I think that one should stick to demo while they’re learning how to use the trading platform itself at the very least, but in practice it should be much longer than that.
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@Stella.r43 and @hollyholly141 - I’m demo trading right now but I feel like I might be more serious about trading if I traded with real money.
Demo trading is great to learn how to use whatever platform you’ve chosen, but once you know that I’d move to a really small live account.
I personally never had the discipline to take demo trading seriously enough.
Once real moneys involved even if it’s pennies you start paying a bit more attention.
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If you don’t trade demo and trade live for profits you may find emotions get in your way. Spending enough time practicing with a simulation takes emotion out of the equation.
I trade my best with despondency, it helps me apply my strategies tactically and technically rather than ambitiously. Too much ambition in Forex trading is the reason for margin calls.
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One of the biggest lessons Forex taught me is that trying to make more profits without fundamentally changing your strategy leads to making less profits.
@CoinLady, I traded with real money and then stopped to do some demo trading. What I’ve done is set a goal that I need to reach (in funds earned) before I go back to real money. Having a goal (assuming it truly means something to you) can have a similar affect to trading real money because anything that works against it will act as a learning opportunity. Any time I lose my “fake” money, I’m almost as frustrated as it being real, because it’s delaying my return to working with real money.
I suppose there is also the benefit of making newbie mistakes without the risk of losing real money big-time, but some would suggest that if you use proper risk management, that’s a moot point.
Just my $0.02.
Enjoy!
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Did you start trading with real money from the very beginning?
@mlawson71, is that question for me? I started trading with real money, pretty much broke even, then decided to hones my skills to “better than break even” before using real money again.
I use both im going well with… Depends on it make you more confident. It help to be more acurate with my strategy… To enter and exit the trades… Imm mot experienced but i have no many loses… Look for feel fine… And there is no ñroblem or shame if a good profitable trader have a demo it should
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Yeah, for sure, this is the problem with demo trading. Discipline is number one in my trading armoury. and even now I still haven’t nailed it down,but real money helps this, immensely.
I found taking a trade on demo, then real money in to the trend was a great way to build confidence…
Demo is to learn the platform, spreads, stops…and how indiscipline can totally wreck a portfolio in 3 trades…lol
I am a regular trader for the last 15 years for all markets. Still I use both. When I see I made a mistake and lost a great deal. I come back to simulator to practice with new ideas, new action, new methodologies. Though live account involves everything from body and mind, money/risk management. It is better to risk small amounts before risking big. Thus confidence will be built for tomorrow’s biz.In practice account you do not feel that. Do both pls. Persistent training & practice is essential for success. Happy Trading !
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Thing is with a demo account there are no emotions involved, you are comfortable to make trades because you can’t loose anything. Even if you are testing a new strategy it’s easy to take risks and it might seem to be working, but the moment you move to a real account everything changes, you become emotionally involved because you don’t want to loose money and you become scared to take a specific trades and you start doubting your system. Trading is all about controlling your emotions, get comfortable with that first, and the only way to do that is to go live, no demo can ever teach you self control. Just know that it’s not going to be easy and you are going to loose money, but the important thing is how you handle those losses, if you can master yourself then you will become successful.
I have been at this for a few years and I use both almost every day. I practice different setups, I replay the days action and test experts on demo.
Some setups take a lot of practice, a demo is great for that.
The point I am making is… use both.
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Very important to Forward Test your strategy with various pairs.
Demo is a good way to get to know how the market you are trading moves and it also lets you try out different strategies ive been trading for 10 months now and i still try things out on my demo account im with oanda.com which is more set up for small retail traders as you can trade units and you also have more control over your margin that you use because you can see how much you are using
Demo trading is a must. However, I feel that as a newbie once you have mastered the trading platform by demo trading it is best to open a live account with a very small amount that you can afford to lose, and use tiny micro lot sizes. This way you will develop your psychology which is the 95% item that makes traders loose even when they have a working system.
Demo trading is not a good teacher. If you are going to do something, do it for real. What better way than to do it live. Live trading is the place to gain your experience. However, live trade smart by starting small until you gain at least 10,000 of screen time experiences.
By starting small, you HAVE MORE to gain than to lose.
I do not understand why people say that demo for beginners is irrelevant- i would say its irrelevant for people who gained allready some experience and have a certain strategy.
But lets say someone is really “bloodyoung” in this business, one of the first things he has to learn is how the platform works (from the technical point of view), at least for that he needs a demo account.
Also he has to try a little be around to get acustomed to market reactions when he goes through the school of pipsology-playing around with the newly gained knowledge is vital and brings also misstrades because of not handling correct the platform activities-i would not recomend to do this even with small money in a real account.
After someone has brought a little bit systematic approach in his trading style and found out that it seems to work on demo, than of course i share the point of view that now its time to do this in a real account with little money, because there is very often big difference between Demo and Real account concerning order execution, speed of order execution, slippage…but untill someone has not reached this stage, he should test on Demo.
Yes, the question was for you. I’m sorry, I should have made that more clear. And thank you for the answer.
I have to agree. I was reckless with demo trading. you use fake money, no real emotions involved if the trade is good or bad.
It teaches you bad habits, and it makes you forget the golden rule…PLAN your trade, TRADE your pan!