“Broker Demo Accounts Are A Shill…”
Posted in Account Demo Forex, Demo Forex, Forex Broker, Forex Demo, Forex Demo Account, Forex Trading Demo on September 4th, 2006I came across an excerpt by famous forex trader Jimmy Young the other day (thanks to Felix) and out of this list which was aptly titled – 45 Ways to Avoid Losing Money Trading FOREX, point number 6 stuck out the most.
#6 read…
Broker demo accounts are a shill game of sorts; they’re not as time sensitive as real accounts and therefore give the impression that time sensitive trading systems, such as short-term moving average crossovers can be consistently profitably traded; once you start dealing with real money reality is quick to set in.
And do know what?
I agree with him.
After having personally sampled many forex demo accounts I would definitely agree with Jimmy. In fact, it’s no real secret to everyone who has been around the forex game for some time that most demo accounts operate on a slower server – and there’s equally good reason for why forex brokers do this: to save money.
So what would be the purpose of trading a demo account?
I believe the sole purpose for trading a demo account should be to acquaint yourself with the platform. Place a few trades, know what buttons are responsible for doing what, and structure the platform in a way that is suitable to your trading needs. But as for relying on a demo accounts results on the profitability of a system I would personally be very suspect. You would gain much greater insight into the real performance of your forex system if you opened up a live account, deposited the minimum amount and then traded the smallest lot size possible.
Several brokers around the place are beginning to offer micro mini positions and minimum account opening balances of around US$200-300. Forex brokers such as Oanda offer $1 lot position sizes.
So be careful when trading forex broker demo accounts – especially if you are testing short-term economic announcement breakout systems.