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Don't play games with demo accounts

  • #61
  • Aug 14, 2010 2:06am Aug 14, 2010 2:06am
Quoting silverman71
But if you treat your demo-account as a complete playground and do things you would never do in a real trade, then I see no use of a demo-acocunt.
Not if you're going to use it like a playground, no.

Quoting silverman71
I belive most people tend to take more risks on any demo of anything compared to real money, and if you trade too long on a demo-account you might raise your risktaking limit too high.
I guess that's the importance of treating a demo like you would a live real money account.


I can't help thinking about that line from the Kenny Rogers song....."You never count your money when you're sittin' at the table. There'll be time enough for countin' when the dealin's done."
  • #62
  • Aug 14, 2010 2:38pm Aug 14, 2010 2:38pm
Quoting Czech
Ah nice deflection! Pretty much what i expected. moving on....
You are still alive? Ok, I'll fix that right now. At least for this thread.
  • #63
  • Aug 14, 2010 2:40pm Aug 14, 2010 2:40pm
Quoting pipmutt
"Plan the trade, and trade the plan."

If you had a strategy and a trading plan, and confidence in it and your ability to trade it then you wouldn't need to fight the emotional demons you've described, you would simply trade the plan, relaxed and confident in the knowledge that when it was extensively tested on demo it proved successful. Job done, without any need to suppress your emotions, fight psychology, or unnecessarily put money at risk.

In order to find a solution you first need to identify the problem!
Yawn, you still don't get it. I am convinced you never will. The end!
  • #64
  • Aug 14, 2010 2:42pm Aug 14, 2010 2:42pm
Quoting smikester
You must trade demo accounts. It's an essential tool. Then probably a small real account.

But you can't beat a proper account using proper money. It makes you wait for the best set ups and prevents overtrading.
Ok, the voice of reason. What are you doing here? This is a thread for denialists and argumentative traders who cannot step outside their own believe system. Both exceptionally bad traits for a trader btw.
  • #65
  • Aug 14, 2010 2:45pm Aug 14, 2010 2:45pm
Quoting Yoda_Glenn
I have to kind of agree with this....
Which is basically my whole point but then you people go right back to the demo account argument which is essentially 180 degrees counter to the point you made the previous sentence. I give up........sigh.
  • #66
  • Edited 3:19pm Aug 14, 2010 2:54pm | Edited 3:19pm
Quoting silverman71
Read this thread with interest since I'm a rookie myself.
For me it's a little bit of both.

I use MT4 and it is necessary for me to have a demo account just to learn the software itself. On that I think all can agree that a demo-account is good.

Been doing some trading on my demo-account for about three weeks and I fell that has given me some time to learn more about the pair (EUR/USD), patterns and so on.
But if you treat your demo-account as a complete playground and do things you would never do in a real trade, then I see no use of a demo-acocunt....
All I can tell you is that you are probably wasting your time doing this. Like most people who go about it this way you are convinced you are not. The forex highway is littered with the rotting corpses of people who have gone about it this way. I bet you will be hard pressed to find one trader (who is being honest) that didn't take this path and ultimately have it turn into a train wreck on them. Why do you suppose this pattern seems to happen so often? All these people were also convinced they were taking the logical, pragmatic, sensible, conservative, cautious approach.

But you cannot get this sort of insight from traders in that stage of denial. The best insight is usually from the guys trading big money for several years. They have learned to be honest with themselves and others. Most will admit to having done demo, thinking they have it all figured out because they became a millionaire on demo play money only to blow their first $1000 account. Then another...and another. Just about all the big traders around here will admit to it.

So go ahead and waste your time. You are doing it the hard way but if you stick with it and blow a few real accounts you eventually arrive at the place you need to be. I am simply offering a possible shortcut that will avoid a lot of unnecessary pain and suffering but it is of no consequence to me what you do either way.
  • #67
  • Aug 14, 2010 4:13pm Aug 14, 2010 4:13pm
I can suggest - STRONGLY - After 3 months of demo trading, reading, studying one or two pairs, GET OFF THE DEMO.

Open up a live micro account.

This is the ONLY way to get past the biggest hurdle of being a personal trader.

