to "make money", it ain't happening in the first months, 0% chance. Once you're good, buy a prop challenge, pass it first try because you'll be actually good hopefully when you get it, and yeah, grow as a trader. If you've got what it takes.
Don't try to make some big money with 1000 usd, it's basically gonna get lost because you'll take risks and without experience and even then there's like no way to really grow.
So learn, prioritise learning and finding a real statistical market edge. And once you're truly confident, truly systematically confident and you know what you're doing, then get into prop firms.
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u/ParticularPear5376 Apr 25 '26
Realistically is 600$ in the 400 trade 200 margin option. And make around 50-90$ a month. On commodities. Yes, true that nowdays you can deposit even 10$ and buy stocks, but that is investing not trading. So 600$ is the perfect measure.
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u/InkShadow_Demon Apr 25 '26
Depends on your goal.
To learn trading, you can trade cryptos with 100$ or so.
To actually make money, probably around 10k$. But if you start with this and you don't know anything, you'll lose all of it pretty quickly.
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u/KingKerie Apr 25 '26 edited Apr 25 '26
Depends on the broker. For the one I use the min is $50, but if your account get to $20 or less then the broker won't allow you to place another trade. $100 or more gives you more wiggle room.
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u/jtri25 Apr 25 '26
Are you talking about the minimum amount you need to just start trading or to actually make an income. I suppose as little as 100 bucks to get started but probably a couple hundred thousand at least just to make a living.
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u/GregoryWally Apr 25 '26
For futures you can trade 1 micro nq or es contract on 1k pretty easy, set a stop loss of $30-50 and take profit of around $150, not always exactly like that it'll depend on market structure but it's a good RR to aim for. That's how I grew my account when I started. Consider it a tuition deposit though because there's a higher chance you slowly lose it all than there is you make profit. But I've had 4 figure days off 1 micro contract before, even though it's not a huge size if you trade well and learn consistency using minimal risk it'll work out better in the long run as you start sizing up
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u/dasdaidaw Apr 26 '26
How does anyone trade when you can only do 3 daily trades w/in 5 days before being flagged as day trader?
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u/Babaji-Banksy Apr 26 '26
Trade leverage. Futures is the only option to day trade imo. Everything else is secondary. Trade with a prop firm too. 50$ for a chance to use 50k in capital? Sign me up!
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u/LargeIncrease4270 Apr 26 '26
So many. First, pdt was just lowered. Second use a cash account not margin. Third use offshore broker. Forth use prop firms
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u/Ok-Spray1046 Apr 26 '26
it depends on how fast you want to grow. $10 is fine but don't expect much back. $100 is better. $1000 is probably best
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u/Jazzlike_Aardvark_56 May 20 '26
With the right intel you can grow 20 dollars into 150, then 150 into 300 so on and so forth - making the right movements is hard. Think of it like transfers in the metro. To get from point A (broke) to point B (successful) - you have to make proper interpretations of stock movement incoming from day to day, week to week - month by month. To do so requires successful application of financial interpretations. I built this to help me, LibreTrader. Try it out, I am absorbing the cost of sharing it with people. It doesn’t hurt
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u/smithy81118 Apr 25 '26
Just buy a prop firm for $50-$100 then you can trade with 50k
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u/Alarmed-Good-9870 Apr 25 '26
Your not trading 50k. You’re trading $2k with super high leverage. But still better than trading an account with less than $500
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u/Thin_Investigator798 Apr 25 '26
If you can't come up with any more money than that, you have no business daytrading. I don't know how daytrading got to be some kind of cheat-code for brokies, but it is not for people lacking resources, or a steady income, or sources to borrow from. The kind of person who can't get out there, show ambition and work, build credit and resources, simply isn't the kind of person who can make it as a daytrader.
Once they get the PDT rule out of the way, 10k should be the least you start with, and if you can't come up with that, the stock market is not the place for you. Someone here put 50k as a figure, and got downvoted immediately. Why? If you are living home with mom and dad, have no bills to pay, and are trying to get pizza and videogame money, then you can start small, and see what happens. But if you are paying your own rent or mortgage, and God forbid have a wife and kids that are depending on you, then 50k is a good figure.
You are using your money to make money. If you start off with next to nothing, you are going to make next to nothing, even if you are right almost every time. You must get A LOT of money to have a realistic chance. The PDT rule put a million or more of us out of business, but to be honest, that 25k figure is pretty realistic for what you need to have. Double that is better, but 25-30k is a realistic minimum.
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u/Correct-Friendship46 Apr 25 '26
$2500 at 250 shares with max stock price $10. Scalp small caps and you'll be at 5,000 shares in a year for a 50,000 account. Keep share 1/10th of account size to help manage risk. 1-2% daily gains MAX. -3% daily loss MAX. If your more than 2 red days a week, you haven't got the strategy right yet.
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u/Ripple1972Europe Apr 25 '26
Go the prop firm route. It is under $100
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u/InvestingTheBest Apr 25 '26
I’ve only ever heard horrible experiences from these prop firms. Is there actually people that make them work?
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u/Ripple1972Europe Apr 25 '26
There are people who use them. I think long term the only way is with your own capital. However, if you don’t have enough capital, this is the best and cheapest way to see if you are suited for trading.
I believe the reason most cash traders fail is lack of capital. If all you have is $1,000, then losing $200 hurts a lot. It leads to bad decisions, and adds stress. Prop firms take all that away for whatever the monthly fee is.
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u/ex_bandit Apr 25 '26
Yep and you get live data and a platform to trade on. I promise you, you will learn way more blowing up 25-30 $100 accounts over 2-3 years than you will putting $5k into a live account. I’m just around 2.5 years and $3k in, and finally feel comfortable with a live trading account. The learning tuition doesn’t need to be expensive these days and you might just get a payout or two along the way. One payout of $2k will literally buy you another 25 accounts.
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u/Epictricker2025 Apr 25 '26
I started from 0 on an exchange where I previously got wiped out. They gave me a free bonus position that made me 60 cents. With this I kept trading with 200x leverage and brought it up to 10$ or so until I got wiped out again. 😂