Using Demo for Live Entry

There have been many discussions and even debates about whether scaling in is a more profitable method of entry over the long-term as opposed to entering full position in one shot. I can see how a trader may implement scaling in if his predetermined entry is more of a range than an exact price. In my opinion it's more of a preference and psychological thing that I'm neither for or against. Now I'm not creating this thread so much to discuss whether it's a helpful tactic or not. What I would like to discuss is whether it could be helpful to enter a trade on a demo account first. Then instead of scaling in on what would have been your initial entry, your basically scaling in on a ficticious position.

Or does anyone here use a system where they throw out random trades on a demo and then trade off of their drawdown/profit positions? Is there merit to using demo trades to help in live trading? Personally, I think these are just mental games played onto oneself, but wanting to see what others think...

you are trying to 'game' a flaw in your methods. energy spent doing this is energy not spent becoming better.

agree. don't base your trades off a flaw.

Figure out what caused the flaw in the first place and trade accordingly.

I think it depends on the person and what you are trading for. On my shorter term trades I do not scale in. I put a trade on and go with it.

On my swing trades I like to scale in with the understanding that their is opportunity lost in this trading style. I like the fact that if I get taken out for being wrong in the beginning, it's a small loss. If the trend is with me, I will be aggressively getting in and constantly moving my SLs into BE+ for what I deem as risk free trades. This also allows me to be a little more emotionally stable during my trading.

is it right for everyone? nope! This keeps me sane during my days and I see a smoother equity curve.

Simple

The only thing I used a demo account in the past for was for a % of gain review with a small live account along side a larger demo account. One of my biggest flaws early on was the size of gains not being enough (size of losses also) to initialise a pain or pleasure factor. To explain further I would have a position that was up (or down) say 5% but on the live account this was say $100 which for both the greed and fear factor just wasnt triggering anything. Needless to say that the account was going backwards faster than forwards because of the attitude towards a small amount.

This wasnt just limited to forex but also I play alot of online poker and it was a general attitude towards small amounts of capital in play. I used the demo trading in forex and would execute a 2% (or whatever fits) position on the live account followed immediately with a position of similiar sizing on the demo account which was set at 100k starting balance. I would then watch the demo account ahead of the live (same broker to avoid too much price irregularity) and when i was satisfied with the gains (I use and open take profit for most of my trading) I would close the live first and then the demo.

I used this for both long term trading and short term position executions. The difference was astounding, and not from just a money point of view (I was actually building an account little by little instead of expecting or wanting a homerun, double triple whatever of account base) but it had me view gains in a new light which I think has allowed me to be were I am now.

So that is my view. Demos can be very limiting and I wouldnt think in the original sense of using the demo to scale a position as being long term effective. I think that once you have a sensible approach to trading then you will realise that it is more mental than anything. Stop the ideology that you can make a fortune from nothing and start concentrating on the bigger picture and that is survivorship with a strong account and you will hopefully find a future with trading be it live or just as a part time hobby that has dividends.

RT

I agree, but who said I was doing this?