As most newbies, I am very anxious to start practicing some of the things I have learned on this site thus far. I also know that I need to be extremely patient and make sure I have a firm understanding of the basic concepts. I decided to download the MT4 Platform and FXCM. Not that I decided that FXCM is necessarily the best, but because it feels like being stagnant and just reading up on trading is nothing compared to at least these practice accounts.
Anyways here are some of my questions.
During these practice accounts, does it matter if I am in standard, mini, or micro lots? A lot of sites advertise free $10k, $50k, or $100k+ practice bucks.
Would most Brokers let me practice to my hearts content, blow out all the practice dollars, and start all over again?
Should I finish the school first, or is it a good idea to try things out as I learn them?
My job is a good 15 hours a week in a car, any good audio books or the like you can recommend?
Like I said before I am anxious to start trading (maybe full time in a few years) but want to make sure I start off right.
You’re off to a good start bud. Yes you CAN blow out as many accounts as you want. But don’t. You need to practice money management. Risk a small percent per trade. 1-4%. Continue the school. You’re at a point where exposure to forex is about to be a sharp learning curve. Learning via the school + demo account + forum questions = on your way. Feel free to ask any questions.
I’ll agree with Braden1
It’s never too early to start with a demo account.
Doesn’t really matter about the size of the first one don’t try to win with it just try out every control,
learn about:
designing charts and saving then to profiles.
adding indicators to charts
how to set Trade size globally so you don’t accidentally put on a trade that blows your margin when the market moves one pip
What stop Loss does and how to set and alter it quickly
When to use a limit or stop order and how to place them
why sometimes SL’s or TP’s are better that Close trade (market orders)
don’t get attached to trades just learn the platform controls.
once you have it pretty good open a new demo (you can have as many as you like)
On the opening screen where you set up the new account set the initial deposit and leverage
to what you will use in your real account;
Fool with trades in this demo until you have your method and plan worked out.
check what trade size will blow the margin, check what your drawdown will be if a trade runs against you
learn how to switch between demo’s quickly in case you want to test something when you have your
real account going.
YOU can have your demo and trade account’s open at the same time but don’t do it.
there’s been too many people blow their real account because they thought they where messing in the demo.
Now you are ready to open another. Once again with the same account balance and leverage
this is your trade account and don’t mess with it; just go for it.
Actually, you got it backwards.
Pips are a meaningless measure of a system.
Your focus should be on trading according to a predefined plan.
Your ROI is indeed more important than pips, because, ROI is going to be a product of position sizing.
Proper position sizing is infinitely more important than merely focusing on “collecting pips”.
Read up about risk management and the psychology behind trading as much as you can.
Audio Books?
Affirmations. Prepare to be tested venturing into FX, which is why I suggest training yourself to become determined with impeccable mental fortitude.
It sounds like advice for someone being deployed but people have said the book “Art of War” is a great one for new traders.
I’m sorry but I disagree ForexUnlimited. This poor chap will be leveled if he’s starting out worrying about ROI. Maybe to you, but if he has not a clue of proper stops, RR and trade management. What good is ROI if he’s chasing price and doesn’t understand how to make and keep a pip?
It might be a good idea to trade in your practice account with an amount comparable to what you intend to deposit in a live account. That way you can get a more realistic feel for the changes in your equity.
To set up a demo with a customized balance, please follow the steps below.
On your MT4 platform, go to File > Open an Account.
On the form that pops up, select the appropriate server.
[I](For example, if you want a USD account, then choose FXCM-USDDemo01.)[/I]
On the next page, select “New demo account”.
On the next page, you can select the amount you want in your demo account in the Deposit field.
Before a single pip can be captured, you need to properly position size yourself.
Focusing on “making and keeping a pip” before you [B]understand[/B] how to position size, is like putting the cart before the horse.
My recommendation would be: try with demo account only to learn the basics of how to use the trading platforms and after you learn that open a mini or micro live account and start the real learning about trading. It would be very bad for you to learn on demo trading because what ever you will learn, what ever trading strategy you’ll develop on demo is not going to work once you move to a live trading.
