Stay Demo or Go Live?

Beginner Questions
1

Hello all !

This is the first time that I speak to other people for my experience in forex , so please, dont blame me a lot for the “I” and “me” etc that I repeat saying :p. Its all in the excitement.

I’ ve been studying forex the last 6 months, (for approx.average 8hours / day practice included), read all the pipsology guide (twice or more some sectors ), read the book " Getting Started in Currency Trading: Winning in Today’s Forex Market " by Michael D. Archer, read everydays financial news from BBC,fxstreet,forexpros,bloomberg web TV etc. too much study suddenly !

Practiced on more than 20 demo accounts, of wich, the 16 were margin called and left with cents at the end of the 2nd week (5 months and 2 weeks ago)

The funny thing is that as time went by, I realised more and more how to verify indicators, to combine news, to jump in breakouts, to use fibonacci (as support/resistnc. and retracement) , to stop loss and secure profits etc… Ive tested leverages 1:50, 1:100, 1:200 but I loved the 1:500

I started a 10.000 eur demo, and today balance is 120.000 with no open positions.
Started a 1.000 eur demo and today is ~ 7500
Started a 500eur demo and today is ~ 2000
Started a 3.000eur Pro and today is ~ 9000

Those accounts did never reach a low margin level

Have tried many many many strategies that found on the web, also many EA’s wich wiped half my balance(!).

Last 2 months apart from scalping, Im using a bet-thing “Fire And Forget” kinda strategy, wich simply I open a buy or sell order according to news and indicators with 50pip TP and 150 SL, and its givin me profit all the time. Also on all my trades I risk 2% or gain 2% Or I go to the end of the long trend wich most times is much more than 2%.

I am so happy (today) , for keep making pips , without having my 4 precious accounts blown up after 6 months !

I would like to ask you, what differences am I going to face on a real live account - to start with about 500eur deposit.? (or Less or More ?)
*I forgot to mention - I trade only EURUSD

Do you suggest me to set any Goals or try other things in demo trading ?
Do you suggest go on Live or stay more in Demo ?

I really dont bother neither, cuz if I stay demo I xperience more, If I go Live as everyone says, I’ll wipe my account !!!

Thank you everyone for your time !!!
George-Greece.

2

Hey,

Your trading approach sounds rather simple, and lets not forget that simple things are usually the best. Although, as a flip side to a coin, there is a line of how simple a trading approach should be before it becomes total nonsense. Lets assume your approach is bordering on the line of reasonable trading shall we…

If all your doing is looking for a 1:3 risk reward ratio, i.e. your risking 50pips for a 150pip profit target, then automate the process. Back-test it and the results will answer your question as to weather you should stay in demo format or take a plunge into real cash trading. You will soon see for yourself if your trading approach is profitable over the longer time frame. There is no point in making money for say three months and then loosing it all in the forth month.

Good Luck

3

May I also add that there have been periods in the past where EUR/USD has not ranged 150pips in a single day, and this has lasted for several days at a time, if not weeks. Don’t forget that EUR/USD is experiencing unusually high volatility swings at the present time, it may not last for ever…just a thought :slight_smile:

4

Well I forgot to mention that the ratio is not contsant, but variable depended on the whole environment, yesturday’s breakout had retrace today morning

thats from the big account:
open date size open sl tp close date profit
2011.08.16 07:38 sell 28.00 eurusd 1.44159 1.44110 1.44000 2011.08.16 08:00 1.44000 3 091.67
2011.08.16 05:26 sell 28.00 eurusd 1.44264 1.44430 1.43987 2011.08.16 07:37 1.44159 2 039.41

I really try hard to not overtrade, 1 or 2 orders per day, And when market goes sideways I am scalping.

You are right about high volatility on EURUSD, both sides are beyond historic decisions.
Who knows the future ?

