Tips and Tricks to Grow a Small Trading Account

In today’s episode, we are going to be discussing some tips & tricks to help you grow a small trading account!  The best investment in life is one in yourself and when you are starting out in any new industry, it's best to start small!  The reason for this is that your mistakes are the cheapest at the beginning which is important because you will make mistakes while you are learning. Now just because you have a small trading account, it doesn't mean that you have to think small!  Trading live is not about making money; it’s all about seeing if you can execute a strategy with an edge and follow a process consistently over weeks and months  When you are starting in this industry, regardless of how much capital you have, you should be starting with a couple of thousand dollars (we recommend between $5000-10,000) until you earn the right to trade a larger size. What does it mean to earn the right to trade larger size? It simply means that you are rewarding good behavior and discipline by increasing your trade size using market money and not your own risk capital. The goal to start is to aim for small profits, even $25/day is a great goal to shoot for! While this amount isn't anything to write home about, if you can consistently make $25/day, then scaling to $250/day or even $2500/day is the same process, just with more contracts. Slow and consistent growth is the aim here - we're not going for wild outsized returns off the bat! So how can you put yourself in the best position to grow your small trading account? See the list of tips below:

1. Set your expectations; the goal is not money it's perfecting the process. 
2. Risk management is always important but even more so with a small account; the margin for error is smaller.
3. Avoid setting daily profit targets; instead, focus on how much you are willing to risk a day and stay disciplined.
4. Look for singles and doubles instead of home runs; get used to getting paid consistently before looking to run profits. 
5. Progressively scale up your position size as you build up the account - in our futures course we offer an account scaling grid, like the ones you get at a prop firm.
6. Don’t quit your day job; have other sources of income while you learn.
7. Avoid comparing yourself to others (social media is full of traders posting massive profits or losses - the thing is that you never know the full story of what it took to get there). 

Resources

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