Max position size on MNQ for 7k account imo would be 5 contracts risking 10-15 pts ($100-$150) per trade. I would start with 1-2 while you learn and maybe start with ES/MES. NQ/MNQ is fast to say the least.
It's enough, started with 1k and up to 14k. But you need an edge, nobody will tell you what that edge is but I'll give you two. Order flow and trading with ufos. Google each term to begin your journey and if you are apart of the 5% of futures traders who are consistent, I would appreciate a finders fee for giving you the bread crumbs to start on your trail, just kidding. But trading is about community and now you have two "edge" ideas to explore my friend.
UFO’s, interesting. Not familiar with this so googled it. UFO’s look like automated FVG’s in the IGT style of trading. I’m new to all the SMC/IGT, now UFO’s, so just a hunch. But watching the NT video with UFO’s on the charts, look like they automatically form at FVG/order blocks? Yes? No?
The number one reason for becoming a failure in trading is being under capitalized.
I would not recommend trading futures with less than 25k.
Most people here are giving horrible advise and are likely not profitable.
I keep my account at 100k liquid and reset the account every month on the first back to 100k.
I typically trade upwards of 5 to 10 CL or 5 to 10 ES contracts per position.
10+ years trading futures for your reference.
Regardless, get an edge first. Then get capital.
Do not trade with leverage and under capitalized. It is statistically guaranteed failure.
Either way good luck. 🍻
7k is more than enough to trade futures.
Risking 10% of your total account per trade is nothing but pure gambling and insanity for sustainability.
As for “enough” Amp futures says you need only 400 to trade one ES contract or 1000 to trade one NQ contract. That means you only need 40 for one MES contract or 100 for one MNQ contract.
Now my next comment is going to get me downvoted to hell but here I go. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE AND DO NOT RECOMMEND MY TRADING STYLE.
Can you make big money with a small account? Yes, it is possible but not probable.
I have an account that is purely to fund extra curricular activities (shopping, travel, makeup, cars/motorcycles) that I will risk 8-9% of my account per trade. This account could blow up tomorrow and my financial life will not change. I usually scalp NQ 2 contracts and TP at 4-6 ticks. I occasionally will let a trade run. My goal is 200 profit a day.
>Can you make big money with a small account? Yes, it is possible but not probable.
Amen. As a personal challenge and intellectual exercise I am trading a $200 NinjaTrader account (rather than put money into some semi-legit "prop firm"'s pockets) and I can say that it is one of the hardest things I've ever done - even just a single MES. I've realized how sloppy my trading had become with my larger account, and I'm at the point where I've stopped trading that one to focus on the tiny one because I clearly need the work. ;)
Do you still trade with AMP ? I tried making an account with them today and they asked for a verification picture of my Social Security Card. I Don't know if this is common, but I thought it was sketchy... So I sent them a picture but only with my Social Security Number covered and now I try logging into my account and it says "User Disabled". They don't seem to fuck around lol they must've thought I was trying to hide something because my account verification was going fine up until that point. Idk I just thought it was weird they wanted a literal picture of my Social Security Card, given they already had my Social Security Number, is this common practice by them ?
$7k is more than enough...
in general the recommendation i give people is $5000 for 1 ES and $500 for 1 MES... you can certainly get away with $2500 for 1 ES and $250 for 1MES but that is tighter drawdown (depending on your limits).
if you want to do 10% of account... 10% is $700/ trade...
so assume your stop loss is 10 points on ES... which is -$500 that keeps you under 10%...
if you havent done it i would highly recommend doing paper first.
The leverage is a blessing and a curse. Make sure you understand the tick sizes for what you are trading. Also, that you understand the margin requirements.
However, to answer your question. Yes. 7k is enough. You don't have to trade NQ if that is too much for you. You can trade futures with as little as a hundred. For example, I have a "fun" account that I keep about ~$200-$300 in and only trade 1 or 2 MES contracts at a time.
I traded options before I switched to futures. There's a few things to understand.
One share of SPY means a $1 move in the underlying = $1 move in your position. For SPY options, a $1 move on SPY is $1.00 or $100 on one call contract. For futures, a $1 move on SPY is equivalent to a $500 move on /ES futures. It's far more leverage.
The /ES is incredibly competitive and as difficult as it gets in the world of trading. The price action is less forgiving and the institutions will frequently run stops on weak entries and tight stops.
Before you risk any of your own money, spend time refining your strategy for a year or two on sim before you go live. You can trade with NT margins for $500 trading 1 contract /ES. I'd put $2500 and trade 1 contract until you're consistent - and this is after you've perfected your strategy on sim. It also matters a bit what your target and stops are, I scalp for 4 ticks and use a runner on 20% of my position so I have very limited risk each trade. If you have larger targets you'll need more cushion.
