How Much Money Do You Need To Start Trading Crypto?

Most traders think big money makes big traders. They’re wrong. Big money just makes big mistakes more expensive. The right number to start with isn’t “as much as possible.” It’s “enough to learn, survive, and scale.”

As of October 02, 2025, crypto still moves fast, breaks expectations, and rewards traders who respect risk. You don’t need a whale wallet to play. You need a plan, a bankroll that matches it, and rules you actually follow.

Let’s talk numbers, not myths.

The right number to start with isn’t “as much as possible.” It’s “enough to learn, survive, and scale.”

Short answer: How much money do you need to start trading crypto?

You can start with $50. You’ll learn order flow, get a feel for volatility, and practice without sweating rent money. You can get serious with $250–$1,000. You’ll size positions correctly, spread across a few setups, and stomach fees without shrinking your edge. You can push for consistent income with $5,000–$25,000. You’ll run multiple trades, hedge, and treat the game like a business.

One more number matters more than any bankroll: risk per trade. If you risk 0.5%–1% of your account on each position, you stay in the game long enough to actually get good. If you punt 5%–10% per trade, you won’t. Simple.

My take:

• Start with the smallest amount that still lets you stick to your rules and feel the swings.
• Keep risk per trade near 1% or less until you prove you can string wins without tilting.
• Add capital only after you log 50–100 trades with positive expectancy and clean execution.

What counts as “trading capital”?

Traders love to blur lines. Don’t. Your trading capital equals the money you set aside strictly for trading activity. Not rent. Not emergency cash. Not the coin you plan to hold for five years in cold storage.

Split your money like a pro:

• A float for living: safe, boring, untouchable.
• An investment sleeve: long-term Bitcoin or other assets you plan to hold through crypto cycles.
• A trading bankroll: active positions you’ll enter and exit based on your strategy.

You protect your trading lens when you separate these buckets. Your decisions stay sharp because fear and FOMO stop arguing over the same dollars.

Why it matters now (2025)

Liquidity looks better than the bear lows. Retail interest comes in waves again. On-ramps feel easier. You can buy Bitcoin with a few taps in a brokerage app, then flip to a crypto exchange for more instruments and more pairs. That convenience brings temptations. It also brings tighter spreads and deeper books on majors. Good for starting small.

Volatility didn’t vanish. It just rotates. Bitcoin sets the pace. Altcoins sprint when flows spill over. Funding rates whip futures traders who sleep on positioning. The cycle still breathes: expansion, euphoria, contraction, despair, grind, repeat. Your bankroll must survive every phase, not just the fun ones.

What style fits your starting bankroll?

Different trading styles ask for different capital, time, and temperament. Pick a lane that matches your life and your wallet.

Style	Typical Starting Capital	Risk Per Trade	Time Commitment	Volatility Exposure	Fee Sensitivity	Core Skills
Spot swing (BTC/ETH/majors)	$250–$2,000	0.5%–1%	3–5 hrs/week	Moderate	Low–Medium	Trend, support/resistance, patience
Intraday scalping (majors)	$1,000–$5,000	0.25%–0.5%	2–4 hrs/day	High	High	Tape reading, execution speed
Perps/futures swing	$1,500–$10,000	0.5%	5–10 hrs/week	High	Medium	Risk control, funding awareness
Options (long premium)	$500–$3,000	Premium paid	2–4 hrs/week	Capped loss, convex payoffs	Medium	Vol crush timing, strike selection
Position trading (weekly/monthly)	$500–$3,000	0.5%	1–2 hrs/week	Moderate	Low	Macro context, patience
DCA + trend add-ons	$50–$1,000	per add 0.5%	1 hr/week	Low–Moderate	Low	Discipline, rules for adds

Two filters decide the right lane:

What is the minimum for spot trading?

• Your schedule. If you can’t watch candles every hour, don’t scalp.
• Your stress threshold. If leverage shakes you, trade unlevered spot until you build reps.

You can trade spot with $50 at most U.S.-friendly exchanges. That amount covers a few micro positions on majors like Bitcoin or Ethereum. You won’t make rent with it. You will practice entries, exits, and stop placement. You’ll see how spreads and fees interact with tiny size.

I like $250 as a smoother floor. You can split into five $50 risk units. You’ll afford a few tries on a setup. You’ll test whether your plan holds under pressure. That’s the entire point.

What about futures and perps? Do you need a bigger bankroll?

