From demo to live: starting to trade gold

Gold is a fast market to learn on. A careful start saves a lot of money.

Step 1: Practise on demo

Open a demo account with a broker and trade signals as if they were real. Practise the mechanics: sizing from the stop, placing the order with stop and target, moving the stop to entry after TP1. Log every trade.

Step 2: Test for a meaningful sample

Give it at least a month or 30 trades. Compare your results with the published results: if yours are much worse, find out why (late entries? skipped stops? oversized trades?) before going live.

Step 3: Go live small

Start with real money you can afford to lose and the minimum lot size, 0.01. Real money changes how trades feel; get used to it while mistakes are cheap.

Step 4: Scale slowly

Increase size only after another month of following your plan. Keep risk per trade fixed as a percentage; your lot sizes grow as the account does. See risk management.

Choosing a broker

Look for proper regulation where you live, tight gold spreads, and clear swap and commission charges. Avoid anyone who offers to trade for you or asks for your login.