Practice Accounts/Platforms - Suggestions

Hello Everyone,

I am new to this forum and glad to be a member. To give you a little background about myself; I started investing in physical bullion a few years ago, ie; Gold / Silver. Learned a lot about markets, found FOREX with the XAU/USD and XAG/USD pairs, then the EUR/USD and NOW I AM ADDICTED!!!

I opened a practice account and have made a few trades. Actually managed to make several hundred on today's EUR/USD. Lost some too.

Before going live my question is what is the preferred platform on this forum. If there is one.
Thanks,
X

No. To each his/her own, though the options are not so many.

Thanks for you reply, I still have a lot to learn. However following spot daily for the past couple years has taught me a lot. The thing I love most about it is it is all self / learned / taught.

Logically, I figured most of the platforms trade the same way.

I see great potential in FOREX. Here to soak up as much knowledge as I can from you guys. Hopefully you will see me trading several hundred pip / multiple position trades ONE day!

I really would like to make a career out of this. OR, side Career.

Hello,

Last night I traded for a few hours (on practice account) and lost about $500 on the Sydney start.

Yes, I was up, no that does NOT matter, (right!) I closed all positions before I went to bed. I am still learning. I just sort of dove into FOREX opened a practice account and I am in school here and at babypips as well as my own reading.

Today, after further, reading about scalping (my initial instinct as a Forex trader)
in 2 threads here I closed the night up 100 (plus my losses of 500). I am trying to treat the money
as my own.

However, I have two questions;

1. Will newbie traders like myself learn bad habits by trading on practice accounts before fully learning (if that is possible) trading FOREX?

2. Is a mini account a bad idea for starting traders, after learning a bit?

Thanks guys (and gals,)
XTrade

I can answer both of those questions for you.

1. No, you will not learn bad habits trading on a demo account, use this as much as you need to build your confidence in the understanding of the forex market.

2. No, a mini account is not a bad idea, just because you have a mini account doesn't mean you can't trade larger size lots, and it gives you the option to take less of a risk by allowing lot sizes of .1 (10,000) and some as low as .01 (1,000) as most standard accounts have a minimum of 1 standard lot (100,000). Risk and Reward and money management are HUGE factors in Forex trading, much like any other market I assume.

Look around the forums, check out the trading systems section and see if you can relate to it from your previous experience trading metals and ore, and go from there. Don't hesitate to ask if you run into a complication, plenty of people here are more than willing to explain anything you may have a concern with.

Pharoah,
Thanks for your insight AND welcoming us newbies!

I have another question for you,

When trading or "scalping" for small profits, during the day or night,
what is the desired time frame for charting? 5, 10, 15, 30?

I have been trading, single and double lots frequently in the evening, however, when i read I
do not see mentions of the timing used for certain "styles" if you will.

Thanks again, I will continue practicing and reading.

scalping generally doesn't go to a higher timeframe than 15, as far as time of the day when scalping is most useful? personally, I'd say the asian session, because it tends to hold a range when trading in anything but yen. For example, EUR/USD tends to have a characteristic of ranging during asian session, because of that, you can set relatively small support a resistance lines to bounce off of and scalp from. But, I am NOT a seasoned scalper, I'm a trend trader.