Short answer: yes, if you want a margin of safety. Futures amplify mistakes. Liquidations cut fast. Funding payments nibble or bite, depending on your timing. With $1,500–$5,000, you can run 1–3 positions with 1x–3x leverage and keep your liquidation far from your invalidation. You don’t need 10x. You need room.

If you trade perps with $500, size tiny and stick to isolated margin. You can still build skill, but don’t chase home runs. You’ll tilt fast when a wick tags your liquidation. Risk control matters more than your thesis.

⚠️ Warning: Liquidation is not a stop. Price can gap through thin books. Keep leverage low (1x–3x), use isolated margin, place hard stops, and keep liquidation far from your invalidation.

How do fees and spreads hit small accounts?

Fees behave like termites. They look small until they eat the frame. Two dollars here, five dollars there, thirty trades later your edge leaks out.

You face three costs:

• Trading fees: maker/taker on centralized exchanges.
• Spread: the gap between bid and ask.
• Slippage: the extra price you pay when your order fills through the book.

Small accounts feel spreads and slippage the most. You solve this by trading majors, placing limit orders at logical levels, and avoiding chop where books go thin. You also track your effective fee rate (fees + average slippage / average trade size). If your strategy makes 1.2% per trade, but your effective cost runs 0.6%, that edge dies on contact.

On-chain trading adds network fees. L2s help. Still, don’t scalp on-chain with micro size. Spot swing on majors fits better.

What risk rules keep small accounts alive?

Traders love setups. Pros love risk rules. Rules keep you in the game when your setup hits a cold streak.

Four rules that never stop paying:

• Risk a fixed slice of equity per trade (0.5%–1% for most).
• Cap daily loss (2%–3% of equity), then shut it down when you hit it.
• Keep max open trades small (2–3 until your journal proves you can handle more).
• Cut leverage when volatility expands.

Those rules sound simple. They save accounts because they cut off tail mistakes: revenge trades, double-or-nothing flips, and “this one can’t fail” bets.

How do you set position size?

You size your trade from the risk, not from the dream.

• Pick your stop level based on the chart, not your feelings.
• Measure the distance from entry to stop in dollars per coin.
• Decide risk per trade (example: 1% on a $1,000 account = $10).
• Position size = risk / (entry minus stop).

Example:

• Account: $1,000.
• Risk per trade: $10.
• You want to buy at $2,000 with a stop at $1,960. Risk per coin: $40.
• Position size: $10 / $40 = 0.25 coin equivalent. If that coin trades in smaller units, perfect. If not, adjust the setup or skip it.

You run the same math for perps. Just replace “coin” with “contract value” and keep liquidation far from your stop.

What drawdown should you plan for?

Even strong systems draw down 10%–20% at times. New traders see deeper dips. Your bankroll plan must accept a cold patch without wrecking your head. If you risk 1% per trade and hit a nasty run of 10 losses, you lose about 10% plus compounding effects. You won’t love it, but you’ll still stand. If you risk 5% per trade, that same run nukes half your account. You won’t stick around to see the recovery.

What about options for small accounts?

Options let you cap risk and seek convex payoffs. You can start with $500–$2,000 and buy long calls or puts on majors around key levels. Your worst case equals the premium you paid. You still need timing. Theta decay punishes late entries. You also need a broker or exchange with liquid options, decent spreads, and clean risk controls.

I like long options when the chart prints clean inflection zones, and funding skews risk on perps. I pass when vols spike or spreads widen. Options protect your downside; they don’t protect you from bad timing.

Which exchanges work for U.S. traders in 2025?

Stick with compliant venues that serve U.S. customers. You want clear disclosures, transparent fee schedules, and a real track record. You don’t chase the last 2 bps of fee savings by sending funds to a gray-zone platform. You pick safety and simplicity, especially when you start. Institutional best practices are creeping into retail access too; see Crypto Fund JellyC Teams Up With Standard Chartered, OKX for Secure Crypto Trading.

Two common paths:

• Centralized exchange for spot and simple perps with strict KYC and solid custody controls.
• A hardware wallet for long-term holdings and a hot wallet for small, active swing tokens if you step on-chain.

Check fee tiers before you trade. Some exchanges drop fees on specific pairs like BTC-USD when you add maker liquidity. That edge stacks up over hundreds of trades.

How do you choose coins when you start small?

