Trading with a 4k Account: Forex Trading, Spread Betting or CFDs?

Trading with a 4k Account: Forex Trading, Spread Betting or CFDs

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I'm often asked recurrent questions of whether it is practical to "trade with a 4k account" and the "how to trade sub 100k accounts" and I'm surprised so few mention forex as a viable alternative.

I understand that forex has the inherent disadvantage that you can only trade currencies as opposed to spread betting or CFDs, so you don't have the chance to really diversify; but then again, you wouldn't be able to diversify in anything with a small account.

On the other hand, there's at least one forex broker I know of, that offers the option of trading quantities as small as 1USD. This is 1/100,000th of a Lot, variable in 1/100,000 lot increments. That would allow a trader with practically any account balance, to follow any risk management rules they want to. Isn't this point, risk management, the critical point of trading such a small account?

Maybe nobody recommends forex because of the generalized lack of confidence in the brokers or the market itself?

In fact the main problem is that many Forex FCM's are modern bucket shop equivalents. They provide you with quotes and a free trading platform (like MetaTrader) and they have the ability to delay your order and widen the spread at their whim. It's basically you trading against your broker. Not exactly in your best interest. They are not regulated like other markets...not until recently from what I recall.

There are a few that are trying to narrow the spread and make things more consistent with spreads. If your edge in trading is high enough to beat the spread, then you're going to perform okay until you start losing your broker money. Then they might start fooling around with your executions to get rid of you...it's just like a page out of Reminiscences of a Stock Operator.

A better idea is to trade with a Direct Market Access broker like IG Markets or Interactive Brokers. Interactive Brokers seems to be a pretty good choice for small accounts because they have the lowest commissions (that I've seen) on stocks. IG Markets offer direct market access as well a market maker trading platform; both of which are second-to-none in their respective classes.

Perhaps you can find your edge, find a broker that you can tolerate, then switch to someone else when you have money. I say that with tongue in cheek because you have to be a great trader from the beginning not to undergo the emotional hang-ups one simply needs to go through at the beginning. At least with 4K, you can blow out your account with a small amount. I'm serious about this. I have never seen someone start trading and become successful right away. It's my opinion that you're better off starting out with what you have, and sticking with the markets that are tradable with a small account. If you are going to make mistakes as a beginner, and it is so much better to commit those mistakes when the overall loss is comparatively small.

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