When to go live

I see that you have been adding to your losers on some of the trades you've shown, a great way to blow up your account,,, real fast.

Don't go live until you have fixed them.

are you on live and how are the results so far, just take it one step at a time and dont stress it too much, there will be some adjustment made but still we all learn along the way. best of luck

I think is better be live with a very small account than be in demo

Forget the big accounts,just go live with a small one..and good luck..

Ei who do you think u are to call pathetic the newbies...everyone started as a newbie...i've made this post in August 2014 in October i go live in January 2015 ive maded 388% of profit from a 8.5k real account ....whos the pathetic?????...let me tell you something i really find stupid people like you that disregard newbies...do you have any holy grail for trading?


Thanks everyone who posted and tried to help..its a common question for newbies.

Cheers

PZR, ignore the derogatory comments from some of the heroes out there, the interwebs are full of keyboard warriors and experts. If you are trading profitably then that is all that matters, in the end the aim is to make a profit and it is nobody else's place to tell us how to do it. we all trade differently, but in the same market, that is what is so amazing about financial markets. I have been in this game since the 80's, seen plenty come and go, in the end the quiet ones are the successful, forget the noisemakers. As you have seen, some go on about the brokers and markets and how they are against traders with slippage etc. If those things are such a big issue to them then they are either with the wrong broker or in the wrong game.....or most probably both.

You will find some interesting advice online, but you will find even more garbage. People who have time to post every few minutes generally aren't the ones you should be listening to. Hunt around, make up your own mind on what is good comment and have a laugh at the rest. Most forums are for enjoyment, trading can be lonely ,so see the comments for what they are. Try to find some traders locally you can actually spend time with each week. Not just to share ideas on trading , but the world in general, don't get stuck in a box and insulated.

Good to see you are making profits. Don't forget, trading is a business...pay yourself. Take some profit out each month and leave the rest to grow your account until it is as large as you want it to be. 250k is plenty to start making a really good income, but may take some time for you to get there. However, if you take some profit as you go, very soon you will have recovered your initial investment, that will make a huge difference mentally and take some pressure off. If you don't pay yourself , there is no point doing it. Once your account is at a balance you think is workable to provide an income , clear it each month and invest the profit elsewhere. Don't leave all your eggs in one basket.

Good trading and enjoy.

Hi Greeny,

I totally agree on your opinion. I know there is online garbage and anyone can say there opinion, but disrespect i dont like, and i think i should point garbage when i see it so newbies can see it to.

Yes im profitable..but im in a new newbie dillema wich is chaging the system to a more profitable one and less stressfull too. As experienced traders recommended im testing it live (with very small positions) to see if it prospers.

Thanks on your wise advice.

Cheers

+1 to this, and is pretty much what i was going to say, so I am going to repeat some of it.

The purpose of a demo account in my opinion, is simply to test the strategy. Once you know how to trade the strategy, then it is time to move to a live account. By the way this is my opinion only. I find that a Live account is completely different than a demo, only because live money is on the line.

it is very easy to set and forget on a demo account, it is extremely difficult to set and forget on a live account... you will find (even with 0.01 lots) you will keep coming back to the account, checking how the trade is going, worrying when the trade goes red, relaxing when the trade goes blue, and the emotions go up and down as the trade progresses. What generally happens is that the emotional turmoil becomes so much, that you close the trade early.... and then the trade goes and hits the TP price... THAT is trading, and that is what live account experience teaches you, to leave the trades alone when they need to be left alone!

What you will also find, is that the market reacts in very strange ways, news is a prime example... on demo, you probably dont pay any attention to the news, and in live you will lose trades because you will not manage the trade properly... again it is something that can only be gained with experience in my opinion... (from my own journey that is!)

At some time you need to make the jump, but ONLY trade with what you can afford. I trade with what i can afford, but even then, when your account starts building, seeing profits and losses of 30+- (even though only 1% of the account size) seems massive - and that needs to be what you turn your emotional side off too.

My biggest thing I would reccomend however, and I go on about it ALL the time, is get yourself a trade journal.

I only use Exel, with columns of pair, timefram, buy or sell, pirce (open) price (closed), pips gained, profit, comments on exit.

By far the most important is the comments on exit. For my strategy, i only ever want to see 3 things in that column.... TP hit, SL Hit, closed due to news event.

Anything outside of those three, is there to be analysed, and seeing how i can do better.

Along with this, you may want to have a column for reasons for entry... (my strategy is pretty straightforward, and generally the only time i get it wrong is when i dont concentrate!)

What sits under all of this needs to be a strategy for when to enter and when to exit, and it needs to be specific....

For instance

for entry:

MA cross, AO colour change (within 3 bars of cross), above Kumo cloud... if all conditions are met, you take it

For exit, it could simply be, High impact news event, hit TP/SL (this could be due to trailing stop by the way) (auto close...!) MA cross to the opposing side....

Whatever it is for your strategy.

Once you have these you can trade to a plan, as opposed to well, the AO is 4 bars..... or the MA LOOKs as though it is going to cross.... etc.

That is when you can see where you are going wrong!

If you do not have these factors, you should not be on a live account.

In my opinion, demo is only good for 10% of your trading... and I am serious. A profitable demo WILL become negative for a period, just because you dont follow your own rules! Trust me on that! :-) Good luck to you though!

roland just summed it up. very well said and yeah, in the internet there is everything, just take from it what will help you and neglect everything else that might pull you down

Nicely put Roland..and as for the "newbie", listen there are prb lots of those who get off by trying to knock others down..some are just like that or they are just lashing out for some reason. The point being you just ignore these barbs and move on, rem you get to laugh all the way to the bank..good luck and keep us posted on how things turn out

When you start trusting your strategy and have good control on your emotions, then you should go live. Start with low capital because even if you get margin call, you won't feel too much down and out.

well i think at least 4 comment before me , they already given you good advice . for now i start fresh with new broker which i believe they MT4 don't make a foll of me

I would say as soon as possible.
This are my arguments(part of article written by me)

The demo account is helpful to make the first steps on the financial markets. Once you have learnt the basics and gain some experience you will no longer need it. The challenge is that the real trading account has nothing to do with the demo version. There is no differences in quotes or movements. Perhaps, the only difference is that the demo account is updated fewer times per second, while the live platform is faster. However, this is in a timeframe of milliseconds, so you cannot see any difference. The difference is only in your mind.
Greed and fear are the most important words in the financial markets. Every trader has to fight against these two traits of their character. Probably you are saying right now – ”it does not apply to me”, you have no idea how wrong this is. You will find out the truth after your first real account is opened. Learn how to trade with it. There is no need for it to be a large one, because it is very likely that you will loose your first investment. This is part of the experience that every trader has to gain in order to become successful.