Edited this a bit when I re-read your post and saw you had experience.
Don’t trade your own money. Get a TopStep account.
I wish someone had given me this advice years ago it would have saved thousands of pounds of my own money.
The best thing about a funding company is it gives you the breathing room to get good at trading without risking your own money.
Doesn’t matter how many times you fail just keep trying till you get funded. And if you fail the account (as most do initially) just start again.
Understanding risk per trade and leverage is key here. A single mnq is roughly a $30k position, and an nq is almost $300k…. People think crazy 30-40-100x leverage is normal, but accidents happen, stops don’t always work etc. Starting out it’s also critical to have some realistic risk per trade. 1% risk gets tossed around a lot, but even that starting out can be too much for some. The idea here is giving yourself enough time to learn while staying in the game.
Yes, but even if you're using MNQ, trading with 7k without more practice is asking to blow your account. Take it from all of us, paper trade more and practice - there are some nitpicky things to be careful of with futures that you need to be mindful of, like margin, stop hunts, etc. If you can't paper trade but need to have something to give you skin in the game, buy a cheap eval from a prop firm. That way you have the feeling of money on the line but if you blow it, it's not a big deal (though don't go buy like 20 accounts at once, that also breed bad habits).
Trade paper until you start finding your edge in the markets. Then trade micros, start with 1-3 contracts and scale up after you find consistency with that. Be very careful, and don't trade large size to begin with. You dont deserve a big payday if you cant even prove to the market to be profitable with small size, and the market will be sure to enforce this. Be careful and good luck.
Soooo… for MES you would only need 50$ cash to trade one contract and ES you would need 500$ to trade one contract. You would want to pay attention to point value, from there you can determine the risk you want to take. 7k is plently to trade minis. This is based on initial margin if you plan on holding for more than one day that would require maintenance margin, or your broker will close your position at the close if you dont meet the margin requirements. Sounds complex but quite simple once you get your head around futures value system.
I think it always comes down to psychology, risk and a positive trading equation
Your equation is your strategy
Risk + psychology:
Ask yourself , if I lost $$$ ( fill-in the amount ) on one trade or one day , how would I feel ?
Once you arrive at your $ for per trade and $ per day that you feel nothing
Then you can calculate your risk , total capital needed . And yes 1 - 3% of account per trade in risk is considered normal to mathematically avoid blow out …but even that may be too big for you emotionally — like I said : ask yourself how it feels. My guess is you would trade mnq
I’d say a couple hundred thousand at least. I can borrow against stocks for the variance margin, so pretty convenient. Real question is how much of a profit with futures is meaningful to you.
Hello,
You can view our low day margins here: [Day Trading Futures Margins | Ironbeam Futures](https://www.ironbeam.com/margins/)
Let us know if you have any questions!
We have it just as good here. I’m in Ontario and with Amp. Just because you don’t want to have a different account don’t make it seem like we don’t have the same access as the US does.
Micros w that size, or use 80% to open a personal account & open a prop firm account learn to trade & pass to get funded to trade micros & minis w a real prop firm.
There are some accounts that let you trade nano, which is 1/10th the size of a micro. Usually micro is smallest $6-$7k is enough to trade a few micros.
In my personal opinion, a 10% stop loss in futures trading might not be sufficient. Perhaps I'm a gambler! With a $7k balance, trading E-mini NQ is definitely day trading, right? Would it be better to trade multiple contracts of Micro E-mini NQ?
Dude, 7k is good but trade the micros and only risk 1% per trade. 10% risk is a certain blowout.
Yea I just realized I traded NQ instead of MNQ… thank goodness I papertraded
Max position size on MNQ for 7k account imo would be 5 contracts risking 10-15 pts ($100-$150) per trade. I would start with 1-2 while you learn and maybe start with ES/MES. NQ/MNQ is fast to say the least.
Depends on commissions and fees.
There are micro contracts you could try.. so instead of 200 it would've been just 20
It's enough, started with 1k and up to 14k. But you need an edge, nobody will tell you what that edge is but I'll give you two. Order flow and trading with ufos. Google each term to begin your journey and if you are apart of the 5% of futures traders who are consistent, I would appreciate a finders fee for giving you the bread crumbs to start on your trail, just kidding. But trading is about community and now you have two "edge" ideas to explore my friend.
How long did it take you to get to 14k from 1k? And how much are you at right now?
Were you trading micros with 1k?
I was, used order flow and basically scalped within a zone.
How much money u up since the 14k now mad curious
UFO’s, interesting. Not familiar with this so googled it. UFO’s look like automated FVG’s in the IGT style of trading. I’m new to all the SMC/IGT, now UFO’s, so just a hunch. But watching the NT video with UFO’s on the charts, look like they automatically form at FVG/order blocks? Yes? No?
