The dataset
This is the table the checker runs on. Every number on it is derived from two terms, and every input is a declared, dated modelling convention you can replace with your own figures. Nothing here is a broker's minimum deposit, and nothing is asserted from thin air.
Facts checked on October 22, 2026
The risk term. Every honest teacher in this industry teaches the same rule: risk no more than 1% of your account on one trade. So the first term is mechanical — take one normal trade at the smallest sensible size for the market, measure what it risks when its stop is hit, and multiply by 100. Below that capital, a normal trade breaks the 1% rule by construction; a normal ten-loss streak — not bad luck, a streak every trader meets — costs proportionally more of the account.
The cost term. Trading is not free even where commissions are $0: spread, slippage, exchange and overnight fees are charged per trade, and at small size they are proportionally largest. We cap bearable costs at 2% of capital per month, at a declared beginner frequency. The second term is monthly cost ÷ 2%.
Minimum viable capital = the larger of the two terms. The survival floor printed in verdicts is the unit risk × 25: below it, one normal trade risks more than 4% of the account.
| Market | One normal trade risks | The two terms | Monthly cost at beginner frequency | Minimum viable capital |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| US stocks — day trading | $3.00 per trade | $300 risk term · $1,000 cost term | $20/mo at 40 trades | $1,000 |
| US stocks — swing | $5.00 per trade | $500 risk term · $200 cost term | $4/mo at 4 trades | $500 |
| Options | $20.00 per trade | $2,000 risk term · $2,000 cost term | $40/mo at 8 trades | $2,000 |
| Forex | $3.00 per trade | $300 risk term · $1,000 cost term | $20/mo at 20 trades | $1,000 |
| CFDs (indices, gold, oil) | $5.00 per trade | $500 risk term · $1,250 cost term | $25/mo at 20 trades | $1,250 |
| Micro futures | $40.00 per trade | $4,000 risk term · $3,000 cost term | $60/mo at 20 trades | $4,000 |
| Crypto — spot | $7.50 per trade | $750 risk term · $500 cost term | $10/mo at 8 trades | $750 |
| Crypto — leveraged | $10.00 per trade | $1,000 risk term · $2,000 cost term | $40/mo at 20 trades | $2,000 |
| Prop-firm challenge | — (judged on attempts) | $99 ticket ÷ 14% ≈ $707 to funded; ÷ 6.3% ≈ $1,571 to a first payout | $99 (list) | $1,571 |
Unit risks assume the smallest sensible position and a normal — not worst-case — stop distance, at retail prices, checked October 22, 2026. Frequencies are beginner frequencies: a day trader at about two round trips a day, a swing trader at four positions a month, and so on; trade more and your cost term rises in proportion, which the checker shows when you change markets. If your own spread or stop is wider, your personal minimum is higher — the Kit's fourth part is the worksheet for replacing our conventions with your measured ones.
The minimums beginners actually meet: $0–$10 to open a forex or CFD account (HFM $0, XM $5, FBS $5, Exness $10, Pepperstone $10; IC Markets $200 — published minimums, checked October 2026), $0 at the big stock apps, about $5–$10 at crypto exchanges, and challenge tickets from about $20. An advertised minimum answers "what will you accept?" A computed minimum answers "at what size do the mechanics stop fighting me?" They differ by one to two orders of magnitude, and only one of them is derived.
| Regulator | Major forex pairs | Indices / gold | Crypto |
|---|---|---|---|
| EU (ESMA) / UK (FCA) | 30:1 | 20:1 | 2:1 — and UK retail crypto derivatives are banned outright |
| Australia (ASIC) | 30:1 | 20:1 | 2:1 |
| United States (CFTC/NFA) | 50:1 | CFDs are not offered to US retail clients at all | Offshore leveraged crypto is not legally offered to US retail |
| Offshore (unregulated for you) | up to 500:1 in affiliates' own tables | up to 500:1 | up to 100:1+ |
The cap is not a detail: the same $500 account is a different instrument at 30:1 and at 500:1, and the marketing that routes beginners offshore rarely leads with which entity — and which cap, and which compensation scheme, if any — actually holds their money.
This dataset is re-checked quarterly, or immediately when a major issuer changes its fees or a regulator changes a cap. Every change updates the check date above and the checker's answers at the same time, because both are generated from this one table. If a cell here is more than 45 days past a scheduled re-check, it is unpublished rather than left to age.
The verdict gives you the arithmetic for your market and your capital. The Start-or-Wait Kit gives you the complete workbook: the demo-record audit (the 50-trade review grid), the staged capital plan up to your market's minimum viable capital, the 90-day learning plan week by week, and the real-cost tracker — the spreadsheet experienced traders build by hand, ready to fill in.
Included in the $39 Start-or-Wait Kit
Sources: FINRA Regulatory Notice 26-10 (April 20, 2026) and the brokers' own pages for the PDT tracker; ESMA Decision (EU) 2018/796 and the AMF restatement for European CFD loss figures; ASIC Report 828 (FY2023–24) for Australia; CFTC retail forex materials for the United States; Barber, Lee, Liu & Odean (Taiwan market data) and Chague & De Losso (Brazil) for day-trading outcomes; the FPFX Technology dataset of 300,000+ prop-firm accounts, reported by Finance Magnates (2024); broker-published minimum deposits and margin schedules as dated on the dataset page. If a figure has moved since our check date, the issuer's own publication wins — and write to help@doogex.com so we can correct ours.