Demo first: how to practise properly
In this lesson you'll learn
- What a demo account is good for, and its limits
- How to make demo practice realistic
- When you're ready to move to real money
Practise with real prices, not real money
A demo account uses live prices and virtual money. It's where you learn the platform, test your plan and make beginner mistakes for free.
Make it realistic
- Set the demo balance to the amount you'd really deposit, not $100,000.
- Use the same lot sizes and risk % you'd use live.
- Follow your written plan and journal every trade.
- Trade at the times you'd trade for real.
What demo can't teach
Demo fills can be kinder than live ones (less slippage), and, more importantly, demo money doesn't make your heart race. Many traders who do well on demo trade worse live because fear and greed appear. That's normal, and it's why the move to live should be gradual.
When to go live
A sensible checklist:
- At least 30–50 demo trades following your plan.
- You followed your rules on at least 9 out of 10 trades.
- The results, after costs, are positive or close to it, with drawdown within your limits.
- You know the platform without thinking about it.
Then start live with a small account or minimal size, and increase only after another set of trades confirms that you behave the same with real money.
Common mistakes
- Practising with a huge demo balance and unrealistic sizes.
- Treating demo as a game and ignoring the plan.
- Going straight from demo to full size live.
Check yourself
1. What demo balance should you use?
2. What does demo trading not reproduce well?
3. After a good demo period, you should go live…
Key takeaways
- Practise on demo with a realistic balance and real rules.
- Demo can't reproduce the emotions of real money.
- Go live small, and grow only after consistent behaviour.
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Education, not advice. Goldman Academy teaches how markets and tools work. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell, and no lesson promises profits. Trading leveraged products carries a high risk of losing money; only trade money you can afford to lose. · Written by Goldman Academy, reviewed by Faisal