Trading with low amounts? Does it make sense?

[Frost]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

[u9y42]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

I tried doing so some months ago - just a small test amount, to see how I'd do. I did manage to increase it by some 5% - 10%, but not only do fees start getting to you with low amounts (though that depends on where you're doing the trading), but you also have less of a room to maneuver if something goes wrong. So, it might be riskier than it's worth.

Anyway, I'm far from being a professional trader, or even a good one for that matter, so don't take my word for it.

[Frost]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

I tried doing so some months ago - just a small test amount, to see how I'd do. I did manage to increase it by some 5% - 10%, but not only do fees start getting to you with low amounts (though that depends on where you're doing the trading), but you also have less of a room to maneuver if something goes wrong.

Anyway, I'm far from being a professional trader, or even a good one for that matter, so don't take my word for it.

That's why I ask. I tried trading on btc-e and gained some small pennie amounts too but then I decided to send my bits back to my wallet. I thought it would be way too risky, as you said, you have not much room to play with it. But same as you, I am just someone who tried, who has no idea about trading.

[chriswen]

The fees are flat so it doesn't really matter.

I think trading with small amounts is fine as you get to learn about the market.  And there is still plenty of potential for profit.

Check out trading futures on okcoin.com .  You can utilize up to 20x leverage.

[tspacepilot]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

I tried doing so some months ago - just a small test amount, to see how I'd do. I did manage to increase it by some 5% - 10%, but not only do fees start getting to you with low amounts (though that depends on where you're doing the trading), but you also have less of a room to maneuver if something goes wrong.

Anyway, I'm far from being a professional trader, or even a good one for that matter, so don't take my word for it.

That's why I ask. I tried trading on btc-e and gained some small pennie amounts too but then I decided to send my bits back to my wallet. I thought it would be way too risky, as you said, you have not much room to play with it. But same as you, I am just someone who tried, who has no idea about trading.

I think your best best is just to give it a try.  Since you're talking about a small initial investment you might have fun and learn something too. 

I played around with trading at even lower stakes than you are talking about and I can tell that I found it frustrating to try to keep up with all the movements and altcoins and whatnot---then, as you said, the fees.  So it didn't work out for me but you might have better luck.

[gentlemand]

Go Chinese if you want to avoid fees. I dunno if the numbers can be trusted at all, but zero fees are a fine idea. I've only dabbled in piddly amounts. More often than not I failed miserably so it all panned out fine.

[tmfp]

I am just someone who tried, who has no idea about trading.

Check out trading futures on okcoin.com .  You can utilize up to 20x leverage.

That's a disasterous combination.

If fees aren't an issue then a good trading system will work with big or small amounts. Try and find one, read, understand, then risk your money, not the other way round.
Do trades 'on paper' until a system proves itself.
As they say "Only risk what you can afford to lose".

[Coinshot]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

Its a good idea as a starting point. I used to do the same too, and then slowly increased the amount as I gained more confidence and the ability to close a losing trade eating the losses.

[RyNinDaCleM]

A 10% gain is 10% gain no matter how much you decide to trade with. Trading with $60 is no different than trading with $60k except it's easier to get in/out once your target (or stop-loss) is reached. If that's all your risk tolerance allows, then so be it. Profit is profit and you can't bitch about profit no matter how small it is. The only regret when you're winning is that you didn't risk more, but this can also be a good thing if you make consistent losses. Even those small wins eventually add up if you win more then lose.

Since fees are percentage based, it doesn't matter as long as you factor the fees in. If you buy at 290, make sure you sell above 292.90 (1%) minimum. That accounts for round trip fees and you are at least a little better off than before you started. Obviously you'll want to go for bigger gains, but use that as a minimum or "break-even" trade.

I am just someone who tried, who has no idea about trading.

Check out trading futures on okcoin.com .  You can utilize up to 20x leverage.

That's a disasterous combination.

