poindexter

What you described is exactly what happened to me. I let my winners run in demo but cut them short in live. Additionaly, I gave more room for the stoploss in demo (as Head2K said - it is not my money). As I refined my entries and exits in the demo these things occured less and less until I became more confident in the trading method and sticked to the trading plan. Head2k: "In another words, switching to live account stresses all the problems you have with your strategy, problems which were not so obvious when you traded on a sim. When you identify these problems, then determine their origin and reason and switch back to sim to work on them. Then repeat. At least that's what I am currently trying to do." This is the reason I switched to live trading, although with a small account. It is in live trading where you identify problems relating to trading and psychology as well as trading method and money management. Thank you for your explanation on bar intervals.

I used and still use a live demo account in which I am profitable in the long run. However, my experience with demo accounts indicate that it is very hard for me to follow the trading method I used in the profitable demo in real trading. This time I use a micro Forex account and I am profitable. I feel like I have matured as a trader in the last year. I read a lot of trading psychology books (Douglas and some others) and I use a very simple trading method, my take on the Wyckoff method.

Thank you wjrusnak. I paper traded for the last 4-5 months and I'm feeling I'm ready to refine my trading skills and I know that I can do so only if I trade live (even with the smallest amount of money).

Hello DB, This is my first post after stalking this forum for the last six months or so. I've read most of the threads and some of Wyckoff's work (still reading through more material). When I found this forum and as I read through it an Aurica feeling swelled up. I went through a lot of trading technics and read most of the common trading books (Magee, O'Niell, Raschke, Elder, Van Tharp etc.) but haven't found the trading technic that suits me. That's untill I read Wyckoff and your work. I'm starting a new path after erasing everything I know about technical analysis and trading. I chose to focus on itraday trading of EURUSD in the forex market. As Wyckoff suggests, the best way to learn is to jump into the water with a small account. My question is regarding you "Boxes", or trading ranges. I currently trade using 10 and 50 tick charts and draw the boxes on these charts. Do trading ranges or S/R taken from higher timeframe (say Daily) or higher trading frame (500 ticks) are more "important"? Or do you recommend sticking with the chart you use for trading? I have more to say about trading Forex using Wyckoff methods (without using volume but using tick charts and accelaration in trading as a means to identify trading climax) and I will post them in the future in the relevant thread. Thank you DB. You are my hero.