Your first demo trade

You know what a pip is, what leverage does and how to size a position. Time to put it together on a demo account, where it can’t hurt.

Why demo first

A demo account uses virtual money on a real platform with live prices. It teaches you the platform’s buttons, order tickets and quirks without a single real dollar at stake. Open one with a regulated broker, set the virtual balance to something realistic (the amount you would actually fund, not $100,000), and treat it as if it were real.

Planning the trade, step by step

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Step through a planned trade. Every number is decided before the order is placed.

Notice how the stop loss and target were placed from the chart, and the position size was calculated last, from the stop. Nothing was decided by how confident you felt.

Managing the open trade

What would you do?

Your buy order filled at 1.0815 with the stop at 1.0785. An hour later a news headline hits and price drops fast to 1.0795, ten pips above your stop. What do you do?

Move the stop down to 1.0760 to give the trade more roomClose the trade now to avoid the full lossDo nothing. The stop is in place and the plan has not changed

Judge the process, not the result

A single trade tells you almost nothing. A well-planned trade that loses is a good trade; a reckless trade that wins is a bad one that got lucky. After each demo trade, write down what you planned, what you did, and whether they matched. That habit is the subject of its own course.

Quick check

1. Question 1 of 3

   In what order should a trade be planned?

   APosition size, then entry, then stopBEntry, stop, target, then position sizeCEntry, then size, then see how it goes

Go deeper: How to keep a trading journal that actually helps · Support and resistance, without the jargon · Forex Demo Accounts: How to Use One Properly