Im new to Forex, and using a demo account. My adventures so far

johnthreadgold

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Hi There, Just to introduce myself. I am new to FX, and hope that sharing some of my experiences so far, might be of interest.

I got interested in making extra money, because my Job, which I love, is not earning me enough to pay off my mortgage. On my initial enquiries I met some sharlotens in suites. One one free seminar, I was almost 'sold' a course that was supposedly reduced from £9000 to £2500. I did initially sign up for it, but realised that they had used highly manipulative techniques from Neuro-Linguistic Programming. I managed to get out of it and had my deposit returned. My 'bodily felt sense' was shouting at me to be wary, but my desire to clear my mortgage temporarily won the day.

Since then I have been vary cautious indeed. I went to other free workshops, having made a decision in advance not to take up any offers there and then. This has stood me in good stead.

I have worked through the Forex trainiing on here and at BABYPIPS. I have also since gone on a 2 day course with Andy Sherman. I actually found this course very good. Included was his MoneyMap software. Being dyslexic and responding well to simple visual images, I actually like the software and how it operates. It is only good for immediate trading however which is what I intend to do.

I have also got a Demo account, and have traded on two days of Demo trading. The first day ( I was not there the whole day just a few hours in the afternoon) I lost loads, but the second day I was more careful and managed a smale profit of $48. I am going to continue practising the demo account next week. I am happy to keep you posted on how I progress. Take care, and be aware of the scammers ! John T
 
Hello John

Great to hear some good things from you specially avoiding paid courses. After doing demo for a while, try to start live trade in small scale because the emotions are different in live and we need to adapt with it.
Cheers
 
Good to hear you avoided the sale pitch on that first course. There are plenty of people offering the holy grail for anywhere from $19.95 to $19,995. Most of them make their money from selling their grails, not trading with them.
 
Hi Guys. I have now opened a live account, and am continuing to practise on the Demo account. Also getting really familiar with Andy Sherman's Money Map software and the trades that he teaches. I have learned them partly on the Course I did last year, and also on his video's that I have access to. I have trashed one DEMO account so far and am now on my second $10,000 Demo account.

My biggest problem is with Self Discipline. I built up my second demo account by about $800 to $10.800. BUT, I then trashed most of that $800 in trades that bore no relation to what I had learned. I was trying to be 'clever' and ended up loosing over $700. I decided to be more disciplined. I did trading today on the demo account and I did the following things.

1) I only did trades that I had learned . I am not sure if common these terms are, but today I did 'vanilla' trades using the Money Map software.

2) I did a written record and diary of each trade that I did and what went right or wrong.

3) I made a net profit of 35 Pips today. This was done in between my counselling sessions, just by dipping in to the market.

4) I have partially restored the account to $10,400. I feel that this is quite an achievement. I am certainly doing better than on my previous demo account.

I have also noticed some trends in the way I handle the account. For example, I tend to get out of winning trades to quickly for fear that they might go wrong. I also on one trade tried moving the STOP LOSS to break even, when it was up 6 pips. Unfortunately the price dipped down so it was a neutral trade rather than a profitable one.

A further trade I moved the STOP LOSS to a take profit when the count was up 12 pips. The price dropped so I made 6 pips rather than 12. However at least it was a profitable trade.

So what are my plans on FX trading ?

!) My first task is get improve my internet access. I have Fibre Optic from BT, but am relying on WiFi computer. what I want to do is to set up a Fibre Optic wired computer in my living room, so I do not have to rely on Wi-Fi.

2) Also I want to have multiple screens. I want to be able to see the Money Maps of the various currency pairs on one screen and have my Live Account on another screen. I am not currently using the Broker that the Money Map software is associated with.

3) I want to start experimenting with Bounce Trades initially on my live account. WHy ? well so far every Bounce Trade that I have done using the money Map has been successful. Andy Sherman recons that they work 8-9 times out of Ten. I have not had one fail yet. Of course they do not come along every day, or I might miss them , as I did today, ( it was so obvious as well, and it made 14 pips, but I missed it, and did not try and jump on the trade)

What about XXXXX software ?