You choose depth and clarity first. Bitcoin and Ethereum give you both. They trend clean, pull back clean, and respect levels more often than obscure alts. They fill orders without nasty slippage. They don’t rug. You can trade a few strong alt pairs after you log a hundred clean trades on majors.

From what I’ve seen, beginners bleed by chasing mid-cap pumps. They arrive late, size big, and panic on the first 12% pullback. The chart never cared. They just walked into a rotation and brought no plan.

Pick 1–3 pairs. Learn their rhythm. The chart rewards focus.

What does a realistic growth path look like?

Traders burn out when they demand salary-level returns before they earn skill-level consistency. You can scale a small account if you respect compounding and avoid tilt.

Here’s a grounded path:

• Months 1–3: trade micro size on 1–2 pairs, risk 0.5%–1% per trade, run 3–5 trades per week, journal every entry and exit.
• Months 4–6: bump size by 25% if your journal shows positive expectancy over at least 50 trades. Keep drawdown under 10%. Cut back if you exceed it.
• Months 7–12: add a second strategy or timeframe only if your first holds up. Increase size slowly. Withdraw a small slice of profits to build the habit, not to starve the account.

One warning: compounding tempts you to double size overnight. Don’t. Stairs up. Elevator down. You can scale faster only after you prove steadiness across bull spikes and bear pukes.

Can you grow $100 into $10,000?

Yes, but not on a schedule. The market set the timeline, not you. You stack small edges, let compounding work, and avoid blowups. You won’t force a 10x month without staking your account on low odds. That’s gambling. The goal is repeatability. I value boring edges that pay every quarter over hero trades that pay once.

Do you need a separate wallet when you start tiny?

You don’t need a hardware wallet for $50. You do need strong security from day one (see The Safest Way to Start Trading Crypto in 2025). Turn on 2FA with an authenticator app (not SMS), lock down your email, and store backup codes offline. When your long-term holdings cross a number that would ruin your week if lost—say $1,000–$2,000—buy a hardware wallet and move your long-term Bitcoin there. Keep your trading float on the exchange you actually use every week. Keep your cold funds out of the blast zone.

“Not your keys, not your coins remains the fundamental truth of crypto custody.” — Andreas Antonopoulos

How do taxes affect your starting capital in the U.S. in 2025?

Treat crypto as property for U.S. tax purposes. Trades trigger capital gains or losses. Short-term gains match your ordinary income rate. Long-term gains get a different rate if you hold for more than a year. Wash sale rules still don’t apply to crypto in the same way they apply to stocks, so loss harvesting remains a tool. Exchanges often issue 1099 forms. You still carry the reporting duty even when you don’t receive one. According to the IRS digital assets guidance, taxpayers must report crypto-related income and transactions.

I keep every trade in a journal and export CSVs from exchanges and wallets. I reconcile them with tax software or a crypto-savvy CPA. You protect your bankroll when you treat taxes like a core cost of business, not an afterthought.

None of this counts as tax advice. Talk to a professional when your numbers grow.

What trading strategies suit small accounts now?

Three strategies travel well from $250 to $5,000 without drama.

Spot swing on majors:
You find a clear trend on the 4H or daily chart. You mark key levels. You buy pullbacks into support with stops under structure. You sell partials into strength, trail the rest, and never add to losers. The edge comes from clean structure and discipline, not from guesses.

Range fade on majors:
You map a well-defined range. You short near resistance and buy near support with tight stops. You only trade when price rejects the edge with real volume. You stand aside when the range breaks and trend resumes.

Trend-following with DCA adds:
You pick a trend filter—like price above a long-term moving average—and set a base DCA schedule for Bitcoin. You add small “trend adds” on clean breakouts with fixed risk. You avoid buying chop. You build core exposure with time and add juice only when the market actually moves.

What timeframes should beginners watch?

Trade where you can stay focused yet patient. Many beginners chase 1-minute candles because they look exciting. Those charts demand fast hands, perfect discipline, and low fees. Start on the 1H–4H charts for swings and the 15m for tighter entries into a 4H trend. You’ll breathe, plan, and avoid a thousand tiny fees.

Intraday pros thrive on the 1–5m. They spent months earning that right. You can earn it too, just not in week one.

How to build your first trading plan

A plan saves you when your mood flips. Write it like you mean it.

