It’s a foregone conclusion that trading instruments such as forex, stocks, indices, options, mutual funds & cryptocurrency are very dynamic and present great opportunities to earn a second income and without question be a primary source of income. Forex trading is the buying and selling of world currencies which entails skill, excitement and a perception of the financial market. It allows you to explore the economy in depth and identify and grab opportunities in the financial market with greater accuracy. As it contains high-element of risk, it becomes difficult for a newcomer to take an instant risk with their real money.

As a complete novice trader, your first mode of thought is to learn the basics of how the markets operate and how to place trades. To place a trade, you either have to open a virtual demo account with your desired capital deposit or live account with real money (see Forex brokers). Having made numerous mistakes throughout my trading journey and collating research from successful traders, I wanted to spend some thought to the major traps, hints & tips of demo account trading also highlighting the need to demo trade during critical times.

If you are a newcomer and are planning to be a part of this amazing environment, then there can be no better way than to start trading on a demo account. Forex demo trading account allows new traders to enter the Forex industry with a free ticket. 

Before we delve on tips, traps & hints of Demo trading vs Real account trading. Let's look into some of the advantages & disadvantages that a Forex demo trading has to offer for beginner and professional traders.

Advantages of Demo Account Trading

Live Currency Market Trading

Trading real money in the market can be a daunting experience for a beginner. Without having proper experience and knowledge might scare you off making wrong decisions, preventing you from trading.

But with the Forex demo trading account, you will get the experience of trading in the live currency market without spending real money. The market operates in the same way to the real price changes even if you are trading with a demo account. Trading Demo with Pepperstone’s Demo account would be the same e.g. trade execution speed, slippage and spread applicable. 

Getting Comfortable with The Trading Platform

Using a demo account will make you comfortable with the fundamental functions and techniques of using the platform. Once you get comfortable with the platform, you will find it convenient to trade on the platform with a real live funded account.

The market involves the use of many strategies and techniques. Getting acquainted with these tricks and strategies in the demo market is very important as you cannot take the risk with real money. Some of the popular Forex trading strategies are breakout trading, swing trading, scalping, and positional trading. XTB’s (xstation5) Pepperstone’s (cTrader) and City Index’s (Webtrader) are known for having the best online webtrader platforms currently in the market. When your starting choosing the right platform can be a daunting experience. MetaTrader 4

 is universally recognised but has been criticized for being outdated, although all the above forex trading platforms offer it. 

MT4 has limited tools when it comes to advanced charting whereas XTB’s ‘xStation5’ is very well equipped with cutting edge tools that will enhance your technical analysis. Also, MetaTrader 4 download comes in desktop version meaning you can’t trade form another computer or laptop. Whereas online Webtrader platforms can be accessed via the Internet of any device. Below is the selection of tools offered XTB ‘xStation’ Platform:

• Award-winning - with total trade transparency, real-time market commentary, live performance statistics, and the most comprehensive charting package around, it’s easy to see why xStation was voted ‘Best Trading Platform 2016’ by Online Personal Wealth Awards.

• Superior execution speeds - with fast, reliable execution speeds, you can trade safe in the knowledge that you can take advantage of fast market moves without delay. 

• Easy to use - innovative, intuitive and fully customisable, xStation 5 is a platform that allows you to create a trading screen suited to your style. All your settings, watchlists and workspaces are instantly accessible from your desktop, phone, laptop or tablet.

• Advanced Chart Trading - Market orders, stop losses, take profits, pending orders - execute all your trades directly from the charts. Our one-click dealing system gives your trading a more fluid, controlled feel.

Find the Best Time for Trading

Market trading remains open for 24 hours a day and 5 days a week. But when is the best time to trade? Most of the traders prefer to follow the Opening of the Tokyo, London, and New York trading sessions. But you might not be able to trade at the same time. The best time is when you can completely focus.

With a Forex demo account, you can develop a routine to trade the market that fits around your work and family life, without losing real money.
 

A disadvantage of Demo Trading Account

Money and Discipline of Risk Management

The most important thing in the world of trading market is money and risk management. You need to take calculated risks while trading knowing that you will make losses. You will miss this while using a demo account. The use of an unrealistic amount of virtual money in the demo accounts will make beginner traders more careless while trading. You will not get the real feel and patience needed for the volatile and dynamic environment of Forex & CFD trading. We will expand on this part later on and explain why the emotional aspect is negated when trading on a demo account and why traders find trading difficult when they are transitioning into a real trading account. 

Should you Demo Trade on Phone, Desktop or Tablet?

