What is the minimum amount of dollars I can start playing stocks and options with?

Question

I took number of courses and I read some books. Now I want to start, and for the begining I want to trade with as little amount as possible. So what that amount should be?

I appreciate your help very much!!

Answer 1

You can open an account at Scottrade with $500.

You might also want to create a practice portfolio at http://www.top10traders.com

good luck!

Answer 2

I'd say that if you just want to practice and you don't care about making money at first.  Then $10,000 would be a good amount to start with.

If you trade with less money than that.  Then your comission costs will be too high relative to your trading profits.  And you may end up loosing money even if you do relatively well in terms of trading.  Which can be discouraging.

But there is a way to practice without any real money at all.  You can open a free account and practice trading with virtual money at this website:

http://simulator.investopedia.com/home.a...

Answer 3

there are penny stocks you can buy.

Answer 4

I would not just start investing in individual stocks get into an ETF if you want to trade if you want to hold the money for the long run you can still get an ETF however you can also invest in an index fund or low ratio no load mutual fund. the choice is yours... It also depends on which stock you want a $1,000 of google (goog) stock is not many shares but a $1,000 of fulton financial (fult) is a lot of shares.. If I were you I would go with an ETF if you want to trade...

Answer 5

In the last several years the US dollar has lost nearly half of it's value as a denomination. This means that even if the stock market was valued at the same dollar amount as in 2000 it would still be worth half as much in real value.

You would be better off buying physical gold and silver. Both of these commodities have risen in price dramatically in this same time period mostly because they retain their value even as the US dollar is devalued by rampant inflation.