For intraday traders, it might be recommended to at least have an initial capital of $2,500. For the scalpers a minimum of $10,000. For long term traders, they should have at least $20,000 also so as to sustain the trade for a longer time in the market while still aiming at their target levels. However, this doesn’t mean that if you don’t have this amount of capital you can’t trade. No. You can still trade but you will be putting your capital which you have saved for some time at a great risk. It is always good to wait until you have the right amount of capital required. Depending on the amount of leverage, lot size, the lot volume and the number of open trades at a time the traders can be in a good position to know exactly how much capital he or she should have. The amount of Capital = Number of trades ((Lot Size × Lot Volume)/ Leverage) For example with a leverage of 50:1, micro lot size, a lot volume of 10 and necessity of 5 trades at a time, the trader will require approximately $ 20,000 at any instance of trading. And to be safe, the trader should at least have 200% of the amount that is required for every trading so as to take into consideration the spread and other market factors like retracements. If any of the above is changed the required amount of capital will be greatly affected. For example if the leverage is increased to 400:1, the trader will require approximately $2,500.