If you are a beginner to the world of forex trading and want to know what is the right time to go from a demo trading account to a live trading account, here is a piece of advice for you.
Before you proceed with the live forex trading account, it is important for you to make sure that the transition from a demo to a real forex account is not smooth as perceived by most of us. A forex trader needs to have the ability to read the market, understand market sentiments, and knowledgeable to take calculated risks at the right time and place. Moreover, he should be making trading profits for at least six months before opting for a real account. This means that he should have already mastered the art of identifying when to hold a trade and when to exit besides recognizing the signals to buy or sell currencies.
It is very important for traders to understand how greed, fear, ego, and over-confidence can ruin a forex trading career. There may be instances when a trader with a demo account is making good moves when the real money is not involved but may experience losses with the same moves on a live trading account. Reason – negative emotions such as greed or fear have prompted him to take decisions that he would not have taken otherwise, which is what the involvement of real money can do.
When no money was involved, these emotions were never there but as soon as real money comes into the picture, these emotions prevented him from sound trading moves (fear) or prompted him to enter trades or hold on to bad trades (ego, over-confidence, and greed). It is for these reasons that traders are advised not to enter into new trades when subjected to stress, depression, or greed.
The point to be conveyed is that no one is influenced by emotions when there is nothing involved, but involvement of real money can result in bad decisions and losses.
Crux: The right time to move on from a demo trading account to a live trading account is the time when the trader has conquered emotions, making consistent profits, knowledgeable enough to make calculated risks, and smart enough to identify the trends.