Finally a site that does not make claims about getting rich quick. I am new to forex but I do know that if somone promises you the moon run away fast. with that said I have been lurking for aboout a week. and going through baby pips school. this is a great site. right now I have a trading simulator that works on live trading.I found it at a site called my day trading toutor. so I can practice without losing any real money.my only question right now is what is the length of I should spend practicing before opening a real account?
Happy Trading all:)
Hi nytrader no need to ask where you are from.
This thread may help.
http://forums.babypips.com/newbie-island/53-how-long-did-you-study-up-before-you-traded.html
But the jury is out. It all depends on how you feel
about it, there are no real set time limits.
There are two schools of thought on this. One saying you should trade for real as soon as possible because there are psychological differences between demoing and trading your live money so you need to learn your lessons.
Other says wait until you are consistent with your trading system for at least 3 months before risking your money.
I believe both have valid points and I think you should go live as soon as you believe in your system but I defiantly don’t think you would have to wait for 3 months of consistency. Also, remember that consistency is not equal to profitability. I would define consistency as you correctly expected what happened.
So work on your methodology and with a decent sample size I think you can go live rather quickly. Just remember to take responsibility if things go south and realize it is you that caused those losses. Not your broker, not the spread, not anything but yourself. The sooner you can take responsibility for your results the sooner you will learn and become profitable!
I also recommend you keeping a trading journal of some sort. This will help you develop as a trader. Sooner or later you will get to the point where you just trade. You know how to trade, but you don’t really know that you know and that is just wonderful!
I recommend getting your feet wet ASAP, possibly starting with USD 250-750 at a broker that allows micro accounts, like OANDA.
See if you can build that up over a year.
Or more accurately, see how long you can go WITHOUT LOSING your initial capital.
Always use a demo account for a few days or weeks to familiarize with the trading system/platform, so you minimze the risk of making operational errors when you begin trading. Once you’ve familiarized with the broker’s system, start trading using a small account.
I believe in starting to trade on a live account, because you’ll experience the true psychology of trading that you won’t get trading on a demo account.
good luck sir
im new here
thanks for the advise. since I have been playing with the various tools. so far I am using bolinger bands, macd, and the rsi in my trading simulator. for right now they seem to work well. I started with a $5000 account and have only lost 15 dollars of it. I think part of that is I am treating it as if it were real money. I guess thats comes from the disipline i have gained from playing poker. Also I am devloping trading rules at this point. one is not to enter a trade I cant monitor.to me that would like entering a poker hand and just letting chips fall where they may. not a god idea. with all that said happy trading all 
Hey NY,
Just a bit of advise if you are going to demo trade, find a demo account where you can actually specify how much play money you can “deposit.” You are on the right track with treating this as your real money, but if $5k is a realistic amount to start with, then use it. If not, then you leave yourself open to thinking that you are going to make that kind of money.
Viva babypips.com
pimpinpips
Hey Pimpin: thanks for the advise . where can I find a demo that lets me set my own linits? every demo I see starts you at 5gs or more only one at 3gs.
nytrader…
I’m not sure where a demo is that you can start your own limit at. Maybe someone else knows. But you do have the option to blow the demo up to get it down to the level you want it to start with.
500 leverage
5% as deposit
10 a pip
trade against the trend ;o)
margin called 380 pips
that would rock about 95k out of a 100k demo.
if you was trying to do it all in one trade… ;oP
Oanda allows you to choose the size of your account and currency
CMSFX will allow you to open a demo acct. with either a set $ amount or you specify what you want to “deposit”. I do some demoing with them, but I use MT4 for my charts.
Good luck.
pimpinpips
viva babypips.com
pimpin: thanks Ill download it and give it a try.