| Free Online Broker Demo Account | Real Account Minimum Deposit | Practice Trading Platform |
|---|---|---|
| eToro | $50 Real Account Minimum Deposit | eToro offers a user friendly platform with social and copy trading integrated with the platform. The trader can analyse markets and draw on social commentary and then if they wish copy the trades of other traders. eToro offers 2000+ markets to trade, covering a relatively wide range. The trader can switch from demo to live account at any time and test out features such as copy trading on the demo account. Practice Trading Platform |
| IQ Option | $10 Real Account Minimum Deposit | IQ Option provides a user friendly platform for the trader who plans and executes their own trades. The platform notably has fundamental tools inbuilt into it, as well as offering 100+ technical indicators. The trader can start with a demo account and switch between demo and real when the real account is created. Practice Trading Platform |
Practice Trading Platforms
A practice trading platform is an online trading platform on a demo account. A demo account is a free account and comes with virtual funds already added. Virtual funds are not real money and cannot be withdrawn. The idea is that the trader can simulate the trading experience of trading on a real account, without risking real money. The trader can either create a demo account or create a real account and then create a demo account.
The demo account may initially be used to test out the platform, rather than practice trading. Testing out the platform is a good idea, as the trader can familiarise themselves with its functionality, such as how to place a trade. Knowing how to do this before trading on a real account means that the trader may be better able to use it without making errors, which can happen (for example opening an order by mistake, or not knowing how to close an order). Trading can be stressful and not knowing how to use a platform can add to this stress.
The trader may well be tempted to limit their use of the demo platform to working out how to use it, but it is there to practice trading. The trader may well be tempted to jump into trading on a real account, but the market will still be there. Thus they can spend time on the demo account and try trades repeatedly and see what happens.
What is likely to happen ? It is probable that the trader may understand that markets are complex and move in complex ways. For example an attempt to trade a trend (a structured directional move) may well encounter retracements in the opposite direction, which can also reverse the move, but may simply be a pause in the directional trend. This is why making a series of practice trades can be better than simply making one trade and then moving to the real account, as one trade may work out, thus indicating that trading is less complex than it can be.
Trades do work as planned (i.e. the have an outcome suggested by analysis) but many trades do not. The trades that do not work out need managing, but so do trades which work out (such as when to exit). Following trading rules can take care of some of these issues, for example signals based on an indicator which tell the trader when to enter, how to manage the trade and when to exit. The trader does not have to follow signals, and can use analysis to suggest market direction, for example fundamental analysis or technical analysis such as candlestick analysis.
The more a trader follows rules, the less they have to try and make trading decisions, which can be fraught with emotion. But the less they use their discretion, the less flexible they can be as market conditions change. The trader may wish to filter an indicator signal, with the idea that than add further input about the market to the signal, creating a kind of enhanced reading of the market.
So one way out of this is to use social and copy trading. The trader can see the views of other traders and follow the traders of successful traders. However, because a trader has been successful in the past does not mean they will continue to be successful. For example, a trader may be following a system which breaks down when market conditions change, as can happen, i.e. markets can become more and less volatile. Thus the trader may wish to look at performance data for a trader to be copied in more detail and at different time frames. Nonetheless, social and copy trading can be a way to supplement the trader's own approaches and draw on the ideas of other traders.
Best Practice Trading Platform
The pick of best practice trading platform is Plus500. Plus500 does not support social and copy trading or trading with robots. But it does offer a particularly user friendly platform focused on those who use technical and fundamental analysis to trade. It has 2000+ market to trade, offering a wide range from Forex to Options CFDs. The platform offers 115+ technical indicators and fundamental data available for individual markets. The trader can start with a demo account and when they have created the live account, may switch form demo to live at any time. Thus this is a platform which is arguably suited to practice trading, that it to learn and to advance the traders ability to analyse markets to offer a basis to choose a market to trade and to provide a rationale to enter, to manage and to exit a trade.
