Account opening, KYC documents, starting capital and a sensible first-90-days plan.
5 questions and answers in this section, reviewed monthly.
Technically $50–$100 opens most accounts, but a realistic working minimum is $500–$1,000. Below that, a disciplined 1% risk per trade equals $5 or less, which cannot absorb spread and swap on a normal stop distance, so traders over-leverage to make it feel worthwhile. Start with capital you can lose entirely without changing your life, and add to it monthly rather than in one lump.
A government photo ID (passport or national ID), a proof of address issued within the last 3–6 months (utility bill, bank statement or tenancy contract showing your name and address), and increasingly a selfie or short video for liveness. Names must match exactly across documents — a middle name present on the passport but missing on the utility bill is the single most common rejection.
Registration takes 5–10 minutes. Automated verification often approves within 15 minutes to a few hours; manual review takes 1–3 business days. Deposits credit instantly by card or wallet and within 1–3 days by wire. Expect to be trading the same day if your documents are clean and legible.
Weeks 1–4: demo only, one currency pair, one setup, a written rule for entry, stop and target. Weeks 5–8: live at the smallest size with a maximum of two trades per day and a journal entry for each. Weeks 9–12: review the journal for expectancy, not profit, and only increase size if the rules were followed at least 90% of the time. Most accounts fail on discipline, not on strategy.
Close or hedge open positions first — positions cannot be transferred between brokers. Withdraw to the original funding method, confirm the balance is zero and download your full trade history and statements for tax records before the account is closed. Open and verify the new account before closing the old one, so you are never out of the market with capital in transit.