Risking YOUR OWN - REAL MONEY!!!!

Demos, can help you learn a platform and I still use them to "test" different trades and systems.

Otherwise. THey give people a false sense of what forex is all about.
Getting through the Psychology (fear, risk,etc. ) and self confidence are more important than any MACD or MA crossover.

EVERYTHING changes when real money is on the line.

It is when you can create profits, similarly to that demo you doubled or tripled in a month on a live account and LOSE THE EMOTION, You will find success.

I spent way too much time on the demo, while I could of been playing with REAL pennies on a micro. SO you lose 100 pips, you lose $10 bucks.
But when your account is $300 that is not a good loss. It is all relative.

I also suggest STRONGLY.
Demo trading at least 7 brokers:
1. Calling their customer service at 3AM
2. Calling the trade desk if there is one for demos
3. Emailing them for support.
Se what kind of support you get.

This still does nothing for the actual deposit or withdraw of money.

ANd MT4 is good for quick charting. It is not the end all be all of trading. By any means,

Pro traders don't use MT4. MT4 is a program designed for market makers. Just look at what happened with gain capital and their MT4 accounts.
I will probably never trade Mt4 live again.

They place orders through systems like Reuters and others depending on the pair, and use a second party charting system.

GO LIVE ASAP. There is NO WAY to treat a demo as a live account. I don't care what anyone says,
XAU-XAG/USD_Gold n Silver Trader's Thread = Technicals, Fundamentals & News
  • #68
  • Aug 14, 2010 10:15pm Aug 14, 2010 10:15pm
Quoting XTrade
I can suggest - STRONGLY - After 3 months of demo trading, reading, studying one or two pairs, GET OFF THE DEMO.

Open up a live micro account.

This is the ONLY way to get past the biggest hurdle of being a personal trader.

Risking YOUR OWN - REAL MONEY!!!!

Demos, can help you learn a platform and I still use them to "test" different trades and systems.

Otherwise....
I do have a demo MT4 account. Only use it for charting. I never trade with MT4. I hate it for trading.
  • #69
  • Aug 16, 2010 11:34pm Aug 16, 2010 11:34pm
I think the pip daddy is right.

Demo for a short period, certainly no more than 6 months, otherwise it will turn into a videogame with no consequences....

I demo with an account just large enough to focus my mind on the task at hand. Its not pocket change, but its not a years gross income either

I think that this small trading account has improved my trading immeasurably more than demo ever could have done.

G.
  • #70
  • Aug 20, 2010 2:37am Aug 20, 2010 2:37am
Quoting XTrade
I can suggest - STRONGLY - After 3 months of demo trading, reading, studying one or two pairs, GET OFF THE DEMO.

Open up a live micro account.

This is the ONLY way to get past the biggest hurdle of being a personal trader.

Risking YOUR OWN - REAL MONEY!!!!

Demos, can help you learn a platform and I still use them to "test" different trades and systems.

Otherwise. THey give people a false sense of what forex is all about.
Getting through the Psychology (fear, risk,etc. ) and self confidence are more important than any MACD or MA crossover....

That's hitting the hammer on the nail!, XTrader. I just did demo accounts to familiarise myself with different broker increments and the platform. Then if I'd see a strategy I like, demo 4 or 5 trades to tweak it a little and then go live.

I started of with a broker with good leverage, so a 100 pips would only equal 1$, but real money, as to get used to the different emotional factors...... greed, getting in too early, getting in too late, moving stops up and down to wish for recovery against drawdown.. etc, etc.

It takes a few months of live trading to be able to: see a trade, execute the trade (with a stoploss, I'm sure) .... and walk away..

My first trades were mostly stop-outs... which to me was good, because I analysed what I did wrong & where I could've entered differently and so forth...

Hey but that's schooling fees...
  • #71
  • Last Post: Aug 20, 2010 2:53am Aug 20, 2010 2:53am
I also have a MM strategy, by where let's say I've opened an account with $1000. I would trade that account with a compounding method i.o.w If account has gained i.e $200, I would up my lotsizes from 50 cent to 60 cent...

When the account has trebled to $2000 or $3000, I withdraw my initial capital and bank it! Now I'm only at risk with the funds that the market has given me..
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