Demo account

I have had a spreadbetting account for a few years now and traded from time to time after work. Not successfully.
I have been made redundant and now have a lot time to study and dedicate to trading.

I have bought a couple of books "Spreadbetting the Forex markets" by David Jones. Quite basic really, not much detail but important section on risk V reward and risk management which I intend to apply to my trading.

Started to read "The financial spread betting handbook" by Malcolm Pryor.

I have also have a demo account but the company is based in the USA which is OK but wondered if there were any recommended UK based sites offering a free demo account?
I want to have a few months to try and work out a strategy or system.

i was disappointed with "Spreadbetting the Forex markets" by David Jones also Very basic/novice stuff.

MayZerG said:

i was disappointed with "Spreadbetting the Forex markets" by David Jones also Very basic/novice stuff.

Click to expand...

Yes, it's like he put the book together in a hurry, lots of blank pages, can be read in a few hours.
I did take something from the risk reward section but really wanted more information on finding trading opportunities.

I will gain experience from the US based demo account but the spreads are wider than with say Finspreads so if anyone can recommend a UK based free demo account I would appreciate it.

Hi, I used the PaddyPower spreadbetting demo for a while and was impressed with the set-up. I believe the spreadbetting site is part of the same company that runs tradefair and capital spreads. Spreads are tight and better than Finspreads from what I remember.

I would have opened a live account with them but am only trading spot forex at the moment so have no use for it. I've got a live accounts with IGIndex and Tradefair both of which are good as well. With IG the spreads are not the best but the range of markets and customer service is incredible.

BTW my fave trading book is Come into My Trading Room by Alexander Elder.

Thanks ZT for info on Paddypower/Capital spreads and IGIndex.

I opened a demo account with Smartlivemarkets who use MT4 and I am getting used to it, prefer it to Finspreads now.
Smartlivemarkets spread on Forex are,
EUR/USD 2
GBP/USD 2
EUR/GBP 2
AUS/USA 3
EUR/CHF 3
GBP/JPY 6
If you remember any of the spreads how do those spreads compare?

Those spreads look pretty competitive to me.

I've not used Smartlivemarkets. Good idea to check them out with a demo account. I find it is useful to check out the customer service before you have signed up for a live account. There seems to be a big disparity between the companies with good service and those with bad service.

Thanks for the help.

Many people start out trading every currency pair in their demo account. Instead of working with all of the currency pairs, you should limit your trading to one or two pairs. This will allow you to become familiar with the way that these pairs move and it will improve your chances of success
Whenever trading with a demo account, you need to make sure that you treat the money as if it were real. Many people trade their demo account much riskier than they would with real money and don't really learn how to properly manage their account.

busfarehome said:

Thanks ZT for info on Paddypower/Capital spreads and IGIndex.

I opened a demo account with Smartlivemarkets who use MT4 and I am getting used to it, prefer it to Finspreads now.
Smartlivemarkets spread on Forex are,
EUR/USD 2
GBP/USD 2
EUR/GBP 2
AUS/USA 3
EUR/CHF 3
GBP/JPY 6
If you remember any of the spreads how do those spreads compare?

Click to expand...

EUR/USD is actually 1 pip spread during UK/USA session

dccruibay said:

Many people start out trading every currency pair in their demo account. Instead of working with all of the currency pairs, you should limit your trading to one or two pairs. This will allow you to become familiar with the way that these pairs move and it will improve your chances of success
Whenever trading with a demo account, you need to make sure that you treat the money as if it were real. Many people trade their demo account much riskier than they would with real money and don't really learn how to properly manage their account.

Click to expand...

I agree 100% with the advice above