How to build-up a small Forex account

Dear Traders,

I've decided to launch a project aimed at proving you can be successful in Forex with a small account. But before I explain that project, let me first clarify the thinking behind it via a short exploration into my first months of Forex trading some 9 years ago.

In the early days I started with a small account and I thought it would be impossible to double my account unless I was over risking. My first account was blown up in couple of weeks. I was so disappointed in the market and the strategy I used. Be honest. Is there anything worse than picking a winner only to see all the potential profit go down the drain because you stayed in a trade too long? Even worse, back then I wasn't aware that I should step away from the market and refocus my concentration on the trading plan.

Those were all beginners' mistakes. I decided to completely resist the urge to trade instinctively without a clear plan. I stepped away and made a professional trading plan. My focus completely shifted on the price itself and I was determined to never repeat those mistakes. I had demo traded for one year, absorbing all the knowledge and learning from my personal experience until I felt ready to trade on a live account again.

Back then I was successful and I decided to share my knowledge on a website named Forex Factory. A few years after that, my thread on this site had become one of the most successful threads ever and the rest is history.

Low to high build-up project idea

In the story above you might recognize yourselves, at least in some parts of it. But, wait? You still don't believe you might actually succeed?

During my webinars with Admiral markets and Fxstreet, I have been constantly asked about the likelihood of building up a small account. Many traders implied that it was impossible, especially if you trade with a margin. Being a trader myself, I decided to prove the naysayers wrong by beginning the Low to high build-up project, with my colleague and business partner Chris Svorcik.

The original idea was to formulate a method that allows us to trade with high frequency, from a small funded account of 300EUR. Our main goal was to build up a small trading account and in doing so, prove that traders are able to succeed in the Forex market despite the omnipresent Forex myths.

As the creator and frequent user of the CAMMACD™ method (used for market analysis and swing trading during Session Recap webinars), I wanted to use it here too. However, Chris and I knew it would take a long time to build up a smaller account and that the institutionally-based CAMMACD™ is simply not meant for frequent entries (4-5 times per day). So we came up with an alternative software strategy and started the Low to high build-up project six months ago.

Preparing the project

The first thing we did was open up an ECN account, which could handle taking multiple entries, had almost non-existing spreads and very acceptable commission. Admiral Markets Prime account integrates the advanced ECN+ technology and was therefore a perfect choice. Using MT4 Supreme edition also proved fruitful as it later allowed me to see Forex correlation perfectly, when trading 2-3 pairs simultaneously.

I made the account's required minimum deposit, so we could create and test the method in a live environment. We naturally allowed ourselves losses during the testing phase, so we could thoroughly analyse the method's weaknesses and strengths.

Low to high build up stages

About four months of testing, we funded the account with EUR300 deposit to start the challenge. The project aimed to reach EUR1k in phase 1, representing solid proof that you can make money with a small account. Phase 2 and 3 have goals are EUR1k to 5k and 5k to 10K respectively.

The rules of our project are simple and follow the tripod of successful trading, which is ensuring you have:

• a profitable trading strategy (systematic approach based on technical and fundamental analysis)
• time focused on risk-management (money-management)
• an understanding of trading psychology.

Stage 1 is done

Despite all the challenges that a small trading account can pose, we managed to reach our stage one goal. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't easy, but it was immensely satisfying. And full credit to the Admiral Markets Prime account - trading with it helped us immensely, as you can see from my live video and the equity curve below.

Regardless of the markets traded or the strategy deployed, execution speed has been extremely important to successfully trading this account. I have been mostly trading, while Chris has helped me manage other things like scanning for good setups and video recordings. Trading can be very enjoyable when you have a good trading buddy.

So we've made a nice chunk of pips in stage one and proved that with careful trading practices, you can make money from a small funded account. However, the keyword here is careful - we've treated the project with respect rather than as some get-rich scheme.

Stay tuned for my April webinar to see how the project is going. Meantime, feel free to watch the video below on interesting trivia and trading tips from the Low to high build-up project.

Cheers and safe trading,

Nenad