Trading Budget
How much money do I need to trade forex?
There are various amounts you need to invest depending on the broker you decide to trade with. Some brokers offer the ability to trade with a mere $25.00, however most require minimum deposit of $100. These types of smaller investments are ok to start you off, however, they will not result in any serious profits. Becoming a serious forex trader, your initial investment will play a colossal role when determining your success.
There are many brokers in the FX industry, and with that comes a number of different traders, that trade in many ways that do not always require a minimum deposit of over $5,000. Day traders for instance will not need to trade with the same capital as a swing trader does. One will need to define ones’ goals: are you looking for a more of a serious income or to simply grow your trading account?
Expert Tips for Setting Trading Budgets
A trading budget represents an allotment of funds specifically geared towards trading activity. In South Africa, the fluctuating fortunes of the USDZAR pair are certainly cause for concern. Consider that in April 2020, the USDZAR pair was trading at over 19:1. By April 2021, the ZAR had appreciated markedly to 14.6436:1. The extreme volatility of the South African rand makes it challenging, but certainly not impossible, to set a trading budget. When trades are denominated in USD, and the dollar strengthens this initially disadvantages South African traders.
By the same token, a stronger USD means that trades finishing in your favour are worth more in ZAR terms. For the most part, South African traders will need to make a minimum deposit amount at the trading platform to get started. This could be $100, or $500 +, depending on where you trade. Live trading accounts at AvaTrade require a $100 minimum deposit amount. This brokerage features low trading fees, Islamic account options, crypto trading, and regulation courtesy of the FSA and ASIC.
The specific fund recommendations to open a position can be determined on a trader by trader basis. Truth be told, any amount that you have available as part of your trading budget is sufficient, provided it meets the minimum trade amount. Many brokers have strict requirements in place regarding the minimum trade amounts that they will allow, such as US$25 these thresholds serve as benchmarks to gauge where you can afford to trade in the market. The forex market is different; there are low barriers to entry in this trading market where volumes can exceed 5 trillion – $6 trillion per day.
Thanks to generous leverage and margin options, it is possible to get started with a small amount of capital commenting leverage those funds to the maximum. When leveraged trades finish in the money, everyone is happy. Of course, sometimes traders end up on the losing end of a leveraged trade. Fortunately, AvaTrade has negative balance protection. This means that you can never lose more than the capital in your account. In the unlikely event that the financial markets move in such a way that disadvantages a client, rendering him/her into a negative balance position, AvaTrade will refund the difference through what is known as a Negative Balance Adjustment.
Ideally, the best way to build a bankroll is through winning trades. The more carefully you plan each trade, even with a small starting budget, the bigger the budget will grow. Winning trades add to your bankroll over time. The objective is clear: conduct all the necessary technical and fundamental analysis on your financial positions. Use demo trading accounts to practice and fine-tune your skills. Once you feel confident about your trading abilities, invest a small amount (1% – 3%) into your chosen financial instrument. Set stop loss and take profit orders, but don’t be greedy.
The goal is to build a sustainable, viable, and thriving career over the long run. As a day trader at AvaTrade , you can certainly implement proven tactics and strategies to your advantage. Copy trading is one such option allows you to leverage the experience of professional traders by mimicking their trading activity with your own real money account.
Why the initial investment matters?
There is a trade difference if you start with $100 versus $2000, and yes it does matter. One of the more significant problems new traders face is being under-capitalised. When you start trading you goal is to have some sort of profit or income from your investment. This cannot be accomplished on a $20 account. Most new traders have no patience to allow their accounts to grow, and with small deposits you risk far too much on each trade, and thus risk to lose the entire initial investment.
While there are other brokers that offer you a trading bonus, which is an additional boost to your capital to get your trades going. This can amplify your trading capital allowing you to open more trades, however keep in mind not to over extend yourself per trade, look at a market exposure ratio of 2-5% of your account to be safe. Another recommendation when receiving a broker bonus is to read the terms and conditions to fully understand them. Most brokers do require you to trade a certain volume in order to withdraw funds from the account. All-in-all a welcome bonus is a great way to increase the available trading budget.
Leveraging your trades
Brokers allow traders to use leverage to assist in increasing the available position size of each trade, while they have invested a small amount of capital. This fraction of what it costs to open a trade, that you personally invest, is called margin. Trading on margin makes the amount you either gain or lose seem very high in relation to what you invested.
For example, this is how leverage and margin work:
A leverage of 10:1 would mean that a deposit (margin outlay) of $100 allows you the same trading potential as if you had invested $1000. Should you want to open a position and buy 1000 shares on ABC Ltd. and the current price is $1 per share it will cost you $1000. If the share price increases by 20c (per share), then you could sell your 1000 shares at $1.20 and make a $200 profit. Should you use leverage of 10% you would pay $100 out of your margin, and the position would be ‘worth’ $1000 (10% x $1 x 1000 shares = $100). Should the share price rise again from $1 to $1.20 you would still make the exact same profit however you only exposed $100 not $1000 of your equity to the markets therefore decreasing your risk. Also, the return on your investment was 200% with leverage as opposed to 20% when using only your own funds.
AvaTrade offers up to leverage, with over 250 instruments the leverage will differ per instrument. However, it is not always necessary to take it in full, the more you invest the less leverage you will need. Having an operational budget of around $5000 allows you as a trader to firstly, open bigger positions, and secondly, enter the markets however volatile, and hold positions for longer even if they are going against you, without the fear of depleting your account too fast. Why, you ask? As with higher margins, you have the capital to allow markets to recover, as well as the possibility to enter into a profitable price range easier.
To learn more and trade better AvaTrade allows you to adopt trading skills on how to manage your trading budget and understanding position size. Please refer to our articles for a more in depth explanation on these essential topics. The first rule when you are entering the forex trading world is: you should never invest money that you cannot afford to lose. Be certain before getting your feet wet, that you learn as much as possible, practice on your free demo trading account, and then save enough to open and maintain a substantial account. If necessary, we will offer you high leverage and excellent bonus to get things started.
Trading budget main FAQs
- How can I start trading with little money?
You can start trading with as little as $100 at AvaTrade, and while you certainly won’t get rich when you trade such a small account you will receive very valuable experience. As time goes on you can also add to that amount, growing your account through deposits as well as the potential profits from your trading activity. Over time as your account grows you will find yourself able to take larger positions, which is also a good way to grow as a trader rather than jumping in and trade a large amount without experience.
- How can I increase my trading budget?
The easiest way to increase your trading budget as a new trader is to simply drip feed a regular amount of cash into your trading account. Even if you’re only able to set aside $100 a month for your trading account you’ll be surprised at how fast it will grow. Also learn to use leverage because that has a similar effect to increasing your actual trading capital. By using even 1:10 leverage you can turn a $1,000 trading account into a $10,000 trading account. This can also help to grow your trading capital more rapidly if your trading decisions are sound.
- How do you determine an appropriate trading budget?
The trading budget is going to be different for everyone depending on their needs and available capital. Those who already have a good paying job will often be able to set aside more for their trading activities than those working minimum wage. Single folk often have more disposable cash for trading than couples with children. You’ll also want to consider the goal of your trading. Is it for retirement? Maybe it’s just to generate money for vacation and holiday expenses. Or you could be trying to replace your monthly income with trading income. Each scenario will have different needs for the trading budget.
