Hi,
I am just starting traidng for my self.
what returns should I be aiming for?
how long should I trade demos before upping the anty?
any help much appreciated
<how long should I trade demos before upping the anty?>
there is a good recent thread here with 4 full pages on this topic .
search by “How much does it take?” started by member: VadimsR.
it will show you where you are heading for 
When you are confident enough on your strategies and are ready to take risk of losing your real money as trading in demo environment is completely different from trading in live environment where you are exposed to the real risk.
I personally traded for 4 months on demo. Then I felt everything was ok and I started to feel when I should open positions and when I should close them (of course, my basis is the technical analysis). Now I trade live.
My goal is to be more profitable. I aimed on 300 bucks in the first month. As a result I got more than $300 and I’m very glad I made it. In fact, my profit was even more, but I lost sometimes…
The more “discretionary” your trading, the longer you should demo. A more rule-based and mechanical strategy will not need so much demo. Either way, you need to not only prove you can run the selected strategy, you also would like the demo to be subject to various unforeseen circumstances so you can work out in advance what you would do in response. The best time to work out how to put a fire out is before it starts.
As I am an amateur Forex trader, I was searching for differences between Forex accounts in Forex brokerage. Some brokers has not Islamic account or swap free but some others has got these type of accounts. What are the benefits of a swap free account in compare with a no swap free account?
Exactly so - and a very good point, all-too-rarely made in such conversations.
In my opinion, and with absolutely no criticism intended, it’s actually a slightly misdirected question. I’ll try to explain why …
Successful trading is all about risk-management, not profit-maximisation.
For this reason, what matters much more than the (for example, monthly percentage) return is the variability/steadiness of the return; in other words, its consistency is more important than its size. Someone making an average of 2-3% per month [B]steadily[/B] over 6 months is [I]far, far[/I] better placed to trade with real money than someone making an average of 5% profit over 6 months, which actually represents a mixture of monthly results between a high of 55% and a low of -45% (because the latter person’s results are probably random, really.) And that’s hugely relevant in determining how long you’ll need a demo for.
The number of trades per month is also really important. (For example, a system which wins 85% of its trades but trades only twice a month is going to take far more testing, for the results to achieve statistical significance, than one which trades 8 times per day with a win-rate of 55%.)
Your question boils down to “How many results are needed for statistical significance”. The reality is that the correct answer depends on a whole range of factors, including not only the things Tommor and I have already mentioned above but also other more subjective issues such as your degree of risk-aversion.
The best professional money managers earn 20 to 30% per year over the long haul. Trying for much more than that will probably increase your risk of ruin to a point that will almost guarantee failure.
Trade demo until you get three months of solid profit in a row. Then trade the absolute minimum of 0.01 lots per trade until you get at least 3 months in a row of solid profit. That took me years. Best success to you. - G
Basically the less is target the longer you will stay but you lose earning opportunity in that way. So try to find balance between risk and reward if you focused on long-term trading then try to define the smallest profit target, for example 5% monthly or something around that.
I use 10% profit target but I also use tight money management to cut losses short and let profits run.
Sometimes I also trade news on a separate accounts and testing different strategies but my main account is pretty tight in control
In start of trading career, you should not aim for any returns, only concentrate on practicing your strategy in a demo account. The trading on demo account depends on your understanding of market. The quicker you understand the working of your strategy the lesser you’ll be needing trading in a demo account.