Been seen this topic being discussed a lot around here and a lot of people suggest using demo accounts for 3-6 months? Isn’t that a bit much?
To be honest, I think it greatly differs per person. 
And just how fast you’re able to find a strategy that works for you. 
Personally, once you’ve tested the strategy for a couple of months and it’s been consistently profitable/ winning, and you’re confident with it, you can go live. 
Just don’t rush things I guess?
Hi,
Not if you have failed in the past and do not wish to repeat the same failure (lessons learned). For myself, this is the fourth time around in Forex. I do not give up easily.
So the “demo account” trading actually started about six weeks ago, but has only had one trade. That is because I realized that I did not have a documented strategy and trading plan that was based on something that could be back tested and forward tested. So I took a huge diversion that has involved about 120 hours of formal “re-education”, whose only stage 1 outcome is “learn how NOT to lose money”.
In my case, the demo trading will not stop until I have fully documented my Terms of Reference (90% complete), my Trading Strategy and Plan document (10% complete), my journal with at least 100 trade entries, with mistakes analysis (10% complete) with three months cumulative results. At that stage, I may declare my demo stage complete, but in practice it will remain (and may always remain) an activity that I run in parallel to my live account (or accounts) as I strive for continuous improvement of the first algorithm I will decided to use based on this first and very formal “demo trading stage”. I have replaced impatience with patience, lack of discipline with discipline, and unfounded goals with realistic and achievable goals.
The duration of demo trading (for my case) will depend solely on my progress with all matters that must precede demo trading, and that is a robust strategy and plan that delivers measurable outputs that prove the overall outcome is far more likely than not to produce a long lasting trading edge by application of strict adherence to the plan.
2 Likes
Once you have the knowledge and a strategy
It honestly depends. I think it’s easy to have a one size fits all advice but things work out differently for different people. If you think that’s too long, try going live sure but only with a small small account just to have some “skin in the game.” I say just try both ways and see where that leads you!
I wish I would be diligent like you in terms of persistently trying to better myself as a trader. It’s obvious that you know the game and make profits off the market, but still your attitude to keep on learning more is nothing short of inspiring to me, cheers to you
It depends whether you are a beginner or moving to a new broker. If you are a beginner, then you need to spend 3-4 month on demo account and learn the basics and try out strategies, but if you are just moving to a new broker, then 10 -15 days are sufficient.
I don’t think that there is a specific timeframe for that. It totally depends on your learning speed. If you have tested out all your strategies within 1 or 2 months, then you can start trading on the live account but if you think that you are not ready for that then it’s better to keep trading on demo account.
Patience is the key to success my dear friend. Haven’t you heard that 95% traders lose in forex market. Demo trading can definitely be done for a good six months before you go live. Just make sure your have thoroughly tested your strategy, otherwise nothing can stop you from losing your life savings, believe me.