When Should I Start Demo Trading?

[baz1982]

When I first ventured in to the Forex world, I stumbled upon eToro (or as I'm gathering from other threads "He Who Shall Not Be Named"). Completely clueless, I jumped straight in with a live account as I had a bit of mon£y to waste - it was destined for a casino>lap-dance>clubbing lads nightout anyway & trading seemed more constructive.

Luckily for me, I'm not a complete nugget so despite being totally clueless, I was able to look at the charts & visually just think: it's struggling to go above this price & it's struggling to go below this one, it's low now so I'll buy. With the help of major over leverage & a massive amount of luck, I successfully more than tripled my mon£y in 3-days (hello new mountain bike).

It was from the eToro chat section that I found out about BabyPips & The School of Pipsology. I've enrolled, I've learnt the basics thus far & obviously realised my risky eToro mistakes. I've binned off my eToro account & kept up reading & learning (I'm addicted to this Forum more than my Facebook) but back to the initial question: when should I start demo trading?

I have currently just finished Middle School of Pips School (so 50% of the whole curriculum) & although I understand the technical analysis etc that is being taught up until now, I'm of two minds as to whether I should demo. Part of me is saying to completely finish the school before I demo & then part of me is saying to start demo'ing now to give a better understanding of the technical tools before my head gets jam packed with even more info.

I will complete the school & I will sensibly demo before going live again but when should I implement the demo'ing? You guys know what's coming up in the school & have further real-world experience so I'm open to any advice that you have.

So: see the big picture & then look at smaller elements...or...appreciate the small picture & slowly expand?!?

Apologies for the long post, for a simple question - I've also used it to introduce myself to all you BabyPips people & explain where I am & how I got here. So "Hello all..."

[fedegmail]

Hello baz and welcome to babypips. I advise you to start immediately with a demo account, practicing everything you have learned so far. You can divide your Forex day in this way: 40% practice, 40% babypips school and 20% asking all you want to ask here.
Good luck

[Karmostaji]

Welcome, start demo trading right away because it will give you a much better understanding of what you are actually learning from school of pipsology.

Good luck & ask a lot of questions

[MeiHua]

I agree. No reason not to demo at anytime. Get started and have fun, experiment and find your trading personality/style. Have fun, dont worry about blowing up your demo. You shouldn't but if it happens much better than losing real money.

[TopsandBottoms]

Right away, get your feet wet and learn. Read the news, look at the charts and start making plays. Trading is an organic discipline, meaning you learn as you operate, so start operating as soon as the market opens next week. Good luck, but if you apply knowledge and discipline, you wont need the luck. Start plotting goals for yourself and start planning a live account if you have the nerve. Start small, learn to play the small game before you play the big game. Cheers.

[baz1982]

Thanks for the advice guys; I was hoping that was the answer as I'm itching to see how what I've learnt actually applies to the charts. I'm sure that the 2nd half of the school will pickle my brain so it would be nice to fully comprehend the technical analysis tools before I get fried.

I've signed-up for a demo account with Oanda (mainly because it regularly pops up in these threads so it can't be that bad) & you can adjust the balance on it so I can demo & reset my balance each time I feel that I've taken a step to keep track of my progress while slowly eliminating the luck factor & basing it on 'sound judgement'.

Obviously there are numerous combinations of tools for technical analysis & they are personal preference &/or strategy specific, but what are good common combinations? Or what do you guys use & why?

I will try all the tools but I wouldn't want to combine MACD with Parabolic SAR if it was a completely useless combination (I'm not saying that it is, that's merely an example). I'm sure I'll learn my preferences in time, but this might just cut a wee corner.

I'm just about to hit my good shift (5-off, 4-on, 5-off) so I'll be getting stuck in. This is all new to me but I love the learning curve, it's been YEARS since I put this amount of effort in to anything.

[Crown Man]

Start demo. Dont waste Your time. Read as much as you can.
Try as many things on MT4 as You can. After this nothing else left, find a decent broker.

[FringFX]

demo right away. it will help you get up to speed much faster.
theory + application = you will (possibly) assimilate faster
at the same time, you learn about the charting platform's bells and whistles.

[stcowan]

Hi,

I have been trading for 5+ years and this is my opinion on demo accounts: Apart from getting to know the trading software you are using they are not that helpful. A significant part of learning how to trade is having some skin in the game and trading with real dollars so that you understand the emotional side of trading. My advice is to open a real account even if it is with just $50.00 and begin to trade as soon as possible.

Sean.

[Banker928]

Start demo right away.

If I could go back and tell myself what to do when first starting, I would say to demo until you can be profitable after a series of 100 trades and or 3 months. If your not disciplined enough to stay with the demo, then you won't be disciplined with your real account.

If your not in profit after 100 trades and/or 3 months, then start a new demo account and start again. Keep doing this till you are profitable on the demo. You will save yourself money.