If fees aren't an issue then a good trading system will work with big or small amounts. Try and find one, read, understand, then risk your money, not the other way round.
Do trades 'on paper' until a system proves itself.
As they say "Only risk what you can afford to lose".

Good advice^

[techgeek]

Anything is possible, but dont expect high margins.

Unless you know something that most dont, and everyone looks at the same information. Have you had experience in day trading?

Go to war, with a gun?

Or go to war, with a nuke? both will win you battles, but its about lessing your casualty referencing to your money.

[tspacepilot]

[snip]

Since As long as fees are percentage based, it doesn't matter as long as you factor the fees in. If you buy at 290, make sure you sell above 292.90 (1%) minimum. That accounts for round trip fees and you are at least a little better off than before you started. Obviously you'll want to go for bigger gains, but use that as a minimum or "break-even" trade.

[snip]

As long as fees are percentage based then you are right, however I'm pretty sure that I ran up against issues where the fee was X at minimum and then Y% when  Y% was greater than X, ie a minimum fee.  If you have minimum fees to run up against then trading in micro amounts can indeed be different than larger ones.  Nevertheless, the spirit of your post is quite correct and I agree.

[Morecoin Freeman]

Low amounts is more easy actually. You can move your entire balance for one price. Far less planning ahead needed.

So what RyNinDaCleM said.

[RyNinDaCleM]

[snip]

Since As long as fees are percentage based, it doesn't matter as long as you factor the fees in. If you buy at 290, make sure you sell above 292.90 (1%) minimum. That accounts for round trip fees and you are at least a little better off than before you started. Obviously you'll want to go for bigger gains, but use that as a minimum or "break-even" trade.

[snip]

As long as fees are percentage based then you are right, however I'm pretty sure that I ran up against issues where the fee was X at minimum and then Y% when  Y% was greater than X, ie a minimum fee.  If you have minimum fees to run up against then trading in micro amounts can indeed be different than larger ones.  Nevertheless, the spirit of your post is quite correct and I agree.

Ok, there are no smaller parts of $0.01 so there is a minimum fee, but .1BTC is under $30 so a $60 position should be well within those minimums. Stamp, BFX, BTC-e for sure is purely percentage based with a minimum .01 or .1 BTC trade (I don't remember which). Chinese exchanges are zero fee, but charge fees for withdrawals (so not free trading when they may charge what you earn when you try to move your profits off exchange). I don't use coinbase exchange or kraken so I couldn't tell you about those.

If there were larger minimum fees then there would be no bots because bots trade tiny amounts, many many times to make many small profits.

[Meuh6879]

trade with 1BTC ... nothing less.
and you must have like 8-12 BTC to do balance over weeks.

[innocent93]

You need to trade on non-fee exchanges like Chinese exchanges or that fee would make your trading unprofitable.60$ isn't much, and due to market turmoil, you could lose money for frequent trading, frequent trading is not recommend.

[randy8777]

at this moment i am also trading with low amounts which happens to be around $100
i gained about 12% this month. not much for most people but decent enough for me.

[pooya87]

I wonder if some of you trade with very low amounts like $60 in BTC. Is there a chance that you can maximize that small amount by trading?

as someone who is a beginner in trading i tell you that it is alright to trade small amounts, just pay attention to the fees. as long as you are trading more than fee amount and profiting it is alright.
i started with the smallest amount possible for trading and build my way up. it helped me gain confidence while learning about how and when to trade to gain profit.

[Somekindabitcoin]

Back in the days, I would get myself about 20 bucks and buy up some altcoins which already had extremely low prices. I would then put up a sell wall at a price 2-5x higher than that in the hopes someone might pump the coin one day. Here I am today with huge profits.

[stonerider]

$60 is not a "low" amount, it's a "micro" amount. Don't bother. Move to an alt-coin, like dogecoin, and play there. You will have a much greater impact and opportunity.

[HarmonLi]

Just pay attention that the fees don't eat you up and make sure you don't fall for the Martingale system which, in Gambling, requires you to double your bet (investment) in case your position goes down.