Newbie just out of Pips School - Charting SW / Historical data

Beginner Questions
1

I have noticed most people around this forum is very helpful and patient with beginners, so I’m hoping you can help me here. This is my first post.

To give a little background, I was introduced to Forex by a coworker a couple of weeks ago. I can’t even begin to describe the fascination and excitement of the first couple of days, think of all the possibilities!! Quit my daytime job, work for myself, etc…As I started to read more and more, began to realize this seems to be a long and difficult road, but very promising, provided I can keep alive long enough to start making consistent profits while learning all I can.

So I went through the school of pipsology, made a roadmap for the next few months that include 3 months of demo account (I have read the reasons why the psychological factor is an issue, but I have to wait 3 months anyway to get the account properly funded)

However, before I even open the demo account, I’d really like to have some sort of hands-on experience with a charting software. From what I’ve read so far (which is relatively not much, considering it’s been only 2 weeks) I’m leaning towards candlesticks. The tymen1 thread provided a very good reference to fx-words, that describes most of them. but I’d like to have a way to see historic data and get some practice on how to identify the different formations.

So, is there a charting software I can use without having to open a demo account? From where do I get the historical data, if there is one? If there’s no such software, or if the quality is no match for the broker-provided packages, please let me know.

Any other recommendation for a beginner is more than welcome.

Thanks in advance for your replies.

2

I would recomend go ahead and get a demo account. It doesn’t cost anything and involves no risk. I’m using one from the broker IBFX. I like it because it does not expire so you can use it as long as you want. And you don’t have to use them for your real broker if you don’t want to. and you can use metatrader platform to view candlestics and pretty much anything else.

3

Thanks a lot for your reply, Talon. I was going to do some research before choosing a broker, but I guess you’re right, I’m not required to stay with the same broker when I go live. Seems like metatrader is a very popular platform, so will try to get familiar with it. It’s also a good point that the account doesn’t expire.