"Now don't go telling me that opening up a small account with CMEG ain't a good idea son. I've been chopping up my small account successfully in these here fields fer 'bout 40 years... Now why don't you take that critical thinking with you, and go'on git." If you don't have enough cash on hand to fund a $25k account, be very cautious with opening up a CMEG account. The implication is that you need the money if you can't open a $25k account. I've been there, multiple times. It is a horrible psychological situation. If you like theatrics and you're the kind of person that loves reaching goals by the "skin of your teeth" then please use CMEG to grind your way to $25k. It is a masochist's dream. Here's a little peek into the average experience: Step 1 - Deposit $5k into CMEG to avoid PDT and get some "skin in the game" and "avoid risking a whopping 25k" (which is actually not the case, if you continue reading) Step 2 - Use your newly, very-recently-acquired, often-under-a-year-experienced, people-fail-all-of-the-time-at-this-but-not-me, I-deposited-money-into-CMEG-so-I-inherently-don't-have-prudence-to-give-myself-the-best-odds-but-I'll-have-self-control-while-trading-somehow, I-really-need-this-5k-to-get-bigger-because-I-need-financial-relief, found trading skills, in a low balance, high leverage live account every morning at 09:30 EST. Step 3 - Choose between your two new favorites: Low float stocks High margin requirements (often can't use the 6x leverage) No shares to short Limited education provided about these on BBT, especially low ticket # strategies Difficult to manage risk (spread / heavily manipulated / halts) Mid-cap / Large-cap stocks Poor short inventory (gets so bad sometimes that you develop a long bias just to trade the open) Lower % moves, so your account balance / commissions become a much more significant factor If you throw risk management out of the window to avoid the account balance / commission chop, in which case, your psychology becomes a factor However there is one other, IMO more important reason to just wait. (AKA invest your way to $25k or swing trade with a commission free broker) Once you have an IB account with a $25k balance or higher, they will not even let you initiate another trade if your unrealized balance drops below the $25,000 barrier. (Versus CMEG where you can lose every last dime of that $5k in a couple bad trades or a few choppy weeks) So while you are trading with IB, unless you are in an insanely leveraged position with no risk controls, you pretty much have a solid net there waiting for you at $25k. This makes using a $25k account a psychological cake walk compared to a $5k account with CMEG. Just deposit $25k, plus a buffer of say, $1k, and trade like you are using $5k. Then you just replenish your account for every $1k that you lose. Unless you are just raking in dough on your sim trades and know for-a-fact that you have A-MAZ-ING R:R on a high win % strategy, I would very seriously consider just investing/swing trading to $25k. The commission structure at CMEG does make considerably more difficult to successfully exercise a strategy with a low account balance. If you need the money please avoid using CMEG. "Now what did I just tell you boy?! Go'on gitttt!!!"