• Your market: BTC and ETH only for your first 100 trades.
• Your setup: trend pullback into the 20/50 EMA confluence on the 1H or 4H.
• Your trigger: strong rejection candle with above-average volume or a clean sweep of lows/highs.
• Your risk: 1% per trade. Stop under swing low/high. No moving stops wider.
• Your management: take 50% at 1R, move stop to breakeven, trail the rest behind structure.
• Your daily rules: stop trading after two losses or after hitting daily goal. No news-chasing.

That plan does more than protect money. It protects your head. You trade your plan or you sit out. Both count as discipline.

What mistakes drain small accounts the fastest?

A few landmines pop up in every cycle:

• Oversizing. You set stops in your head, not in the system. A wick cleans you out.
• Overtrading. You chase every tick and pay fees for the privilege.
• Altcoin roulette. You buy thin books on hype and get trapped.
• Moving stops wider. You turn a planned loss into a much bigger one.
• Revenge trading. You try to “get it back” after a loss and double the damage.
• No journal. You repeat the same mistake because you never wrote it down.

I’ve watched friends fix 80% of their P&L leaks by cutting just two of those habits: oversizing and overtrading. You can do the same.

How many positions should a small account run?

Keep it lean. One to three at a time. You can’t manage seven charts and still respect your stops with a $500 bankroll. Each extra position splits your attention and your margin. Focus raises your win rate and lowers your fees.

Should you ever add to a losing trade?

Add to winners. Cut losers. That rule saves more traders than any indicator. You earn the right to pyramid when price moves your way and structure confirms. You never “average down” because you feel stubborn. That path often ends with “liquidation price” staring back at you.

What do compounding and withdrawals look like for small accounts?

You grow fastest when you compound gains back into your size in small steps. When your equity jumps 20% from a hot streak, don’t instantly jump 20% in size. Step up 5%–10%. Let your psyche catch up. Bank a small sliver—5%–10% of profits—once a month to build the muscle and remind yourself the money is real.

Withdrawals won’t stunt growth when you win consistently. They keep your risk aligned with your actual goals. A trader who never withdraws often chases vanity metrics. A trader who withdraws on a schedule runs a business.

What does a day look like for each style?

Spot swing:
You scan levels before work. You set resting limit orders with alerts at your entry and stop. You check during lunch, adjust if needed, then leave it alone. You journal after the close.

Intraday scalper:
You prep key zones at the open, trade the first 90 minutes where volume peaks, and shut it down after two losses or your daily goal. You review tapes and mark your best fills.

Perps swing:
You watch funding and open interest, map high-timeframe levels, then time 15m triggers. You place isolated positions with hard stops and alerts at structure shifts. You avoid holding through major events unless your plan includes it.

The common thread: you pick windows, execute, and walk away. You don’t sit glued to price for twelve hours unless you run an intraday book.

What starter tools should you pay for?

You can trade well with mostly free tools. Pay only for what upgrades execution or clarity.

• A charting platform with alerts and multiple layouts.
• A journaling app that tracks R-multiples, tags setups, and exports stats.
• A secure password manager and an authenticator app.
• Optional: a data feed for funding and open interest if you trade perps.

Skip fancy AI “alpha finders” and high-fee signal rooms. You need signal from your plan, not from strangers.

Sample starter plans by budget

Let’s anchor this with concrete playbooks. You can tweak details, but keep the structure.

$50 plan:
You trade only spot Bitcoin or Ethereum. You risk fixed dollars per trade (like $0.50). You run 1–2 trades per week on clean pullbacks. You accept wide stops because you run tiny size. You focus on execution, not dollars. Your goal: 30 trades with tight rules and a complete journal.

$250 plan:
You split into five $50 risk units. You trade spot majors with 1% risk per trade. You run two open positions max. You take partials at 1R and trail. You add size by 10% after 20 trades of clean execution and positive P&L. You avoid perps for now.

$1,000 plan:
You trade spot majors and add one small perps position when your setup aligns across timeframes. You cap leverage at 2x. You risk 0.75% per trade. You track funding and avoid stacking positions in the same direction unless correlation helps your plan. You add a second pair only after your main pair pays for two months.

$5,000 plan:
You run a core spot strategy plus a perps swing stream. You risk 0.5%–0.75% per trade and keep three positions max. You hedge occasionally with a small options put if Bitcoin sits near a crowded resistance. You withdraw 10% of monthly profits to a cold wallet. You treat your book like a small fund.

How many strategies should you run?

Run one strategy until you can describe it in a sentence and trade it in your sleep. Then add a second that doesn’t overlap. For example, pair a 4H trend pullback with a daily range fade only when the market chops. Don’t run five half-baked ideas. Run one real one.