Now you can easily get quotes on the market through your Smartphone or tablet. But still, it has got its cons like:

• The smaller keyboard increases the chances of error. You cannot access the multiple charts efficiently. You might get stuck while trying to type in the ticker symbol for the stock
• The screens are too small. Desktops give you a better view of the charts
• Sometimes you may get fewer features on smartphones & tablets when compared to desktops

What features to look for before choosing the best forex demo trading account?  

We have shortlisted a common FAQ section on what beginner traders look for when choosing a Demo Trading Account via an online broker:

1. Does it come with customizable layouts and charting templates?
2. Do they have technical indicators and easy to use drawing tools?
3. Does the platform offer a variety of currency pairs (Major, Minor & Exotic)? 
4. What are the account types available (Low Spread/Commission Free)?
5. What is the required minimum balance to upgrade to a live account? And are there any promotions.
6. Am I eligible to open a demo account?
7. How long will they give access to practice offering?

Hints, Traps & Cardinal Sins of Demo Trading vs Live Trading

Coping with the Emotions of Trading

The first and major sticking point is the element of emotions when it comes to demo vs live trading. A person’s emotions greatly impact their decision-making ability when real money is on the line. It’s difficult to gain discipline from demo trading because when you’re in a losing trade you can always get out the trade or just take the hit. After a couple of losses just hit the account refresh button and your account tops back up. Apologies for breaking the bad news it doesn’t work like that. You could blow out 7 accounts and have one account with huge profit gains, but that does not mean that you will be able to repeat the one big winning account.

When your trading a live account your mind goes into a state of frenzy; doubts appear, indecision is the norm, should I? or should I not? are all normal emotions. A common trait in a successful trader is they have developed the ability to negate emotions i.e. they become emotionless and focus more on numbers. Every trader suffers from losses but the difference is they are more reliant on their formed biases. That is why they can take a loss on a particular trade and overcome that minor setback and continue to trade.

Demo Trading necessary for you to get back on track

f you run into a bad spell with your trading, sometimes revisiting trading and getting confidence back using a demo account. Jack Schwager mentioned in his book Market Wizards, that if you incur three straight losing trades you should resort to demo trading to build back confidence and a winning mindset. When you get into a bad patch trading, the brain is focused on money that is being lost and mistakes can be made by not adhering to your trading plan and also an imbalance in your emotions. Switching to a demo account relieves this pressure and reminds you that you can still trade well. The demo account is also good for working on new strategies without risking money.

Common Mistakes with a Low Deposit Live Trading Account

The general notion with new market participants is that you have to trade with a large account from the get-go to start making an income that presides your primary income. This is a common big mistake! It’s likely these individuals end up losing and blow up their accounts. To become a consistently profitable trader that is banking pips every month takes time (it does not come overnight). Not everyone can give up their day job and start trading full time. Therefore, if you feel like you’re not gaining an edge in demo trading then open a live micro account and deposit a couple of hundred dollars or pounds.

Believe what you read, “Trade with money you can afford to lose”. Applying your strategies and technical/fundamental analysis to a small funded account will help you develop and nurture the emotional aspects of trading. Once you start making mistakes with real money, you must take notes and learn. Write down the solution and memorize it so that it does not happen again. These will in effect be the rules that get added to your trading plan. You must continue to evolve as a trader until you become more consistent in following your plan. It would require someone similar to a saint to eliminate new mistakes, but this process will help you as a trader become more and more consistent in actually following your plan and not deviating away from your strategy. 

Please bear in mind whatever your risk exposure is per trade i.e. 1% or 2% of your overall capital, you should have funds in your account to cover your margin of trading. Most brokers have a micro account option available where the absolute minimum lot size to trade is 0.01 lot that normally equates to 10 pence/cents (remember 1 standard lot (100,000 units of currency is $10).

Cardinal Sins with Live Account Trading
 

Let me assume that we now moved past the obvious reason above i.e. the demo account isn’t a 100% forecaster of live results. Let’s say that you have some idea of what you are doing and you are using proper risk management, you have a strategy that gives you an edge, and you have attained consistent results on your demo account. The reality is that it is much easier to follow those guidelines when there is no real money involved. A trader’s emotions are much, much stronger when trading with real money rather than a forex demo account. With real money you will be tempted to commit several trading sins:

• Moving your stop further away from the entry level.
• Exiting a position way before it reaches your profit targets.
• Being greedy and entering multiple positions while in you’re a profitable trade
• Increasing your lot size/position size after a successful winning trade
• Entering a trade that does not meet your trading criteria maybe to get revenge on a previous trade that was a bad trade

While there are many more major sins to note to trading with real money, these listed above are the most common. This is a very brief explanation of bridging the gap between a demo account and a live account. The best advice is to not focus on money as idiotic as it may seem but on risk management and application to remove the common sins committed in trading with real money. Trade and learn your craft with a small account as you will most likely commit the cardinal sins of trading.