Hey everyone! First of all I wanted to say that Ive been studying this site for about a week now and am thoroughly impressed with the community and knowledge shared around here. I have about $2000 dollars to invest and unlimited free time for the next few months. I decided I would like to try my hand at the Forex market and see how it goes. I gonna be using cash in my post since I’m not too great at counting pips yet.
For 3 days now Ive been using Metatrader 4 with a demo account. SO far Ive turned my initial $3000 into $4000. I just pick a pair that is either much higher or lower than the average and buy or short it assuming it will straighten out. I then pick a non-greedy take profit ($100 to $200)… So far almost every trade Ive made so far is a winner, and Im only spending a couple hours on the platform a day at most.
My problem is that this seems way too easy. From what I’ve hear its hard to actually make a living trading Forex successfully. I’m assuming the demo account is different than the real thing? Do real trades go through as quick as they do in the demo? Can you guys give me some ideas of things that will be different when it comes to trading real money? Is my strategy considered a successful one? I feel like I must be missing something. I have commission set to on, so I’m also assuming its deducting the same fees the broker would…not real sure about that…basically I want to know how different a broker account is from a demo account in MT4…
Also, on the more volatile currencies what stops you from just waiting for the trend to reverse and then cashing out instead of taking a loss with a stop loss?
Sorry in advance for being such a noob. Id appreciate any help y’all can give me!
Hi. First thing i would say is go through and read the school of pipsology which is the school tab in top left corner of this site. Forex is not easy and is hard to get consistent profits without 100s of hours of studying and practicing.
I am sure i am not the only one on this site who, when starting out made profits for a month or two and thought i cracked. It then takes some months of big losses (which will def happen) before you realise you dont know what the market does and why it movrs how it doea.
It ia great you want to learn and well done for starting out on a demo but i would dedinatly go through the school and learn about the markets before demo trading.
I think I am about as new as you.
I felt the same when tried a demo account. In 4 days I made $4000 from $10000. So much [fake] money in such a short time, I walked like a proud gorilla in my living-room, looking down at the dog impressed .
But on many websites about Forex, I read the emotional impact of trading with your own money. I felt I should know about that.
So I decided to open a live account and trade micro lots to reduce the risk but still experiencing with my own money.
Well, what I can tell you is, I was surprised how it feels different to look at the balance in the platform. It is my money! Not fake monopoly notes.
And what about how it feels to look at your very first net day Loss (today in my case was my first time :57:).
Well, Forex is not as easy as u think nor as hard as many others say. I mean do not complicate it. Making profits in demo account aint a big deal, cause don’t care about a loss. But when real money is on the line, things will be different. Emotion’s play a major role. When i’ve started demo, made huge profit’s. But when it was a live account. Losses were my daily guest’s.
I’d suggest you to go through Babypips school and then go through holy grail thread, find a trading strategy that suit’s you. Trade it for at-least 3 consecutive month’s profitably and then go live. Just my piece of advise.
Dependant upon your broker all of the charts etc. are the same in demo as in real.
But the difference is in you, psychologically.
How much have you been in the hole (negative pips or $$$) before going into profit for your $100 or $200? ie where is your stop loss? What % do you risk on each trade?
If it was your hard earned cash disappearing into the broker’s pocket could you take the loss?
If you are up $50 can you stop yourself from taking profit early?
Should you take profit early?
Or let it ride?
If you use a trailing stop where do you use it?
Trading is simple but it is not easy. The questions above are just a few of the many that you will come to ask yourself.
Take $100 of that $2000, and start a live account. Keep the other $1900 off the table by leaving it out altogether.
Now, trade that $100 like you’ve been trading your demo. Don’t change anything, and don’t try to “improve” it.
And don’t read or try to learn anything else until you’ve either used up that $100, or doubled it.
If you’ve doubled it, don’t ever read, or learn anything else ever, and don’t add more of your $1900, just work the original $100.
If you’ve blown it, start back at the school here, and proceed from there.
And the good part is, you will still have 95% of your initial capital left to try again with, which is quite unlike most newbs that toss the whole lot in, and promptly get fleeced.