5

Hi George,

Just depends on how comfortable you feel with your system. I would recommend doing about 500-1000 backtesting trades with 1 system before taking it live. If you are comfortable with it, then I suggest opening an account with Oanda and trade super small lots to see how you do with real money. I’m not sure if Oanda is available in Greece, but there may be a similar broker. In the US, we can trade for USD $0.01 per pip with Oanda, so that makes it easy to put real money on the line but not risk a ton in the process.

Good luck!

6

Just go live if you have confidence !

one thing you have to know that demo and live both are totally different things. just like when you drain your demo account, then you just need to reopen another one. as you did for about 20 accounts.
while if that is your real account, then you have pain !

A pilot cant not say that “oh… i know how to fly” by just passed the simulating test in the training room !

Good Luck !

7

You are risking 150 pips to make 50 pips, surely you have your risk reward ratio inversed. Back test this strategy then start live on a small account and you WILL eventually be on the losing end with the ratio like this. I’ve been there.

8

That’s a very good point, I didn’t originally realise that your risk was 150pips and your profit target was 50pips. I thought rather that it was the opposite way around, which would make more sense in the longer term picture. I’d be cautious to say the least, a few bad runs and your going to find it allot of hard work to make back your losses…just our opinion though :slight_smile:

9

I forgot to mention that as the profit progress the SL secures some of the profit, and the 1:3 ratio is variable depended on the session,news,indicators , it is difficult to put this for backtest.
Today progressively on 1 trade,(still open) I’ve made more than 520 pips, and more are coming !!!

I havent explain well my strategy , that’s why you all blame me :wink: But its really profitable for me (so far so good)

Check below the image

http://i55.tinypic.com/30ax2dc.jpg

XXX.jpg700×294 43.7 KB

10

If you have indeed made 520 pips today, then you should not be needing our help or even advice regarding the profitability of your trading system. I do find this hard to believe in real terms, however, well done, and keep it up. Most people aim to make 520 pips over the space of 3 months or more…so your going to attract some sour attention with success rates that high.

Perhaps you could post your daily results in terms of pips gained/lost, would be interesting to see if this run could actually last?

11

indeed, look :
http://i55.tinypic.com/30ax2dc.jpg

12

This does not show that you have made 520 pips>>>
It shows that you are in profit by 124.80 units at 0.2 lots per pip, which mean you are in profit by 62.40 pips?

13

Profit as points :

14

your profit as points is correct at 433, this is equal to 43.3pips…not 500+pips. I think you may have confused the difference between pips and points.

15

yup, my mistake ! I truly apologise. . . :confused:

16

No problem, pips and points are used allot in Forex terms, however they are very different. A point is the smallest move to the right hand side of the decimal point. A pip is 10X a point. Hence why your 433 points is equal to 43.3 pips.

Keep it up though, your in profit, and thats what matters.

17

If you have a system what works with a 1:0.3 risk:reward ratio, no problem. You just need 4 winners or so to outperform 1 loser. So, you need alike equal or better than 80% winners ratio.

Demo is and will never be as live trading. Requotes, fills, etc. etc. becomes an issue what you have not on demo. Not speaking regarding emotionoal connections.

18

I always thought that 5th decimal was the pip , but you are right ! I use alpari , but in some other brokers i’ve seen only 4 decimals, thats when I started question myself what finally is the pip ?
I think im gonna stay for another month in demo, till mid of september, with hope of markets will stabilize a bit, and then as Hugh said in previous post, im gonna open a nano/pico - account in oand with ~30 eur and will make 0.01 trades, before to put serious cash.

However, I believe that an account with much cash (100k eur with trades of 1 lot , leverage 1:200) can only be profitable since you won’t close open positions, waiting for price to come back (if you wont buy on historic highs), do you agree ?

19

I also use Alpari for my real cash trading account, and as you said they do quote prices to the 5th decimal place.
A price quote of say 1.65554 I look at as 1.6555,4 this way I can easily separate out the 5th decimal (point) and distinguish the fourth decimal place (pip).

In time this will become second nature though, and you will do so without even thinking about it.