How much money does it cost to start day trading is one of the most common questions that I get when people contact me about getting started. I try to be as clear and honest on this site as possible and the answer to that question is very complicated. The reason why is because when someone starts day trading there is a learning curve which involves training. Training is unpredictable since everyone is unique and more importantly, everyone learns at their own speed and capacity.
I’ve shared the truth about day trading companies in a previous post and in order to get started you need to have a strategy or system that truly works (click here).
You can spend thousands of hours back testing something that you think works or you can just find someone that has already done it for you. I don’t know of many people in our society today that would want to take the time to do to it themselves.
There are numerous companies out there that offer their services for $5,000 and up which will push your initial investment to over $10,000 easily. I don’t know of many people that have that kind of money laying around. It wasn’t easy for me when I first started, especially since I lost $25,000 in student loans in a month.
Getting started day trading is one of the cheapest businesses that you can start considering that a food franchise will run you upwards of $100,000. A McDonald’s franchise is reported to cost a minimum of $1,000,000, that is guaranteed money of course.
If you take day trading seriously you can make $150,000 in the 1st full year of trading.
That is assuming only 200 trading days a year (3 months vacation) and the absolute lowest profit potential that anyone can make in the emini futures market. Futures have a much higher profit potential than regular stocks. This is also after your training which will take a specific amount of time as well.
The amount of money you need to start day trading is roughly between $5,000 and $6,000 in my opinion. That includes everything that you need to get started, no hidden fees or extra costs. Let’s assume that you are able to find an affordable strategy at $2,500. Here is a break down:
- Day Trading System/Strategy: $2,500 – $15,000
- Initial Capital: $2,500
- Day Trading Platform (that strategy runs on): $180-3 months
- Monthly Coaching: 4 months at $100-$250 a month
You don’t have to spend this all at once since the payments will come in phases; first the day trading strategy, then the initial capital and day trading platform about 1-4 months after, and finally the monthly coaching after 60-90 days.
Understand that most day trading companies in operation today will give you between 60-90 days of free coaching and then offer the monthly coaching at a “really good price” as they say in Madagascar. This isn’t to say that you can’t spend more to start day trading. If you would like to spend $10,000-$20,000 to get started day trading then by all means do it if you think it’s a good investment.
If you want the opinion of a man (I’m still a kid at heart) that has been in this industry for almost 10 years, you shouldn’t spend more than $6,000.
One thing to remember is that you need to open a brokerage account with at least $5,000. You can withdraw that money out and just keep a lower balance but $5,000 is required to open an account.
Good post, what broker do you use and how did losing that money affect you psychologically?
Thanks.
Velocity Futures for me is the best Craig… great rates especially when you are doing volume. Affected me in that I couldn’t trust the market 100% because of all the money I lost.. this lead to me losing more money and going back and forth from sim MILLIONS of times until it finally clicked. One day I decided that was enough and after that its been good 🙂
Hello Marcello
This could sound funny but believe me this is a question that could cost me my life (financially speaking) ,
Why would you recommend me to take my money and my time to get in this program and well as you can see here in Mexico we have a very low income but with a bit of effort we can reach a program like this but for being completely honest with you i am afraid of white collar thieves and they could rip of my dreams about being a successful trader
Frank…. you can lose a lot of money trading yes. But you can make a lot of money as well. We have a trader that is making 33.07% a month and he is from Colombia. The opportunities are endless when you are able to make money trading just have to take it seriously.
By now, I have spent way more than 2500$ for methods…I think I have spend about 30,000$ minimum in education.
Expensive… but isn’t getting an M.D also expensive also: ) . If one spends only 2500 $ and gets it right the first time,
then he is very lucky indeed.
The issue with trading is that’s it’s a very competitive field and not many people will sell their golden goose… Lots of trading teacher sell their method but don’t trade it them self or just trade but are not profitable them self in the long run…They make more money in teaching, selling educational material and seminars. A good filter is : ” The more a method or mentor is advertised, the less value it has.” from my experience.
Kevin
Yes and this is what has me worried to be honest Kevin, I really haven’t got the money to just throw at systems but really due dilligance can only get you so far.
Was really hoping this would be something i could learn to help me get me back on my feet.
Hey John there definitely are other ways that you can get started trading. Don’t hesitate to let us know if you have any other questions
¿price?
