Advanced · Lesson 9 of 9 · 6 min read
From demo to live trading
Moving from practice to real money is a big step. Real money brings real emotions. Here is how to tell when you are ready, and how to make the move without undoing your good work.
Are you ready?
- You have a written trading plan and you follow it.
- You have logged at least 50 to 100 practice trades with that plan, in Replay or on a demo account.
- The results are still positive after counting costs.
- You know your daily and weekly loss limits.
- The money is money you can afford to lose, not savings for bills or rent.
Your first live month is not about making money. It is about following your plan with real money on the line.
What changes when it is real
On demo, a loss is just a number. Live, the same loss feels personal. Traders start hesitating before good setups, closing winners too early and moving stops. Live prices can also bring slippage and wider spreads around news. Expect your first live results to be worse than your practice, and plan for it.
Grow slowly
| Stage | Risk per trade | Move up when |
|---|---|---|
| 1. First live trades | 0.25% or the smallest size allowed | 20 to 30 trades with the plan followed |
| 2. Building trust | 0.5% | Another 30 trades, results close to your practice |
| 3. Normal size | Up to 1% | Stay here. More risk is rarely the answer. |
If you hit a drawdown, say 10% from your high, drop back a stage and review your journal before moving up again.
A trader made +12R over 60 Replay trades. Their first 20 live trades at 0.25% risk come to −1R. The journal shows why: 7 winners were closed early out of nerves, which cost about 6R.
Instead of changing strategy, they stay at stage 1 and work on one thing: leaving trades alone until the stop or target. Over the next 20 trades the results start to match their practice.
Common mistakes
- Going live at full size after one good week on demo.
- Adding money to “win back” early losses.
- Changing strategy after a few live losses.
- Trading money you need for everyday life.
Check yourself
1. What is the main goal of your first live month?
Following your plan with real money, not making money.
2. What risk per trade might you start live with?
Around 0.25%, or the smallest size allowed.
3. You hit a 10% drawdown. What should you do?
Drop back a stage and review your journal.
Try it on BTM
For education only, not financial advice. Trading carries a high risk of losing money, especially with leverage. Only trade with money you can afford to lose.
For educational purposes only. Nothing here is financial advice. Past performance does not guarantee future results, and trading carries a high risk of losing money, so only trade with money you can afford to lose. Read the risk warning.