Moderation Note: There is a dedicated discussion thread for that software linked to its review page.

Why am I training to be an FX Trader ? I do not want to do this full time. However I am self employed and although I love the work I do, it will not pay off my mortgage. Also my Pension is rubbish. I also suffer from ME, and want an income not dependent on the state, or my main buisiness.

(a) I want to make a regular supplementary income so that I can continue to do the job that I love.

(b) I want to be able to dent and then clear my Mortgage. and have enough money for a Leasehold Extension,

(c) I want to be able to make a regular income even when I retire. The UK Government keep on moving the goal posts with Pensions and I do not trust trust them to look after me in my old age.

(e) I want to make improvements to my home. It is cold and need double glazing, as well as redecorating.

(f) If the ME gets bad, at least I can still have access to a computer and trade.
 
(c) I want to be able to make a regular income even when I retire. The UK Government keep on moving the goal posts with Pensions and I do not trust trust them to look after me in my old age.

If you want to feel really insecure, imagine trying to trust the US Social Security System.
 
your approach has been very impressive, you are doing a good job , every newbie should follow...
 
your approach has been very impressive, you are doing a good job , every newbie should follow...

QUOTE=orni308;156604]your approach has been very impressive, you are doing a good job , every newbie should follow...[/QUOTE]

Hi Guys, Thanks for the compliment :)

Well its time for another update. I have now managed to increase my Demo Account up to $11,413.19. And I have not had any disasters, mentioned earlier ( that Wednesday when I did the Kamikaze trades). However I have slipped in my discipline, because I did not do the Diary. This is an obvious fault on my part, and I know that I need to be disciplined. Self discipline is my number one obstacle to overcome. I have a real incentive to be more disciplined and I am hoping that this will spread to other areas of my life. Got to do that Diary !

I have however 'clocked' that sometimes I have not always looked at the Money Map properly. For example the rules for a Vanilla trade are that ALL the 'support boxes' are under the current price level. What I failed to spot is that there was a Box above it, which disqualified the trade.

I also did a few live trades on my real account. I have managed to make just over £80 on it. Had I done all the trades that I did on the Demo, at £5 per pip, I would have made £200 that day. But I am being cautious. I am not there yet. I am in this for the long term, I want to have the skills required to make this work now and in the future.

And also I think that being 'humble' is important. it is very tempting to keep on trading, when I have had a few successes, ( rather than saying, I have made my 20 pips, lets stop and take stock). or do trades that do not quite fit, in the 'hope' that they will work. This is not a good attitude for me to have. I am not that knowledgeable on this subject, i am learning, and there is loads to learn.

The thing that I need to action is getting a better computer system with wired Internet and multiple screens. I have a person who has promised to do this, but the problem is he is doing as a mate, and that means it gets done in his timeframe not mine.

Will keep you all posted. I will see how I trade this coming week !

Best wishes and wishing you many pips

John T
 
When trading Demo, we tend to trade without any fear of losing and that's one of the main reason that we can manage fantastic gains in very sort period of time. Another reason for doing good in Demo is that most of us use a much larger account than we would use on a live account and trade larger lots.

My input to you is to "practice" on a Demo account with the same amount of money that you plan to fund your live account. You don't have to trade what others are trading and limit your trades to just 1-3 currency pairs at any on time and only on those that you have studied and know well.
Eventually, all traders will develop their own trading style and strategy that they are comfortable and confident with, and you will be no exception either.

Good luck on your forex journey and may you have a very pleasant and enjoyable experience along the way;)
 
I have a question about the concept of demo accounts,
as a newbie I find that the demo account does not really help me understand the game since its not real money and also because I have some background in gaming so I'm thinking that if its the same, the demo server is "programmed" to make sure we will win more often and then we will think we know the hang of it and when it comes to real money all of a sudden we will start losing.
So, I guess my question is, how can we start trading on real accounts/servers and make sure we won't lose everything on the start?
Can we practice on real account somehow? is that what the bonuses are for?
 
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