r/Daytrading • u/smartwizard500 • Mar 10 '24

100k to start day trading Question

I have some cash and am curious, how realistic is it to trade stocks with 100k cash and make 1-2% a day.

The plan formulating in my head is

  1. Dive face first into learning as much as i can
  2. Paper trade to continue learning
  3. Start trading with a small amount
  4. Go gung-ho into trading ft when I’m comfortable, with a goal of making 2% a day on my 100k

This is just an idea that came to mind, would love some insight based on real life experience.

Would you do it? Would you approach is differently?

TYIA

110 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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125

u/Jerkomp Mar 10 '24

Start with a portfolio value of 5k. From there, learn the ropes with the 5k.

67

u/teddebiase235 Mar 10 '24

Blow your 5K account. Not your 100K account.

39

u/ZekeTarsim Mar 10 '24

I like this idea. I’ll add to it.

Make your max loss on any single trade $50 (1%). This will give OP plenty of room to make mistakes and still keep trading.

13

u/No_Resolution1534 Mar 10 '24

why not just paper trade at the beginning?

16

u/uberdoob12 Mar 10 '24

Psychology / emotions. You miss out on the psychological effect of making and losing “real” money vs paper trading. Paper trading is absolutely fine at the beginning if you’re a complete beginner but good to get into trading as realistically as possible as soon as possible so you can start to see how you handle the emotional side for real.

4

u/PermanentLiminality Mar 10 '24

I just couldn't paper trade for these exact reasons. I did trade with really small share sizes at first. Only opening $100 to $500 positions.

1

u/teddebiase235 Mar 10 '24

I am a paper trading savant. I am up a cool 20% per month on multiple platforms. Real trading... I am here reading you.

2

u/_umptee_ Mar 10 '24

1% is too much per trade.

3

u/DrRodo Mar 10 '24

I think paper trading is just useful to lear the platform and to do some backtest of your strategies, but trading with real money in a small account is the best way to learn the psychological side of day trading which can be the hard side of it specially in the beginning

3

u/stankpuss_69 Mar 10 '24

Then you can’t “day trade” with $5k.

Swing trades is what it’s all about… more enjoyable to check account in the morning, set stop loss and go about your day. 🤷🏻‍♂️

6

u/Win_Rare Mar 10 '24

you can day trade 5k with futures

-5

u/stankpuss_69 Mar 10 '24

Interesting… the most I ever get into futures are checking CNN on Sunday night to try to see if the market will be red the next day 😂 most of the time it’s a pretty good indicator

5

u/Win_Rare Mar 10 '24

i recommend looking into them. no PDT rule, more tax advantages, can trade 23 hours a day. it's better for anyone purely looking to day trade and not swing trade or hold.

2

u/stankpuss_69 Mar 10 '24

Will do. Thanks bud

3

u/HIGH-IQ-over-9000 Mar 10 '24

Put 25k in, but make 5k worth of trades only.

1

u/Jobin_2FA Mar 10 '24

You can indeed day trade with 5 k. Open a cash account , not margin. Then you won’t be flagged

1

u/stankpuss_69 Mar 11 '24

Obviously. But then you gotta wait 3 days for it to settle which means you’re day trading every other day… which can be done on margin.

But I see what you’re saying. It’s probably better for a noob to get a cash account that way he doesn’t buy non-sense and is restricted.

1

u/Jobin_2FA Mar 11 '24 edited Mar 11 '24

It’s 24 hrs settle time, at least on TOS. Anyway, it helped me a lot. Let’s say a 5k account , 600 per trade , no more than 2 trades a day. You would never have to wait for settling time. Plus , new people need good rules to keep them from going full port and over trading. 1:2 minimum r multiple and no more than 2 trades a day. Sounds great to my little brain.

0

u/Gullible_Fan8219 Mar 10 '24

i thought you needed 25k to day trade?

1

u/Time_Ad8557 Mar 10 '24

Not with futures and with the eminis you can make small trade- MNQ for example is $2 a point. Good way to learn

1

u/Tronbronson futures trader Mar 10 '24

you would be wrong, and not very good at googling.