I have been using the FXCM demo account for about a month when I tried to log in today and realised my demo has ended. Firstly I find it dubious that people can only use the demo account for 1 month, I know they can make a new demo account but you lose all your trade history, active trades and most importantly the strategy you’re testing.
If we are allowed to open another demo account then why not simply extend the normal demo period for 6 months or a year? 1 month is not enough time to fully test a strategy. I am inclined to think that by limiting the demo account to 1 month, this will “force” people to create a live account and use real money so they don’t have to keep opening demo accounts, for which you get relentlessly phoned by the FXCM team.
Additionally I notice that the login system seems incredibly simplistic and not secure at all. I emailed FXCM and suggested that they increase the security, considering the amount of money some people may have on their accounts but I have not received a response.
The login box is very weak to brute forcing as there is no maximum login attempts or anything of that nature. I highly suggest FXCM implements a system like paypal or any other financial institution whereby you have to enter characters “5”, “7” and “11” of your secret word or something of that nature.
Perhaps when you login from a non trusted IP, a code is sent to your phone and you have to enter the code to confirm your login.
This is very basic stuff and considering your customers have in excess of $600million in their accounts. I expect much tighter security over accounts.
My hopes are to see such a basic security measure implemented in the future.
J wont comment on security but there demo accounts do not expire. The only time they expire is if you do not use it for more than a month then they consider the account non-active and deactivate it so save bandwith most likely
Thanks for your feedback. I have shared it with our development team. We are always looking for ways to improve our platforms, and the safety of client funds is of utmost importance.
As Bob has confirmed, you can demo trade with FXCM indefinitely. However, inactive demos expire so that space is not wasted on our demo servers. As with FXCM live accounts, you can run trading reports for FXCM demo accounts and save them for your records.
I’ve traded live for over 20 years (first with stocks, then futures, and now forex) and I still continue to use demo accounts to test new strategies. I won’t trade a strategy with real money until I am confident with the results I see on demo.
You mentioned that you have been testing a strategy on one of our demos for about a month. Is there anything I can help with so you can make the most of your demo experience? Which of our platforms are you using? Trading Station, Mirror Trader, NinjaTrader, MT4?
Thanks for your reply Jason. I am using Trading Station and currently do not need any help with my strategy. Something that would be nice though is an in depth video tutorial on using the “Alerts and Automation” feature as my current strategy that I’m testing requires me to check on the condition of my trade every 4 hours which isn’t very convenient for me.
I am subscribed to the DailyFX Youtube channel but I cannot seem to find a video about the alerts and automation feature.
I am a bit confused as to why I cannot access my demo account as I get timed out at “authenticating” but my live account works just fine. I’ll submit a support ticket if it’s still not working by tomorrow.
The automation trading video is something I really would like to see though. How to set it up, how to use custom indicators in the automation process and text alerts to my phone.
Thanks for the update, Bellamy. I’m not sure why you couldn’t connect on your demo earlier. Since you could connect on your live account , my guess is the programmers may have been updating something on that demo server.
Is this a strategy that’s already coded, or are you placing trades manually? If you already have it coded, then you can use the Strategy Optimizer and Strategy Backtester.
Thanks for your reply Jason, I appreciate you taking the time to link that video.
I looked through the list of strategies to optimise and I cannot find the SSI strategy. I would like to create an automated strategy that will short when SSI is at a certain level and buy when it’s at another level. I notice there are many strategies for sale on the fxcmapps website.
I guess I will have to pay for such a strategy if I were to get one created for me? I really wish there was an in depth guide to creating automated systems. That video doesn’t explain much.
