Success with Demo Account

I started my demo acct a week ago and i have been doing really good so far. I was just wondering if most traders tend to have success or failures with their demo accounts at first.

I would have to say that a lot of people are successful trading their demo accounts but then fail once they go live. Because once you start trading with real money your emotions come into play. It happened to me and I know many other people as well. It's a little easier to trade with fake money.

My suggestion would be to start with a micro mini account as soon as you can. Because even though each pip is only $0.10, your emotions will start coming out when losing or winning. If you can afford to put aside a few hundred dollars to trade with a micro mini account I think that's the best way to start off after you're a little comfortable with trading.

I guess this depends on what the market is doing after someone starts a demo.

I feel that you should stick to the demo account for a while at least a few months once you see yourself making winning trades with your demo account and trading with more self control and developing the mental discipline and patience then start with a mini or micro account and "test" the waters.

everyone seems to knock people for using a demo account, I would reccomend using the demo account to execute the trade first then if you see you have captured a potential trend or turning point in market psychology then execute this same trade in ur live account. the demo account can be very powerful if used correctly. also f16 pilots dont just hop into the f16 and starting bombing targets there given years in the case of pilots in a flight sim, then there given a trainer before stepping into the real thing.

You should get a feel for how consistent you are it takes more than a week or 2 to find this out. I have reset many demo accounts, and if i would have demo traded more from the beginning i would have saved myself from some painful monetary lessons.

1 week is not enough, try to establish at least a 6month or 3month track record can you for instance double the account? or triple it even can you control ur losses, and protect your core capital despite losses, do you know when to stop. keep reading and studying see if you can locate market turning points and learn how to ride trends. read about other big traders as well.

just some thoughts on what has helped me develope.

I think demos are nothing more than a waste of time jump on to a micro-mini work out your system and grow from there. Then you will get a better idea of really how well you are doing.

turbo

As I stated in another thread, demo's should really only be used if you're an established trader and need to test your strategies...

Otherwise, use them for a week or two to test the buttons and whatnot. After that, start your account on a mini or micro account at Oanda and trade until you blow through that.

Repeat that a few times, and hopefully, you will have started to figure out just how important psychology is to trading, which you wouldn't figure out if you had demo'ed the whole time, then went live with 20K and blew through that...

Sounds harsh, but the cold reality is that there are very few who haven't blown through AT LEAST one account in their career. There's only three that I know -- a friend, my mentor, and myself.

i used to think that I was the demo account god, even debated it with someone who explained that it's different with real money.



whoever that was, you were right.

Conclusion: It is CHALK and CHEESE.

And I can verify with the above comments that you should start with the smallest pip size possible.

Demo is good for mastering the act of placing trades so you don't make stupid mistakes like hitting sell instead of buy in my opinion. It is also good for trying new trading strategies, but it is not in my opinion a measure of likely success with real money.

I have been on Demo account for about 6 months now and have been consistient with them recently. I have used them to test several platforms before that. That was the biggest plus. I finally settled on MT4.

Then I used the Demos to test what systems and indicators work best for me. I have found some.

Next since " emotions " do not play a big part I tested my Money Management rules. I put it all together and have had a few profitable months.

Next it will be a Mini or Micro account to test if I can do it Live. From there it is 28 steps to WORLD DOMINATION.

I hope you find what works for you.

Just my view.

Labrat407

Fully agree!!!

Use the demo until you get your trading method down, and then switch over to micro lots. Money management is the key to not loosing all of your money. Someone posted earlier about almost everyone blowing out their account at least once. My opinion is that if you're smart and you have a good money management plant, then you should never come close to blowing your account.

Trading demos accounts is like having a virtual girlfriend - it is not real !!

Most people say that at least 80% of trading is psychological - and this dynamic cannot be experienced trading paper money. Therefore by trading extended periods with a demo account you could develop an inaccurate picture of your true trading ability.

So what can you learn by using demos - you can learn how the different type of orders are executed i.e market, limit, If done, OCO. You can get a basic picture about price movements on various currencies but true development as a trader accelerates when there is something to risk i.e. real money.

The good news however is that there are many brokers now that allow you to trade mini or micro lots and some even offer penny pip accounts. That would seem like a good place to start - just my 2 cents worth.

Monaco

It is strongly advised to use a demo account at first to get to know the system before going live. One mistake on the live account, you will wish you practiced on a demo account first.

No newby can jump in a live account and not make a mistake. Demo is the way to go ... even if it is just for a few days.