Do you think demo trading is essential in starting out?

And to test new strategies. Please don’t test any random idea you read about on a live account.

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Demo accounts don’t take the psychology into account.

I know this sounds stupid, but it is real. Start trading with a live account and pay your school fees with your losses. In the long term, you will learn more, learn faster and be a better hard core trader who can handle losses when they come along.

I agree, demo trading is good for practicing your trading strategies.

There is a clear need of demo trading for getting experience about the market. I always recommend new traders to take a good command on the demo account before investing even one dollar. It is the best approach which you can adopt as a new trader. Thanks

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Yikes. Sadly this is me. Not that I treat it like a game but I tend to not take it seriously because of the knowledge that it isn’t real anyway. There’s nothing to lose for me. Before trading fx I was already trading crypto but that’s a different monster and that was more of gambling. I just feel that I was more serious then compared to how I’m demo trading now.

So my takeaway from your reply is that I really should focus on demo first. :sweat: Thanks for taking the time to reply @anon46773462. It sure means a lot and I really am not ready to go live with a small account. Otherwise I would be gambling again. :sweat:

@Dale_Seweryn - Yeah maybe I really need to trade demo first to master the basics.

@TomCooper - Why do you think it was different on demo than on live? What were the differences?

@gtrader.eu - Did you start live right away?

Mate; if you are comfortable with demo; then go for it; even demo is the best! But, as I see many traders can’t concentrate in demo as much. That’s why, I mentioned cent type live account.

You got me wrong; I didn’t avoid the option of demo as I know; till now demo is the best way of learning Forex.

Sure, I believe is important in the beginning.

But dont stay there too long 90 days should be ok. After that, I would open a real account with a really low balance, something like 10USD to 20USD, so you can start feeling the psychology of trading real money, and I would open a standard account, I would not open a micro account, the movement is too slow.

and remember to only trade money that you are willing to lose, that is why I would not open a big account when starting. Instead, I would be patient to increase my account with the earnings instead of making deposits.

Good point

Cent or micro type trading account I guess; isn’t?

For me demo trading didn’t keep me interested.

It was great for learning my brokers trading platform and is probably wise for testing out strategies but I got very bored and since I had some success I went live quickly with a small account and experienced the pyschology part of trading. Whole new world.

If someone can trade with a 100 dollar account and only risk 1 dollar per trade and be happy making 2 or 3 per winning trade it brings the pyschology of trading into play and for me that is the real work of trading.

There are plenty of strategies that are profitable. you can be profitable only winning 40% of your trades with at least a 2:1 RR ratio but do you have the pyschology to stick it out through the 60% of losing trades?

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Yes, demo trading is very necessary for any new trader who is just starting out. It gives you an opportunity to familiarise with the trading environment. Again, you can test and develop your strategy extensively on demo, as you stand to lose nothing since demo uses virtual money

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Demo trading is essential as it allows you the opportunity to understand more of the market functions. However, anyone who wants to get the real experience first-hand without losing a lot of money should go for a micro account instead of demo. Demo uses virtual and some of the strategies that work on demo may end up failing in live accounts

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Yes I am too in favor of demo account . Although they are not real picture of trading you may do in real account but for sake of knowledge market understanding and all fine details of trading you can cover here easily with no investment. Here your basic knowledge will furnish towards trading . you will learn how trading will take place and how to face market for getting results.

This was one of the questions in my head. Like do people go back to demo when they’re testing something new? Thanks for bringing this up. How long do you test a strategy on demo before doing it on your live account?

How long did you demo trade before going live or did you go straight to trading live right away?

I don’t agree. Teaches bad habits, no realization of risk.

Start with a real account and pay your school fees.

Okay; it’s your opinion & I respect! But; I see many traders are now handling their live trading account based on their demo trading experience.

Good for them.

You cannot disagree that your personality influences your trading style or habits. I just cannot do fake, either it is real, or it is Monopoly. So when I did demo trading, I made spectacular money, I knew the risk was fake, so why not take the chance? BINGO…Nice win

I need real life stress when I do trading, real money, real account.

I know you disagree, but see my point as follows:

I lost $9 000 before I started making a profit. - A point to you why you need demo trading.
I made 3x that since. - Your demo trading babies are still learning, losing.