I have been using the forex.com demo account for about a week now, and have made several trades - and a few thousand dollars’ demo-money…
The only trade I lost was my first one, to the tune of $37.00, because I had pretty much no idea how to read the platform.
I am beginning to doubt the realism of the demo account and platform, as I am not losing, and making all the profit I could want.
I am in 3rd grade in the Pipsology School!!! One of the first things one learns there is that we all lose. If we are good, we win too. But we all lose…
So my questions (specifically) are:
are the markets and fluctuations I see artificially generated, or are they exactly what someone with a live account is trading on at that same time?
What are the differences between a live account and a demo account? (other than the money being real/fake).
IMO the danger in demo accts is not the demo acct but the person using it. All too often we hear where someone did well during demo and then has big losses after going live. Why? The demo may have had high leverage, risked big margins, and traded too many lots and traded too often. After a string of good luck, the demo acct doubles, triples, etc. but when you put your own money on the line and don’t change the trading style, poof - the acct goes dry because luck has another side to it - bad luck. The mkt does what it wants to do and not what we want it to do. Trade the demo exactly as you would your own money and start by setting up the demo with the amount of money you plan to use as margin when going live. Then see how your strategy wins or loses money. Oanda’s demo spreads and quotes are real time, I’m not sure about Forex.com. god luck, d.
ya, what this guy said :). I would tell ya only to not trade demo for longer then you need just to learn how to use the platform…and even when you go live you will find functions on your platform that you didn’t know you had that you will find usefull (or you won’t realize how useful the tool was - or horrible - until you use real cash).
Save your money now, go through the school here and tons of other material, after a few months you should be confident enough to start live…very small, at say just .05 or .10 a pip…and grow from there.
f**k tradine demo’s for months on end, totally useless and unneccessary imho
muddbuddha, go pack go, anyway i demo traded for about 2 weeks made 50,000 in demo account, studied the chart made a move and left it for a week, then bam, big fake money. I only wished i would have used real money, you learn far more rules and what not to do when you use real money. Demo is good to learn the basics.
Trading on a demo account is a great way to familiarize yourself with a forex broker’s trading platform, to master the mechanics of order placement and to test your forex trading system - without risking any money. However, if you wish to prepare yourself psychologically for the trading, you should open a real trading account - preferably a Mini (it offers more flexible risk control than a Standard account). Trading with virtual money on a demo account should be limited in time, so that you do not start real trading with unrealistic assumptions about your ability to handle your emotions (as this skill does not get fully tested when you trade on a demo). However, if you are planning to autotrade your strategy, you shouldn’t worry about the emotional aspect of the forex trading; the demo account is ideal for testing the trading setup before you start automated trading with the real money.
When I first got interested in Forex, I thought demoing was a godsend. I tried different strategies, made some great money, and figured everything was wonderful.
However, when I went live, it was a totally different story.
Not only were the prices and performance of the live platform very different from the demo, but the feeling I got in the pit of my stomach when my trade turned against me was much more than I felt on the demo, even though I specifically made sure to demo trade with the balance I knew I would have for a live account and not the demo balance given to me by the broker.
Since then, I’ve realized, like the others who have commented so far, that demo trading is great for getting familiar with the platform and understanding how orders are placed, etc. Other than that, they don’t give you a realistic view of live trading.
I also now agree with those who say to open a small account and trade micro lots. The profit may be small at first, but it gives you a better idea of how things are really working in the market, along with a true view of how successful your strategy is.
I’ve used MT4 with several brokers, currently IBFX. I love the charting in MT4.
I’ve also demoed GFT (fantastic charts), Forex.com (I hated their charts), CSMI (the charts are OK, but I’ll never go live with them again), and am currently demoing Oanda, which is pretty good.
I also demoed EFX, which didn’t have charts at the time, so I can’t comment on charting, but the software is my favorite. I can’t wait to demo the new package with integrated charting, which should be available in December.
Ok I did it at first but as soon as I put in some money to trade, I lost everything.
I think that nearly 95% of forex traders lose their first account. I for one do not know of anyone who has not lost thier first trading account after being a hit on demos.
I always advice my friends that the best demo is on oanda. Open an account with 20 bucks and trade $1 trades. Their is no difference between losing 5cts in a trade or 5k . You still have the same emotional issues which are what kill us traders.
So forget the demo, don’t buy beer this weekend and trade off 1 dollar lots. Trust me, it’s better than a demo.
I personally have an account with oanda where I test all trading methods I am thinking off. It is now short $20 after 5 yrs of using it.
Note I did not say a mini lot account. Any broker that can allow you to trade any amount of money is the best demo account.
95% you think blow their first account? wow…don’t see how if you truly understand the risk involved and size your position accordingly…I couldn’t imagine blowing my first account, unless I caught the greedy bug suddenly and decided to go rambo on my account.
