Most traders start their journey with a small account…with the hopes of turning it into something big.

I’ve been in that situation —- and it sucks!

You probably feel like a tiny fish swimming in a large ocean with the sharks. And the gains might look small; it makes you wonder if it’s worth your time and effort. 

But the truth is there’s no magic bullet to growing a small account. It’s a gradual process that every trader must follow.

Here are some tips to grow a small account with penny stocks:

Consistency over speed

I tend to say this a lot but…

Stock trading is not a get rich quick scheme! This point cannot be over-emphasized.

Why?

Some traders come into the game with the intention of hitting massive home runs and quitting their jobs.

Starting with a small account means you’re limited with how much you can risk. So aiming to make $10,000 or more gains in a single trade is just unrealistic. 

There’s a lot of emotional, financial, and mental strain that comes with taking too much size in one play.

That’s why, regardless of how confident I am about a setup, I always try to stay within a reasonable limit and not get too big in any single trade. 

The focus should be on trading to reach your goals, no matter how small the gains are. 

These small wins — as long as they’re consistent — tend to add up over time (which could be months).

Remember, small and steady growth over unrealistic massive gains.

Focus on One Strategy and One Pattern

It can be tempting to trade all the exciting patterns you may have identified.

But the thing is, there are enough trading setups that will occur throughout the course of the month and year. And all these patterns and setups may require different trading strategies to apply them properly.

When your account is small, you cannot afford these experiments.

Focusing only on one strategy and one pattern is an effective method I’ve found to stay on the path of growth.

A big part of the battle is not allowing emotions to affect trading decisions and staying patient like a sniper waiting for a great trading setup…the one that suits you…to form.

I try to find my favorite pattern — one that gives me the best win rate and that seems the least risky. And then laser focus only on that pattern! 

Note: There might be patterns that seem “profitable” but they only pop up once or twice in a blue moon. I typically stay away from those. 

Have a trading plan

In my opinion, this is the most important point.

A big part of becoming and staying a great trader is discipline — discipline to stick to their trading plan.

Every trader MUST have a clear idea of what they want and how to get there.

When you have a small and limited account, every move you make matters. And for anyone that wants to stay profitable, it’s best to take steps to ensure that those moves are 

A good way should be to have a trading plan.

This is your guide — something that will help you stay on the right track.

 In this article, I go in-depth and talk about the 10 rules to incorporate in your trading plan.

There are some key points that every good trading plan should have: 

• What type of account (%) growth are you expecting annually? 
• What is your max position (% of account) size? 
• What markets will you trade? 
• What strategies and indicators will you utilize in your trading? 
• When preparing to enter a long or short position, what signals/indicators will you utilize to time your entry? 
• How will you determine targets? 

Remember, building out your trading plan — including the research, your watchlist, and more — should be done when the market is closed.

It’s common to be tempted to try something new or different when things aren’t going well or buying a stock that you didn’t want to buy when you feel like you’re missing out. 

Other times, you may exit a profitable trade too early because you are afraid the stock would go down only to watch it skyrocket.

You have to develop the discipline to stay focused. 

With correct planning and focus, you have a much higher chance of making the right move…rather than jumping in without a plan and trading based on your emotions.

Get in the right trader mindset

Like I mentioned earlier, trading with a small account means you cannot afford to make damaging mistakes.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s uncertainty in the market and we all learn from mistakes, but it’s important to try to keep it to a minimum.

That’s why traders need to learn to develop the right mindset.

To increase your chances of success, we should try to turn off our emotions when trading. 

Our fears, anxiety, greed, desire for perfection, and other emotions can get in the way of our decision-making process. This means the logical part of our brains — together with trading plans — would take the backseat.

That’s not good.

Part of this mindset is knowing when the conditions are right for trading.

It’s important to analyze the market’s health to determine if conditions are favorable for swing trading or not.

Even if you identify a good-looking set up in a stock, you have to stop to ask yourself if the trade is worth taking…especially if most stocks are collapsing.

For example, the market has been rough lately. Buying penny stocks aggressively since the end of November has been a sucker’s game. 

But still, I do my research and when the conditions are right, I take my shots.

Always keep learning

This point sums up the previous ones.

Like anything else, penny stock trading has its learning curve. And if you want to increase your chances of growing your small account, you need to be constantly learning and improving.

It might sound counter-intuitive, but when starting out, the money isn’t that important. Because the more time that you spend obsessing about money, the more money you tend to lose.

You need to focus on the process and learn. Invest in resources that will help you improve your risk management skills, fine-tune your plan, and overall make better decisions.