Am i under under-capitalized?

I started trading a mini account at GFT with 500.00...a year later i lost 90% and put in 2500.00 more for a "regular sized" account where each pip is 10.00 instead of 1.00.

well 10%...a large chuck of money for one trade is 250 (25 pips), but i'd rather risk NO more than 2%

maybe i answered my own question, but other opinions are welcome.

try Oanda........

Yes Oanda and don't trade more than 2 or 3% unless you are a great trader.

Why not simply keep it at a mini and not trade $10 pips. Your bankroll is a bit low for that. Even a moderate stop, say 25 pips, means 10% risk.

Good luck

Lux

On a small account like $2500, 2% risk means $50. If your trading a standard lot, that is 5 pips. The spread alone is 2 -3 pips. Also, you wont be making much if your risking only 2% per trade.

Try tading half a lot and increase your risk a bit. I think it is reasonable to risk 5-10% a trade on an account like $2500.

The 2-3% risk is more realistic and applicable with a larger account.

Hope this helps.

He's right. Oanda is good for small fractional trades (as low as 1 unit of currency).
Roll over interest rates are fair. Spreads get sticky sometimes like on Sunday night
and on Friday afternoon, but the rest of the time they're not too bad.

They trade 24/7 (yes, even on Saturday, if you chose to) and even though the weekend spread is 10 pips,
nowadays there may come a time where you need to hedge something -even over the weekend
and they claim they'll do upto 10 million. Haven't tested that though.

ONE BAD HABIT AT OANDA:
Every so often,the platform disconnects, sometimes while you are trying to place an order.
It's never when you don't care, it's when you're trying to exit a position and suddenly
*WHAP* disconnected from server.....trying to reconnect....

I don't use them for my primary trading, because at the end of the day, they're market makers
and it's tough enough trading these markets as it is without having to compete
with the people on the other side of the platform too. As a backup, however they've served well
for out of the ordinary situations where there wasn't another option.

Hey, what ever you do, just remember keep it small if you're small.
With 100,000 USD cash we're still considered very small out here.
You can't trade a million euros with a few thousand dollars margin.
You could but either you'd have to grow quickly (risk to the extreme)
or a few pips loss a few times and your $$ would be a memory.

Keep the risk manageable. Whether it's 1000 dollars or Ten or 20K or whatever you're risking,
get into the habit of letting go at 1 percent or 1/2% or what ever you decide.
Don't let the market bleed your account dry and take all of your money away.

Use a stop and live with the losses. We don't bitch and moan when we have to pay for
groceries or wait and see if the prices at McDonalds will get cheaper in 30 minutes.
Pay your stops. It's a cost of trading. No different that any other aspect of life.

I talked to a rep at GFT and they will still let me trade mini lots at 1$ per pip, I just need to fax them a form in the morning. I didnt think that was possible so I'm glad i asked.