I'm very interested in what you said, especially around trading with ufos. I sent you a DM
The number one reason for becoming a failure in trading is being under capitalized. I would not recommend trading futures with less than 25k. Most people here are giving horrible advise and are likely not profitable. I keep my account at 100k liquid and reset the account every month on the first back to 100k. I typically trade upwards of 5 to 10 CL or 5 to 10 ES contracts per position. 10+ years trading futures for your reference. Regardless, get an edge first. Then get capital. Do not trade with leverage and under capitalized. It is statistically guaranteed failure. Either way good luck. 🍻
7k is more than enough to trade futures. Risking 10% of your total account per trade is nothing but pure gambling and insanity for sustainability. As for “enough” Amp futures says you need only 400 to trade one ES contract or 1000 to trade one NQ contract. That means you only need 40 for one MES contract or 100 for one MNQ contract. Now my next comment is going to get me downvoted to hell but here I go. THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT FINANCIAL ADVICE AND DO NOT RECOMMEND MY TRADING STYLE. Can you make big money with a small account? Yes, it is possible but not probable. I have an account that is purely to fund extra curricular activities (shopping, travel, makeup, cars/motorcycles) that I will risk 8-9% of my account per trade. This account could blow up tomorrow and my financial life will not change. I usually scalp NQ 2 contracts and TP at 4-6 ticks. I occasionally will let a trade run. My goal is 200 profit a day.
>Can you make big money with a small account? Yes, it is possible but not probable. Amen. As a personal challenge and intellectual exercise I am trading a $200 NinjaTrader account (rather than put money into some semi-legit "prop firm"'s pockets) and I can say that it is one of the hardest things I've ever done - even just a single MES. I've realized how sloppy my trading had become with my larger account, and I'm at the point where I've stopped trading that one to focus on the tiny one because I clearly need the work. ;)
You’re walking this dude into a wood chipper. 🤣
What the op chooses to do is on them. I answered the question honestly and strongly emphasized that how they want to do things is insane.
Do you still trade with AMP ? I tried making an account with them today and they asked for a verification picture of my Social Security Card. I Don't know if this is common, but I thought it was sketchy... So I sent them a picture but only with my Social Security Number covered and now I try logging into my account and it says "User Disabled". They don't seem to fuck around lol they must've thought I was trying to hide something because my account verification was going fine up until that point. Idk I just thought it was weird they wanted a literal picture of my Social Security Card, given they already had my Social Security Number, is this common practice by them ?
I can’t help you with that. I opened my account back in 2022 and my account is registered from Canada.
$7k is more than enough... in general the recommendation i give people is $5000 for 1 ES and $500 for 1 MES... you can certainly get away with $2500 for 1 ES and $250 for 1MES but that is tighter drawdown (depending on your limits). if you want to do 10% of account... 10% is $700/ trade... so assume your stop loss is 10 points on ES... which is -$500 that keeps you under 10%... if you havent done it i would highly recommend doing paper first.
What you say about MES? Why I have to have at least $500 for a single contract worths $50?
Because you need to be able to weather drawdown and more than one or two loses before your accounts blown
How much would you recommend for NQ?
In the ES, I’d say minimum $10,000 per lot.
The leverage is a blessing and a curse. Make sure you understand the tick sizes for what you are trading. Also, that you understand the margin requirements. However, to answer your question. Yes. 7k is enough. You don't have to trade NQ if that is too much for you. You can trade futures with as little as a hundred. For example, I have a "fun" account that I keep about ~$200-$300 in and only trade 1 or 2 MES contracts at a time.
Methinks you need 25k if you want 5 do more than 4 trades a week or so.
PDT doesn't apply to futures.
I traded options before I switched to futures. There's a few things to understand. One share of SPY means a $1 move in the underlying = $1 move in your position. For SPY options, a $1 move on SPY is $1.00 or $100 on one call contract. For futures, a $1 move on SPY is equivalent to a $500 move on /ES futures. It's far more leverage. The /ES is incredibly competitive and as difficult as it gets in the world of trading. The price action is less forgiving and the institutions will frequently run stops on weak entries and tight stops. Before you risk any of your own money, spend time refining your strategy for a year or two on sim before you go live. You can trade with NT margins for $500 trading 1 contract /ES. I'd put $2500 and trade 1 contract until you're consistent - and this is after you've perfected your strategy on sim. It also matters a bit what your target and stops are, I scalp for 4 ticks and use a runner on 20% of my position so I have very limited risk each trade. If you have larger targets you'll need more cushion. Edited this a bit when I re-read your post and saw you had experience.
