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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: id who wrote (1109)	6/19/1999 9:57:00 PM
From: Rick Faurot	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18137

id, I can think of three traders offhand who started with small capital. Two of them now have seven figure accounts, one has a six figure account. To me it is all about attitude. If you are fierce, if you can persevere no matter how many times you lose...you've got a shot. Learn, adapt, take some shots, learn some more, paper trade. Anything and everything that works, you use. If you believe you can do it, you can. Rick

To: id who wrote (1109)	6/19/1999 10:03:00 PM
From: -	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

id, Sure that is viable. e.g. I have a 'fragment' SEP-IRA account that is now about $55K, it started as $12k and I've nursed it up over past 18 months, mostly using 2-5 days swing trades... and you could also actively day-trade such a small account, if you focus on technique vs profits and are a very patient sort. Certainly, you can start with $75-$100k and go on to big daytrading success. Odds get a lot tougher under $50k, but it can be done. I don't want to discourage anyone that's really determined to do this, whatever their circumstances. If they feel strongly compelled, maybe it is their destiny and they should go for it. They should just know what they're working against. Trading a small acct makes it difficult to overcome commissions and slippage, and you don't have the same room to recover from loosing periods as when trading larger account - during inevitable learning curve. Good luck, I'm sure others will have valuable insights too! -Steve

To: id who wrote (1109)	6/19/1999 10:27:00 PM
From: Susan G	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18137

It is definitely possible to successfully trade with a small amount of capital. I was able to more than double a 20K trading portfolio in 4 months by trading 25 - 75 share lots of the bluechip internets. Of course, this was not during the recent correction - it was 1/99 to 4/99. Although it was not enough to survive on, it was a great way for someone to start without have 50 or 100 grand to trade with. 25 - 75 shares may seem ridiculously small, but some days the upsides of only one of them, 50 shares X $20 was more than enough to make me happy. And splitting the $ between 5 or 6 stocks is wiser than putting it all into 1 or 2. Being new to trading, having a small amount of shares gave me more "room" or time to get out - since a newbie is not always quick enough! If my 50 shares of stock dropped 10 pts, which usually would take awhile, my maximum downside was $500. If I had 1000 shares of a $10 stock and it dropped 1 pt, I could be out $1000 in a matter of minutes. >If you believe you can do it, you can> Absolutely.