How do you handle news and event risk?

You know the calendar. You reduce size or skip trades around big scheduled events. You avoid market orders during the first seconds of a release. You don’t gamble on headlines with leverage. If you want to express a view, buy options with fixed risk or trade micro size.

Event risk turns slippage into a monster. Stops can slip. That’s not the exchange “hunting you.” That’s the market moving in a vacuum. You protect yourself by planning.

What about copy trading, signal groups, and bots?

They can help you learn structure if you already know how to evaluate entries and manage risk. They can also short-circuit your growth. New traders chase someone else’s conviction and dodge the work. If you try a bot, run it on paper first, feed it your actual rules, and kill it if it underperforms your manual trading. If a signal room hides risk rules and only shouts entries, pass.

How do you know you’re ready to add capital?

You’ve earned the right to add when:

• You logged 100+ trades with your main strategy.
• Your journal shows positive expectancy over two different market moods.
• Your maximum drawdown sits under 15% with stable risk.
• You followed your daily rules at least 90% of sessions.

If that list reads strict, good. Your money deserves standards.

What about crypto cycles? Do they change the number you need?

Crypto cycles change volatility and opportunity, not your starting number. You may see bigger swings in late bull phases and slower grind in early bear phases. Your rules adapt. Your bankroll requirements shift with volatility bands. You can drop risk per trade in the wildest weeks and raise it slightly when ATR compresses. You don’t throw out your plan because a new season started. You tune it.

The number you start with matters less than your habit stack:

How do you keep psychology from hijacking small accounts?

• You size from risk, not from greed.
• You journal every trade.
• You review weekly and make one change at a time.
• You protect your confidence like it’s part of your capital. It is.

Small accounts trigger big emotions because each dollar feels heavy. You calm that noise with structure.

• Pre-commit to stop levels. Place stops the moment you enter.
• Pre-commit to session limits. Two losses, done for the day.
• Use alerts. Step away between alerts.
• Review screen time. Screen addiction leads to impulse trades. Reduce exposure, raise quality.

When a loss hits like a gut punch, step out. Breathe. Walk. Let your nervous system settle. You can’t force clarity.

What metrics actually matter?

New traders chase win rate. Pros track expectancy and R-multiples.

• Expectancy per trade = (win rate x average win) – (loss rate x average loss).
• If you win 45% with 1.6R average win and lose 55% with 1.0R average loss, your expectancy equals 0.17R per trade. You scale that. You don’t chase 80% win rates with tiny wins and huge losses.

Also track:

• Maximum adverse excursion (how far trades go against you).
• Time in trade (do winners mature faster than losers?).
• Fees as a percentage of gross P&L.

Those metrics tell you where to tune.

What if you only want to “test the waters”?

Then treat it like a paid course. Put $100 on a reputable exchange. Trade Bitcoin spot for 60 days with 1% risk per trade. Journal every decision. At day 60, decide: add, keep steady, or stop. You pay in time and tiny fees. You get clarity without wrecking your finances. If you’re brand new, skim Crypto for Beginners: How to Start Trading Safely in 2025.

How do you protect yourself from platform risk?

You spread risk across posture and custody.

• Keep long-term Bitcoin off-exchange in a hardware wallet with backups.
• Keep only your active float on-exchange.
• Turn on withdrawal whitelists where available.
• Use unique emails for exchange logins.
• Test a small withdrawal before you send larger sums.

Platform risk doesn’t vanish. You manage it like weather.

What’s the real cost of “free” trading?

“Zero fee” often hides costs in spread and slippage. If a platform widens the spread by 5–10 bps, your “free” trade just cost more than a standard fee on a tighter book. Always compare the full fill: your markout after 1–5 minutes tells you more than a banner ad.

Can you start trading with $10?

You can practice with $10 on some platforms and L2s. You won’t manage stops well because tick size and spreads eat your precision. Use $10 for mechanics and interface reps. Shift to $50–$250 when you want to practice real execution.

Should you hold and trade from the same account?

Split them. Holding tempts you to ignore stops because “it’s a long-term bag.” Trading tempts you to flip long-term positions to fix a bad day. Separate buckets protect both strategies and your mindset.

What if you live on a tight budget?

You can still trade, but you set tighter boundaries. Use $50–$100 to test. Risk tiny dollars per trade. Treat trading like a skill you build on nights and weekends. Don’t push for income. Push for consistency. Skills compound. Debt compounds faster. Keep those worlds apart.

