How many of you demo traded well..........

dt,
Shouldn't this read: 'When you can trade live as freely as demo you've a level of emotional intelligence'?
Tim.

Yes it should tim. :LOL:. But theres no way im gona edit it as it shows nicely my lack of some other intelligence :cheesy:
 
I started trading with real money, and have ever since. But I would say that 'Demo' accounts make life simpler when testing new strategies or trading new products....(read options in my case).
When training a 'newbie' letting them try out all the 'bells and whistles'...and .....allowing them to 'ask the right questions'. But the Newbie 'needs' to move to Real money very quickly in my experience.

Demos are essential for beginners to find their way and learn to execute all elements of a trade correctly .......its useful for even the best traders as well to read test stuff and indeed test out new platforms

I tell new traders they have to be walking on water on a demo with a strategy before trying it live ................Demos are very very cushioned as we all know .......and very forgiving ............so average results don't cut it and you have to be kicking major butt on a demo to impress me

also the stops are easy ...........so again in the real world you have to be very very very good at setting stop levels ..........or indeed widen them and go on soft stops for trading ...........unlike demos that have elastic stops it seems keeping you in and making you always look better than reality

so overall Demos are a good thing when used for the right reasons ...........but don't believe them toooooo much :smart:

N
 
NVP, I am not getting what you mean by the difference in stops? The whole idea is to demo stops as you would in a real account.

By the way, I know it is often said that 90% of traders lose. Yes it might be, but how many of these people are good as newbs. They might have read some trading material online for couple of weeks, demoed for a couple more and then took on a real account. Should these people even be considered a statistic? They were bound to fail. Some others give up after a few failed trades.

I think quantifying the number of successful traders its not easy. In my opinion, people who should count toward these stats as failed traders are ones who were very serious about it. Ones who would have been willing to make a career out of it, lived for the markets.
 
I think quantifying the number of successful traders its not easy. In my opinion, people who should count toward these stats as failed traders are ones who were very serious about it. Ones who would have been willing to make a career out of it, lived for the markets.

Good point. I certainly agree that trading succesfully is a profession requiring hard work and practice, but it's really not that much more difficult than a regular one. It's as if a "lawyer" has read a couple of books, has watched a couple of videos, went to Court and lost, and all of a sudden everybody complained that he is to be included to statistics and thusonly 10% of lawyers are actually able to win. Ridiculous.
 
I have done it quite well, but then also I need to practice more as it is just a demo and our decisions in it doesn't cost anything like that in real account.
 
I don't really understand why ffsear would do badly when he was doing so well. Does it really matter though, can he not go back to do well again since he knows how ? It's a real puzzle when someone who uses the market like an ATM would wake up one day and think: this ATM is useless, let me go do something else instead.


No i can't go back because I wiped myself out using an untried and untested method.
 
after having traded demo full time for 6 months I will be going live in about 2 weeks. If I remember I will post my experience here.

way for me is to start with the smallest amount possible and to build up that way. when I start out I will be max winning and losing a couple of pounds a day.
 
after having traded demo full time for 6 months I will be going live in about 2 weeks. If I remember I will post my experience here.

way for me is to start with the smallest amount possible and to build up that way. when I start out I will be max winning and losing a couple of pounds a day.

Good luck for your trading and yes i can say this is the perfect strategy, although demo account trading seems pretty tiring yet it is very helpful. Do let us know about your experience, happy trading :)
 
I honestly don't find it tiring. of course it would be nicer to make a profit overall but my goal (and everyone's) is to trade the strategy and not the money. making profit over time is the result of the strategy. so money in that sense can be looked at as a byproduct. at least that's what I'm trying to do :p
 
I traded well on demo pretty well almost from the start. Trading on a live account, however, has been a mixed bag. My main problem is nervousness and insecurity, I am never sure in my own decisions. :(
 
I have earned a lot through Demo Account. I traded with demo account for around 5 to 6 months.
 
I traded a demo for 6 months but didn't learn too much. A lot of mistakes made in trading are through emotion. You don't have that emotion when trading a demo account.
 
I traded a demo for 6 months but didn't learn too much. A lot of mistakes made in trading are through emotion. You don't have that emotion when trading a demo account.

So if emotions are that important, and you can't have them while demo trading, then what's the point of it at all? Have you learned anything during those 6 months?
 
I traded a demo for 6 months but didn't learn too much. A lot of mistakes made in trading are through emotion. You don't have that emotion when trading a demo account.

That is why it's a good idea to open a small live account after you're done trading on a demo one. You both risk as little money as possible and you learn to deal with the emotions associated with trading with real money.
 
That is why it's a good idea to open a small live account after you're done trading on a demo one. You both risk as little money as possible and you learn to deal with the emotions associated with trading with real money.

Not sure it's too different from demo trading unless you risk a sum you consider significant.
 
Not sure it's too different from demo trading unless you risk a sum you consider significant.

I think that generally depends on the person trading. Also, one can always gradually increase their invested in their account, once they get used to the current sum they're trading with.
 
I think that generally depends on the person trading. Also, one can always gradually increase their invested in their account, once they get used to the current sum they're trading with.

Yeah, I guess you can call this a safe strategy. At least you won't get wrecked with terrible trades.
 
How did it go once you moved onto a live account?

Well Demo is Demo, In live account everything changes as we have to deal with real money, so I also need to change my strategies which I used in Demo and I could say it is quite rewarding.
 
Well Demo is Demo, In live account everything changes as we have to deal with real money, so I also need to change my strategies which I used in Demo and I could say it is quite rewarding.

Seems like the transfer went quite painless for you. Some traders feel quite surprised about how different real trading turns up to be.
 
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