I totally agree with you , one can be a disciplined trader even if real money is not at risk.
Well, demo trading doesn't trigger human biases like fear, loss aversion, regret aversion, etc. My suggestion to newbies is to trade demo account for a while, trade it like real money, don't overtrade, don't open heavy volumes, and once you start making consistent 5-10% return, move to demo account with minimum funds you are willing to lose, and there you will face these behavioral biases. Fight them and increase your deposit with time. 
No problem. It is me who should have clarified my point.
To clarify it now - when one risks more than they should, more often than not they lose money. That is painful, frustrating and unnecessary and that loss smarts for a long, long time after that.
I don't agree. Being disciplined and patient is essential, but discipline doesn't mean you don't have emotions. It means that you are able to make rational decisions in spite of your feelings. If you don't experience any emotions in trading, good for you - I mean that. But for most of us, it is a normal part of trading that we have to accept and find ways to work around it.
Correct that's why we have to do our best to delegate making trading decisions to machines - i.e. build trading algorithms and participated in trading only in the form of improving their performance.Well, demo trading doesn't trigger human biases like fear, loss aversion, regret aversion, etc. My suggestion to newbies is to trade demo account for a while, trade it like real money, don't overtrade, don't open heavy volumes, and once you start making consistent 5-10% return, move to demo account with minimum funds you are willing to lose, and there you will face these behavioral biases. Fight them and increase your deposit with time.
trading in demo is good to try and test manual strategies, you can see how market opening and closing times as well as the economical news affects strategies, i suggest trading in demo for a full month before moving on to real account hence you would have mastered and equipped yourself with mistakes learnt from demo to now trade in real account.
//---
hey e..... it wouldn't be enough for me for sure.....
from what i can gather on all trading forums is many are impatient..... they want to trade live now, and within 24 hours most will be at full margin.....
looking back, i'd make myself trade demo until i doubled my 1000$ demo account.... twice...... with strict limits on accountfreemargin(), lot size and drawdowns....... and i would not care if it took me 5 years......
there is little point in trying to swim the english channel until you know you can......h
Very True. Every person moves at his pace in learning but one month is actually nothing in forex market. It will be a blunder.
You are right. It makes sense to first practice in a risk-free environment until one gets a good grasp of the ins and outs of trading. If you think about it, this is how things often work in life - if you are training for a specific profesion or job, you usually get the chance to learn and practice in a neutral environment before you get put out there.
Similar threads
