Benefit most from Demo Trading

When I just observe the price chart moving, I find many good setups and seems that I should be able to trade successfully using the set of methods.

Nevertheless, when I trade with my demo account, I find myself feeling uncomfortable. I find it hard to commit to a trade decision, and get evaluate my own performance with the outcome. No matter how much I am confident with my method, I find it hard to pull the trigger. I don't think I care much about money. Even it is not real money, I take the account quite seriously.

I think this is both about emotion and thinking. Anyone has passed this stage, can you give me some advice to benefit most from demo trading?

Many thanks

This is true for many people. It's why it's been said that if you want to know whether to buy or sell, just ask a 5 year old to look at the chart and tell you the direction.

That's the heart of the matter. You are giving power to the results of your trading. Basically, you've assigned a value to the results that have nothing to do with trading, yet everything to do with how you view and judge yourself. This is one of the most difficult aspects of trading to overcome. Everyone experiences this. Some are able to get over it, many can't.

The goal is to see it as a game in which you don't assign any value to the outcome of a trade. The trade either makes money or it doesn't. It has no bearing on who you are as a person. Of course, this takes us to the next issue.

Everyone cares about money. The problem is most of us have a pretty fucked up relationship with it. Those who are able to see it for what it truly is and what it represents in the world are able to make it work for them. The vast majority of us work for those few people precisely because of our prevailing beliefs and attitudes towards money (courtesy of our parents, which is why rich kids don't go to the same schools as the rest of us).

You've got to do some serious introspection of your beliefs about money. If you truly don't care about it, then why are you trading? Even more specifically, why trade money?

Trading is so difficult precisely because if one is to succeed they need to make some serious changes in their beliefs and the way they normally think. Most people just can't do it. That's why so many fail at trading.

Thank Dopey,

for your advice. Yes, I may have taken it too personal. Good comment

What I mean about "not care about money" was about not caring the small starting practising money rather than money as a whole.

I am undoubtedly want to get rich. And the more people get richer in the world, the better the world will be.

kk

Well, it's better to focus on learning a solid strategy. The money part in the beginning is quite important in terms of money management, however as far as how much profit is being made is not. Just work on improving that strategy and controlling your emotions when you trade.

Thanks. I have partly overcame my problem of initial hesitation by simply taking action and take it easy. Although the trade result is not as good as expected by the strategy observation, it is still ok. As I overcome the initial hesitation, I will set up higher expectation for myself to behave more "up to standard".

This is an excellent thread. Thanks for starting it. Below is what it says to me.


Dopey wrote "Basically, you've assigned a value to the results that have nothing to do with trading, yet everything to do with how you view and judge yourself. "

Immediately, I thought of how I relate to nontrading stuff, such as chores or other people and such, as the "nothing to do with".

Then, you say "Although the trade result is not as good as expected by the strategy observation, it is still ok. "

This makes me think of the gap I put between my "strategy observation" and a hesitation. Mine is slightly different, in principle the same. My gap is done almost every trade, unfortunately to me. It's between speedy, insightful decision made from experience and slow, unsteady strategy I'm currently making in downtime, hesitation going between the two and often, with emotional uncertainty that goes with adjusting a new strategy so it works, failure. Of course, there's mm, only leaning towards experience until the new strategy works'd be the more obvious choice.

Between the nontrading stuff and, for me, the new strategy stuff, one finds the self. For you, since you decided on a strategy, hesitation could be explained better as internalized mm, for which watching the chart to stop a trade as well as using physical mm, would externalize insecurity about the strategy or one's own experience.

Dopey goes further about the self, giving a cogent impression one strives for to trade profitably.

ha-pattern,

Thanks for your comment. Happy to hear that you find this thread useful. Trading is a serious career that take months of time to accompish. And I choose to do it step-by-step. I would not demo trading before I am comfortable with observation. After I have convinced that the trading method works after observation, I have no much problem about changing method. This helps my performance during demo-trading. I have not yet had much problem with MM or reaction. I think I have the problem of self-evaluation and take the result too personal as said by Dopey.

cheers,