¿start date?
Hey Steven… our mentoring program depends on availability so you can contact us here https://daytradingacademy.com/contact and we can let you know about openings into the training program.
I just want to be sure I am understanding correctly because I don’t see it explicitly said here and am having trouble finding it elsewhere on the site but, are you telling us that the day trading academy’s cost/price for us to learn your MIND Congressive Trading Method/System is $2500?
And then there is additional monthly coaching cost of $100-250 after that?
No Michael we are not talking about the pricing at DTA. That all depends on the availability of the program. Most training programs are anywhere between $2500 to $10,000 or more. Those are the industry averages.
Are you saying that these are the approximate start up costs of your program ? or what.Because the wording is a bit loose.
Day Trading System/Strategy: $2,500 – $15,000
Initial Capital: $2,500
Day Trading Platform (that strategy runs on): $180-3 months
Monthly Coaching: 4 months at $100-$250 a month
The cost of our program Mark depends on availability… we don’t just accept anyone in the program. The minimum require to open an account would be $1000. $60/month for NinjaTrader
Marcello, do you recommend Interactive Brokers?
For foreigners perhaps but not for US citizens…
“The cost of our program Mark depends on availability… we don’t just accept anyone in the program. ” Honestly sir…..this sounds very suspicious. I would prefer that you just state the cost of the program up front for the people that you do accept into it. That would clear up the question.
If you would like to know the price feel free to get in contact with us Rick.
Marcello – I’ve been following you for quite some time and have talked to some of your colleagues about joining but want to clear something up. My goal for first year earnings is 36k; second year 72k; third year 144k. I’m willing to invest in everything which would include your strategy, coaching and initial capital to open an account. Is this possible? A majority of resources state that a majority of traders fail due to under-capitalization and 10k is definitely on the low end in comparison to what I’ve read. How do you explain this? Furthermore my plan to achieve this objective is to move to Columbia or Brazil near one of your trading centers, teach English which would cover living costs and keep expenses low, and then re-invest my earnings in order reach my goal. With your strategy coupled with a 10k investment, would I reach my goal? Better yet, what is the likelihood of me reaching this given a high level of commitment? Thanks in advance and I look forward to it.
I would not say that it is due to under capitalization…. the reason why that comment is made is because a large amount of traders blow many accounts and eventually we all run out of money. Most traders lose money because of lack of discipline, persistence, and not being able to learn from their mistakes. This causes the problem where traders blow their accounts and therefore everyone thinking that is the problem. The root of the problem is not money, its how people go about learning how to trade and also lacking the discipline and persistence to do what they are supposed to do. In reference to what is possible… as a beginner and without minimizing risk or making more profit… you would be able to net an average of 2 pts per day. $100 per contract with 245 trading days that is roughly $24,500. That is to say.. that without learning anything new or advancing from a beginner one would be able to net that in the first year. If one sees consistency and increases that to 2 contracts you can double the net to $49,000 in the first year or more. Your average should also increase as one will learn how to minimize risk and maximize reward. The difference in what I have seen from traders that are successful and those that are not is actually time…. Successful traders put more time in study and fixing their mistakes. They also put a higher quality of time. Hope that helps Michael let us know if you have any other questions
Hi Marcelo, been watching some of the u tube clips on you and the day trading academy. I have see some of what they do at Nyc trade shows, how different is it what you do. I’v been a stock and option trader for over 10 years and always looking to improve.
Please let me know some more about Colombia training.
Thanks,
Ryan
The trade shows are really just events to showcase companies Ryan. That is pretty much about it. We can definitely have someone get in touch and you can also contact us via https://daytradingacademy.com/contact
I’m currently a student that moved from Florida to Arizona I’m currently in debt. I having been saving up for this academy sense I first heard about it I having been doing my research not yet encountering a terrible review and other programs are so expensive. I only have 5,000 in my bank account I have a real passion for becoming a expert in day trading I had account with E-trade and TDAmeritrade before but all I did was lose money I don’t have much but I rather invest in something that I would love to do
What do you think about trading forex?
Do you have a class on forex?
Forex has quite a bit of manipulation David so there are much better markets to be able to trade on. For beginners we recommend Stocks and Futures. Money can be made in Forex but unfortunately there is quite a bit of manipulation including the brokers altering orders (when we are supposed to trust our brokers).