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You would already need to be a highly skilled trader. With 5k starting out...say goodbye to most if not all of it within 6 months or less and that's being generous.
Hey man, why so moody? No need to extrapolate from your own experience. It can be done very realistically, and considering someone mentioned Topsteptrader program, there is plenty of evidence of it available to everyone.
Could you please expand on your definition of "very realistically" because for myself I would have substituted those words with "almost never" or "close to impossible" (in terms of beginners). The risk of ruin in so high, that I'm sure there are those that somehow manage to survive, but I would consider them the exception rather than the rule. Therefore, I would not consider it sound advice to tell someone they can make it with a 5k futures account.
Can I make a hole in one golf shot on a par 3? Sure, give me a couple thousand tries...
Could a trading master grow and survive a 5k futures account? Sure, but it would still be difficult nonetheless.
In trading, shortcuts lead to the longest path possible.
I double-checked the very first post in this thread in case the original question was posted in a context of a beginner trader asking for advice, but it looks to me more like an opening to a discussion. I hope I made it clear in my post that in order to consider trading 5k account or even futures generally I believe one needs to have an advanced trading skill. I used "very realistically" based on the number of people passing the Combine (example simply for transparency reason).
Anyone that has been around long enough, or anyone that takes time to read, would know 5k is ridiculous for trading futures. It's not even a debate...
You could possibly debate whether 10k or 25k was enough, but 5k is obviously not enough.
My response is based on reading 500,000 other posts on this site from 75,000 people, many of which have tried the same thing. How many traders have you talked to? How many experiences have you read up on?
Sometimes posts can be viewed as "negative" when in fact they are simply stating the obvious truth. I do admit that sometimes I write in a way to get peoples attention, because I am trying to help them by making them aware of something that is so painfully obvious for the rest of us.
If youīre not disciplined and not much experienced, it doesnīt matter whether you trade 1k or 100k: you will blow it away very fast!
Not everyone has so much money, so what should they do? Donīt trade or take a credit? Thatīs the last thing one should do.
The real challenge is to get a winning mind, because everyone expect you to loose and most people even does.
I donīt have so much money, but I train in sim and then go live, when i feel ready. This time it lasted nearly three month...Iīve started with 1.800 $ in the ES and switched in the FDAX as soon as possible at 2.500 $. I have a daily goal at 500 , that means 20 points. At good days, iīve got it in less than 15 minutes and then switched to sim to go on training and keep the money. Iīve considered good trades to be less than one minute. I had (big) drawdowns, but iīve always came back, because my mind setting was right. So after 8 weeks, i were at about 12.500$, where "one" say, this doesnt work, because small account etc..
I didnīt take the money, but wanted to let my account grow, because "one" shouldīt trade with a small account. If i only had take it....
My brain started to play tricks with me. I thought i "had it", and thought i limit myself with 500 , because in sim i made even more. So it had to come: one day i had a good morning (discipline, 500 ) and then got bad mood at lunchtime. I didnīt switch to sim and blew away 10 k in one session. I canīt tell you how and why until today...This has broken my confidence. I blow away another 5 k and am now back to sim again for the whole day...
Itīs hard to motivate again, when you see yourself committing financial suicide when you start to win.
I consider this problem bigger than finding a strategy or discussing about how much you should start with (sometimes, there is nothing to discuss like with me....)
My issue is obviously not to trade when i get bad mood, instead of the account size.
Guy's I know that it is hard to believe but world got more places then only USA.You got that 5k for example,you can trade Nikkei Mini (OSE)- big 300 points move will give you only some like 250 $ profit/loss.For OMX30 normal sesion also will give you 180/200 $ per day gain or loss.If you ,,take'' all range of the day !.It's only a few examples so remember - CME is not only place in financial world...
I assume that you are trying to be helpful to the majority of people reading this forum who are neither experienced nor are serious about trading and I can appreciate that.
I came here not only with an opinion but also made some objective points. If you'd rather everyone agree on what is acceptable for you for whatever reasons, please let me know.