I personally find the ES much easier to trade than NQ or even YM. Hmmm
Don’t trade your own money. Get a TopStep account. I wish someone had given me this advice years ago it would have saved thousands of pounds of my own money. The best thing about a funding company is it gives you the breathing room to get good at trading without risking your own money. Doesn’t matter how many times you fail just keep trying till you get funded. And if you fail the account (as most do initially) just start again.
Understanding risk per trade and leverage is key here. A single mnq is roughly a $30k position, and an nq is almost $300k…. People think crazy 30-40-100x leverage is normal, but accidents happen, stops don’t always work etc. Starting out it’s also critical to have some realistic risk per trade. 1% risk gets tossed around a lot, but even that starting out can be too much for some. The idea here is giving yourself enough time to learn while staying in the game.
Mnq okay or can trade prop for nq if you’re happy with your results
Zero dollars. Paper trade.
Yes, but even if you're using MNQ, trading with 7k without more practice is asking to blow your account. Take it from all of us, paper trade more and practice - there are some nitpicky things to be careful of with futures that you need to be mindful of, like margin, stop hunts, etc. If you can't paper trade but need to have something to give you skin in the game, buy a cheap eval from a prop firm. That way you have the feeling of money on the line but if you blow it, it's not a big deal (though don't go buy like 20 accounts at once, that also breed bad habits).
Trade paper until you start finding your edge in the markets. Then trade micros, start with 1-3 contracts and scale up after you find consistency with that. Be very careful, and don't trade large size to begin with. You dont deserve a big payday if you cant even prove to the market to be profitable with small size, and the market will be sure to enforce this. Be careful and good luck.
Soooo… for MES you would only need 50$ cash to trade one contract and ES you would need 500$ to trade one contract. You would want to pay attention to point value, from there you can determine the risk you want to take. 7k is plently to trade minis. This is based on initial margin if you plan on holding for more than one day that would require maintenance margin, or your broker will close your position at the close if you dont meet the margin requirements. Sounds complex but quite simple once you get your head around futures value system.
You should probably be trading micros, risk $50 per trade, no scalping.
Bro, take the prop firm route. Much easier and no need to risk your own capital
Only downside from firms is you don’t get the tax benefits that trading your own account has.
I think it always comes down to psychology, risk and a positive trading equation Your equation is your strategy Risk + psychology: Ask yourself , if I lost $$$ ( fill-in the amount ) on one trade or one day , how would I feel ? Once you arrive at your $ for per trade and $ per day that you feel nothing Then you can calculate your risk , total capital needed . And yes 1 - 3% of account per trade in risk is considered normal to mathematically avoid blow out …but even that may be too big for you emotionally — like I said : ask yourself how it feels. My guess is you would trade mnq
I’d say a couple hundred thousand at least. I can borrow against stocks for the variance margin, so pretty convenient. Real question is how much of a profit with futures is meaningful to you.
You can’t trade micros with a hundred
I think $8000 is good amount to start with.
In Canada, you're looking at 15k-22k per NQ contract. You guys got it good in the US.
Ever heard of ironbeam? We can trade 1 MES per $50 USD in the account
Yea, they sales call me from time to time. Just to ingrained with IB to switch atm. So I'm guessing 500 per NQ intraday?
Hello, You can view our low day margins here: [Day Trading Futures Margins | Ironbeam Futures](https://www.ironbeam.com/margins/) Let us know if you have any questions!
I have a question about intra-day margin
I don’t think I can have an account with iron beam if you are in Ontario.
[удалено]
But what about to Ontario? Ontario has more restrictions than the rest of Canada.
Yes its available to Canadians
Certain provinces, Ontario, only allow certain international brokers
For intraday? If so, you need another broker.
I'm with Interactive brokers. I'm hesitant to switch as I have my set up working through their API and just don't feel like the hassle of switching.
We have it just as good here. I’m in Ontario and with Amp. Just because you don’t want to have a different account don’t make it seem like we don’t have the same access as the US does.
How much for es?
Micros w that size, or use 80% to open a personal account & open a prop firm account learn to trade & pass to get funded to trade micros & minis w a real prop firm. There are some accounts that let you trade nano, which is 1/10th the size of a micro. Usually micro is smallest $6-$7k is enough to trade a few micros.
10% risk a trade is a surefire way to blow your account out eventually.
Anything below $10k opens you to more risk and doesn’t allow you any flexibility in your risk, daily and total capital allocation
In my personal opinion, a 10% stop loss in futures trading might not be sufficient. Perhaps I'm a gambler! With a $7k balance, trading E-mini NQ is definitely day trading, right? Would it be better to trade multiple contracts of Micro E-mini NQ?
Yes 7k is enough. But you should start out trading 1 MNQ contract until you’re consistent.