What Is a Demo Account?
A demo account is a fully-featured trading account that uses virtual funds instead of real money. It behaves like a live account — same charts, same order types, same platform — but without any real financial risk.
Why Beginners Use It
- Learn the platform without pressure
- Understand order placement, stops and targets
- Test a strategy across weeks and months
- Practise position sizing and journaling
Why Experienced Traders Use It
- Test a new strategy before deploying capital
- Try a new market or timeframe
- Recover confidence during drawdowns
How to Practise Meaningfully
- Treat demo as if it were live
- Use realistic position sizes relative to a target live account
- Journal every trade
- Do not "reset" the demo balance when it drops
When to Move to Live
Consider going live only when you have:
- A written plan
- At least 100 journalled trades on demo
- Positive expectancy across a full market cycle
- Emotional discipline to accept losses
Key Takeaways
- A demo account is one of the best learning tools available.
- The more seriously you treat it, the more valuable it becomes.
- Live results only surface habits already built in demo — good and bad.
Ready to start? Open a demo trading account with $10,000 in virtual funds and explore the WebTrader.