Most important factors to consider when going live from demo?

I'm currently thinking of starting a small live trading account, having performed relatively well with a demo account. However, I know that success with a demo account does not imply that you will be successful with a live account. Why is this? What causes traders to fail when they start trading live? Is it purely the added emotion involved with losing/gaining real money, which causes them to act irratically, or are there other factors at play?

First, you run a real moneyand that is a pressure on the psyche.
Secondly, trade on a real account is much more difficult due to the conditions set by the broker. In the demo they will always easier.
Processing orders may differ (open time, delay and slippage). This is important for the novice trader.

Go through real account is a big decision , Most of the traders are in hurry just after doing 1 month demo trading . they want to work in real account .They should be careful of their investment , because with live trading they feel difficulty to recover losses.

Demo v Real trading differences generally fall into two broad categories..
1. Execution.. Differences in result arising from the technical differences in the Real v Demo execution environment and processes.
2. Psychological.. Differences in your application of your system to Real trading.. arising from stresses of trading with REAL MONEY.
It IS critical IMHO when transiting from DEmo to Real to differentiate between these...
And heres a simple way to do that which in the past has saved me money.

TRICK of the TRADE.. Demo to Real - A practical suggestion..
(Establish if your successful DEMO tested trading system is vulnerable in translation to Real-Trading Technical Execution problems.)

When you open your REAL Acct, open a new DEMO account from same broker with same equity.***
Open BOTH on your Trading Computer/WorkStation, which should have adequate speed, memory and be dedicated.
Install RELIABLE TradeCopy software on both. And link Demo to Live in Master Slave setup. (same Broker)
(The execution latency between the two platforms in such a setup should be less than 1ms).
Now trade thru the Demo platform.. when you place a DEMO order (Stop/Limit/AtMarket) youll quickly see how technically reliable all your testing has been for Real Execution.
At the end of your first week or two, you should have enough data by comparing statements and execution details to decide to what extent technical execution on the Real account differs from the Demo environment on which youve developed your strategy. Needless to say this whole exercise should be undertaken on very low leverage and smallest viable equity risk.

*** VERY IMPORTANT to ensure that lotsizes copy with identically leverage. Competently written TradeCopy software will allow scaling when Demo and Real equity differs. So..If the Demo Account equity is DIFFERENT from your REAL account then you MUST ensure that the LIVE Trades placed are based on EXACTLY same leverage as the Demo on which you tested and proved your system. Best if to set up both accounts with SAME equity and trade initially with lowest leverage possible.

With a Demo account , you may usually find that you have more of a risk appetite than in a live environment given that the money is not real.... there may be a tendency to hold positions in loss which you would have actually closed if it was in fact a live account or may even have been stopped out due to not having enough equity.
Also as rightly pointed out by some other posts, the conditions in the live account are always more challenging depending on the nature of the market. One thing also you must check is that the spreads, commissions, swaps etc are all identical in both the live and demo environments.

open several smaller size account and do micro lots. 99% that you will blow your first 1-4 accounts. valuable experience, but just make it less expensive.

Your appetite for risk should be your #1 concern. Eventually you will have to jump in the deep pool. You will get a million different answers on how long you should wait. Honestly that time frame is going to be different for everyone.

However, when you do decide to jump in just dip your toe in first. You will be amazed on how different you view trading, even on a micro account. Where I think everyone should start.

And YES! The added emotions of trading with real monies can create havoc on any demo trader. No matter how well you did on demo.

Hello Ponzi,
no doubt the emotions and psychology is very different when trading in demo and when you trade in live environment. when you are trading in demo you are ready to still hold your at times of losses but in live, you are not ready to hold your position in losses you close it earlier same ways you are ready to take small profits in your live account and besides the biggest different you trade with real money there dude so no escaping and mind set is all different

When you trading in real account you need to remember 3 simple rules:

It an investment, investments give low profit so don't expect to get rich from it. if you make 10% a year it great.
The thing here is DON'T MAKE LOTS OF TRADES.

Know when to cut your losses, one of traders biggest problems is that they dont know when to cut the loss, always will say some thing like "it going to reverse now, i know it". But it not reverse and you loose all of your investment. So you have to find clear strategy and WORK BY IT.

Dont look for trades all the time. One of my biggest problems is that i try to find new entry points, this is a mistake. you have to tell your self "i am going to trade on **** asset only when it come to **** level.


so for conclusion
no dreams
know how to manage your money
strategy