I have been involved in forex since about 2005 (and a member here since 2006). However, I have only dabbled in it during all this time and taken demo trades only - but even then only every once in a while and not on any consistent basis during these past 9 years. After all these years, I'm finally getting serious about trading with actual money. I've found a style of trading I'm comfortable with and I'm going to give it a try with real money. So, in the sense of trading with a REAL money account, I guess you can say I'm an absolute "rookie". I simply do not understand the amount money we need to cover the margin requirements of brokers. Therefore, I have these questions about the amount of margin requirements we need to have in order to be able to trade:
1. I will have Oanda as my broker. I might have as many as 10 trades opened at one time (but very rarely). However, I generally have around 5 trades opened at any point in time. I use a 2:1 ratio of 25 pip stop loss and 50 pip target. I plan to trade $1 per pip. Therefore, in general, how much do I need to have in my trading account to cover my margin requirements (or any other financial requirements for that matter)... so I won't have any of my trades interrupted due to margin requirements?
2. Or, if the the above question is too hard to answer, due to whatever reason, then how about this question: In general, If I have $1000 in my trading account, how much of that money can actually be traded with? (With margin requirements, obviously the entire $1000 cannot be used). Or another way of saying it, do the brokers allow us to only trade with 10% of the money we have in our account? ... or 20%? ... or 30%? or more? (with the remaining percentage being the margin requirement?)
3. In regards to regulated brokers, is it required that all regulated brokers used the exact same margin requirements?
I would appreciate you guys helping out an old veteran "rookie" with my above margin questions.
1. I will have Oanda as my broker. I might have as many as 10 trades opened at one time (but very rarely). However, I generally have around 5 trades opened at any point in time. I use a 2:1 ratio of 25 pip stop loss and 50 pip target. I plan to trade $1 per pip. Therefore, in general, how much do I need to have in my trading account to cover my margin requirements (or any other financial requirements for that matter)... so I won't have any of my trades interrupted due to margin requirements?
2. Or, if the the above question is too hard to answer, due to whatever reason, then how about this question: In general, If I have $1000 in my trading account, how much of that money can actually be traded with? (With margin requirements, obviously the entire $1000 cannot be used). Or another way of saying it, do the brokers allow us to only trade with 10% of the money we have in our account? ... or 20%? ... or 30%? or more? (with the remaining percentage being the margin requirement?)
3. In regards to regulated brokers, is it required that all regulated brokers used the exact same margin requirements?
I would appreciate you guys helping out an old veteran "rookie" with my above margin questions.
"Trading is a mental sport." - Ziad Masri