I absolutely and unequivocally AGREE. Trading Forex (or anything) is the most difficult activity you will ever undertake. If you are “always right” then you are probably “not real” no offense intended, of course. HyperScalper.
I have been in forex trading from past 10 years, in experience trading in demo and in real money is very different. There is no doubt that u missing something very important. I advise u to open a mini account and do some more schooling. Don’t be in impression that forex trading is so easy, and if at all u don’t change this attitude then I’m very sure u will burn your account in less than 90 days. So work hard, keep learning and try to know ur trading style and then form a trading strategy that suits ur style. Good luck
Like any edevour this one has its quotes of beginners luck and you had it and it is dangerous because what comes next makes it more painful. As you noticed you can make money just like that and just like that you will lose it, sorry but we all been trought it, the one who says he or she doesn’t or is a liar or is paying a fortune in fx training. And yes when is that easy is kinda supicious, don’t you think? If you meet a guy who says “hey i will give you a million if you just come with me for a couple hours”, wouldn’t you just be scared? Nothing is for free. There is a price to be paid to be profitable here.
Remember that trading is at least 80% psychology, so you haven’t experienced the hard part yet. Probably It’s a bad advice but for me, trading on demo is a waste of time since people won’t take it seriously. It would be better to invest some small money and experience the “feeling” when placing the trade live. Choose a sound system, then experience the winning, the loosing, the greedy feeling, the scary feeling, the sleepless nights, etc… then you’ll be fully 100% equipped to deposit some decent amount to trade.
demo’s are still a great place to start. and its always handy to have a demo account open even when you trade live. That way you can test out tweeks to your strageties and new ideas without the risk to your live account.
However, you do need to trade live to learn the psychological side of trading…this you certainly can not learn in demo
Demo trading is pretty useless in my opinion, it is good for learning the basics and mechanics of your system but after that you should open a live account with a bare minimum deposit. Back testing is more important to ensure your system is valid over time. Only then when you have real money on the line and your emotions come into play can you tell whether or not your system will be profitable if you can stick to your plan.
I have since given up day trading per say. I’m hooked on using the strategy tester on metatrader 5! Its fun to back test as many ideas as you can think of without losing a penny. If you think you have found the holy Grail of a strategy, allow the ea to tell you when to get in. If you think it’s giving you a great signal and you agree with it, follow it. Otherwise ignore it’s signal. I have been day trading for months now, and I have to admit it’s lost some of it’s shine in some aspects, but I look at it a whole different way now. I think It would be fun to actually be able to make a living off of trading, to me automated trading is the way to go. Beating the market is the goal no matter how you trade, and allowing yourself to not get greedy or emotional is an edge you definitely can exploit! I love practice trading as much as real trading because it let’s you place dumb trades (bets) for fun at no capital loss to you you just can’t transfer your habits into your real account. Have fun. And best of wishes to be highly profitable!
Years and years ago when i first started trading that same thing happen to me. But i was trading stocks back then. One year later I blew out my account. It’s going to be one of the hardest things you will ever learn, especially if you really really mean it when you say you want to be a trader. I personally believe its like trying to be a professional athlete.
A lot of people will tell you they want to be a trader but not many want it badly enough to keep learning and pushing when things get tough. And judging by the way you say you haven’t loss yet, it seems your confidence is starting to rise and this is where you will begin to lose, and when you lose you will want to make your money back since you think trading is easy, then you will lose again, and start to wonder what is wrong, then start to lose confidence in your trading ability, then the next time you see a set-up you won’t trade it because your scared of losing money, then the set-up actually goes your way but you didnt have a position open so you start to beat yourself up about not trading it. Then you promise yourself that you will trade the next set-up that you see, so you trade that when it appears and you lose. Hahah can you see what i mean. That’s why trading is mostly a psychological game. Learning the methods is relatively easy but learning to have the proper mindset that takes years and how hard it will be for you to learn is relative to how much self-discipline you have.
The most difficult part is following the rules and more difficult is to.trade selectively. Belive me even today sometimes i cannot avoid to trade when i must no to, that is why i keep i maximum quote of loses to protect myself from my own idiocy.