A realistic case study: the $1,000 starter

• Bankroll: $1,000.
• Style: spot swing on BTC/ETH.
• Risk: 1% per trade = $10.
• Setup: 4H trend pullback with a 15m trigger.
• Frequency: 3 trades/week.
• Goal: 0.3R per trade net over 12 weeks.

At 0.3R per trade, you average $3 net per trade. That sounds tiny. Stack it: 3 trades/week x 12 weeks = 36 trades x $3 = $108. Now increase size by 20% because your journal supports it. Keep the same edge. Your dollars scale. Your stress barely moves. That’s how you grow without gambling.

What about altseason? Doesn’t that change everything?

Altseason changes temptation. You’ll see coins triple in days. You’ll feel late. If you must play, size micro. Trade pullbacks into clear levels, not breakout candles after a 80% run. Use hard stops. Assume liquidity vanishes when momentum fades. And never park your entire bankroll in a memecoin because a timeline dares you.

How do you stop FOMO from burning your bankroll?

You pre-commit to “if-then” rules.

• If price breaks above resistance on higher volume and holds for two closes, then you buy the pullback, not the first breakout.
• If your planned entry runs away, then you let it go and set an alert for the next setup.
• If you feel urgency, then you skip the trade.

Discipline beats dopamine. Every time.

What if your first month goes badly?

You shrink size. You stop trading live for a week. You backtest your last 20 trades. You tag every mistake. You fix one rule and retest for two weeks. You only add size when the journal proves the fix sticks. You don’t double down on speed. You double down on clarity.

Do you need fancy indicators?

No. Price levels, volume, moving averages for structure, and ATR for volatility cover most needs. You can add RSI or MACD if they help your eye. The indicator that matters sits between your ears: the one that fires when you break your own rules. Listen to it.

How do you track progress without lying to yourself?

You judge by process and numbers. Process: did you follow your rules? Numbers: did your expectancy stay positive over at least 50 trades? You don’t cherry-pick wins for screenshots. You plot every trade. You face the chart when it tells you the truth.

Quick FAQ

Is day trading or swing trading better for small accounts?

Swing trading. Fees and slippage eat day traders who start tiny. Swing setups on majors let small accounts grow without death by a thousand fills.

Can you trade only Bitcoin and still learn enough?

Yes. Bitcoin teaches trend, mean reversion, levels, and sentiment shifts. You won’t miss any core skill. You’ll reduce noise and fees.

Does leverage help small accounts?

Leverage helps execution when you keep liquidation far from your invalidation. It destroys small accounts when you treat it like a shortcut. Keep it low. Use it to tighten capital requirements, not to chase outsized bets.

Should you copy a pro’s trades?

Study a pro’s framework. Don’t outsource conviction. Without your own rules, you won’t manage exits or drawdowns. You’ll just ride someone else’s mood swings.

Is DCA “trading”?

DCA builds exposure, not execution skill. It can anchor a portfolio while you learn trading on a separate sleeve. Treat them as different games with different rules.

How many hours per week do you need?

You can trade well on 3–5 focused hours per week if you swing trade. Intraday styles demand daily time blocks. Don’t force a style that fights your life.

The number that actually matters

Everyone comes here asking “how much do I need to start?” The market asks a different question: “how long can you stick to your rules?” If you start with $50 and keep risk tight, you’ll learn. If you start with $5,000 and break rules, you’ll donate.

From what I’ve seen, small accounts win when they:

• Trade majors first.
• Risk 0.5%–1% per trade with hard stops.
• Track every trade in a journal.
• Scale size only after the journal proves the edge.

Start with a number that doesn’t scare you. Pick one clean strategy. Trade it for 100 reps. Then add size. Repeat. That loop prints real growth.

Conclusion: Start small, trade real, grow on purpose

You don’t need a fortune to start trading crypto in 2025. You need a number that lets you practice with respect for risk. $50 teaches mechanics. $250–$1,000 builds skill with room to size correctly. $5,000+ turns a solid plan into a small trading business. None of it works without rules.

So pick your number today. Write a one-page plan. Fund a trustworthy exchange. Trade Bitcoin or Ethereum with 1% risk per trade for the next 60 days. Let the journal tell you the truth. If it backs you up, add size and keep going.

Your edge won’t come from starting big. It’ll come from starting right.