Most traders do not make it because otherwise trading wouldn't be rewarding for the few that win. It's like in lottery, the first winner may make $10 million and the second just $1,000.

awesome thread! I did that path....slept on the futon, no eating out, 10yr old car....

worth it....didn't get as far as I wanted, as life gets in the way of goals so many times....but I agree.

Thanks for this thread, i am currently in the same situation.
i once took my account from 1.5k to 25k in two months ( market was favorable )
then lost most of it again in a few trades .
having undercapitalised made me take risks i never should have taken in the first place.
would have been a lot better to make 5k-8k from that 1.5k that year.
hopefully i have improved from blowing up my account a couple of times.

major lesson : always keep track of your risk first.

I concur with those that say start small and get confident with your edge and then scale up. I suggest that going from a small account and busting it and then attributing that to undercapitalisation is not a good foundation to then trading a large account where you are not 'undercapitalised'. With that trajectory, how confident can you be in your edge? And how have you prepared yourself for trading well with size - ie are you psychologically prepared?

This is 3 months work: Part time trading forex micro account.




L

Good thread. The main point i took from it is that you do not need to have a large account value to be a good trader, but you do need to have a large bank account if you want to efficiently trade for a living.

Awesome thread, after recently blowing up my account, I have decided to cut back on expenses and put the savings into the account. Currently sim trading M6E and 6E, until I can stock the account to a comfortably level. (10k+ to start live trading M6E.)

I also agree with using funds that are not needed, pressure to make money will cause you to lose it all. As Al brooks says the first goal is to follow rules/plan, second is to not lose money and the third is to make some money.

Bermudan Option 

Good thread. The main point i took from it is that you do not need to have a large account value to be a good trader, but you do need to have a large bank account if you want to efficiently trade for a living.

Your statement aptly sums it up correctly, and even better than at the start of the thread. Bigmike all but spelt this out not as a counter, but as an adjustment.

Wow this is an old thread, but the AI search returned it to me and I had to respond.

I agree you should not be undercapitalized relative to the tick size and volatility of your trading strategy, but disagree with your general line of thinking that more capital will solve your trading problems. It will only magnify and increase your losses if you do not have a validated process. Follow your process on SIM. Test your psychology on Micro. If you're satisfied, move to Minis and scale accordingly.

undercapitalization is not the issue. You can learn trading 1 micro for years untill you get it.

Darvish 

undercapitalization is not the issue. You can learn trading 1 micro for years untill you get it.

Of course, undercapitalization can be an issue, but perhaps not in the scenario you've provided. If the trader isn't (or can't) make any money for years, it won't matter if their account is $1000 or $1,000,000 - that trader is treading water.

When he finally gets it, he's going to need capital commensurate to his goals, as would any business startup. I believe this is (one of) the point(s) of the original post.