Trading Articles

How to Open a Demo Account

14
May

Written by Donna

Many brokers will allow customers to open demo accounts. These accounts function similar to the real live accounts and allow you to test out the features provided by that broker as well as try out your trading strategies and place trades.

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Metatrader Logo

One of the most popular trading platforms for beginner traders is Metatrader. It is quite simply a piece of software which you download and run on your home computer or VPS and then use it to communicate your trades to your broker, as well as view charts, currency quotes and other research related to trading.  If you are running a trading robot known as an “Expert Advisor” then you will be required to find a broker which uses Metatrader as it’s trading platform.

So, here are the steps you need to go through in order to open a new Demo account:-

1. Find a Metatrader broker. A broker is a company which accepts and processes your trades and handles your money. I use Alpari UK (try Alpari US if you are in the USA) as i feel they offer the best balance between providing a safe place to put your cash as well as offering good trading conditions.

2. On the broker’s website look for a link to either “open a demo account” or “download metatrader4″.  Follow the links and fill in any information your broker asks you for. Most brokers do not ask for much beyond your name and address for demo accounts. On the Alpari website you will be able to download Metatrader immediately. 

3. Click the download link. This will save a setup file to your computer. I like to save this file to my computer desktop so it is easy to find in the future. 

4. When the download has finished double click on the setup file on your desktop to install Metatrader to your computer. Just keep clicking ‘next’ and ‘install’. Once it has installed, Metatrader should open automatically. If it does not, try looking on your desktop for a new link to “metatrader”, or go into your start menu—>metatrader and find the program there.

5. When you first open your new Metatrader program you should get prompted to open a demo account via a pop up screen. You will need to fill out any information on this screen before clicking “next.

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On the next screen you may be asked to choose a server. If you have a choice of several servers, select the one called “demo” and then click ‘finish’. You will now be given an account number and a password. Write down the information for future reference, although your metatrader will remember your demo account details for you. 

6. Once you have completed the above steps you should automatically be logged in to your account. You can double check this by looking for the time on the left of the screen, where it says “MarketWatch”. The time may not display your local time, but, it should be updating and moving forward if you are logged in correctly. You will also see your account number appear on the left of your screen under the section which says “accounts”. Some brokers may send you a demo account login number via email and so the process will be slightly different from above. If this is the case, then you need to wait for that email before you can log in to your account. Once you have your login details you can then open up Metatrader, and click on “file”—>”Login” before entering the details which your broker has given to you.

Note that demo accounts with some brokers such as ForexMeta expire after 30 days. After this time you can open another demo account by clicking on “file”—>”open an account” and going through the process again.

Once you have opened your broker account, if you intend to trade using a trading robot you will need to follow the sellers instructions about how to install this. If you are wanting to trade manually then you will need to learn the features of the platform and familiarise yourself with how to place trades, adjust your positions, exit your trades, etc.

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Metatrader Screen

 

12 Comments

  1. Richard says:
    May 18, 2009 at 8:22 pm

    Opening a demo account is a good idea as it helps to make sure you don’t make any major mistakes before you start live trading. You can also change some of the parameters to get an indication of the way this can change the performance of FT.

    However you cannot assume that you will get the same level of results on your live system as on your demo. The major differences are you will get more slippage and requotes on the live system that will eat into your profits. Also the spreads can be different between the two platforms which also affects profitability.

    For example on Alpari UK the demo system does not increase the spreads for the overnight session. So EURGBP stays at 3 and GBPCHF stays at 7.

  2. admin says:
    May 18, 2009 at 9:18 pm

    Very true, Richard :-) .

  3. mustafa says:
    May 18, 2009 at 11:47 pm

    i want demo account with fubterbo pleas

  4. admin says:
    May 19, 2009 at 12:03 am

    mustafa, go here: http://www.donnaforex.com/automated-trading/fapturbo/343 and click the link for FAPTurbo or the banner

  5. Laura says:
    June 8, 2009 at 9:53 pm

    I have a micro account with Alpari UK,running on a VPS,now I opened also a classic account, in order to trade with EAs also in the classic account do I need to download a second MT4 platform? if so what are the steps to avoid the overriding of the MT4 installed on the micro account.Many thanks Donna.

  6. Maria says:
    June 11, 2009 at 10:20 pm

    I want to open a demo account and followed the above link you gave to mustafa. But when I do that then I first have to pay and it seems to me that I then have the real account. Can you tell me what to do.

  7. KattyBlackyard says:
    June 15, 2009 at 2:46 pm

    Hi, interest post. I’ll write you later about few questions!

  8. CrisBetewsky says:
    July 6, 2009 at 8:59 pm

    Some of us even don’t realize the importance of this information. What a pity.

  9. Mike says:
    August 28, 2009 at 4:32 am

    Can people in the US use Alpari UK? Seems I read somewhere that we cannot, but it let me open a demo? I also read somewhere that we should NOT use a US based broker because of some new regs coming down that would hinder this kind of trading (scalping?), and to stay with a UK broker to avoid this.

  10. Shaikh Haroon says:
    September 13, 2009 at 5:45 am

    DO u suggest open Demo or Live account in Dollar or Euro currecny for FAPTurbo???

  11. miskin says:
    February 6, 2010 at 11:02 am

    Hi..
    I am new to forex trading and live in London.I want to know what is difference between a spread betting and forex trading on Mete 4 plat form?
    Which way is more suitable to me?

  12. Donna says:
    February 6, 2010 at 3:27 pm

    Spreadbetting and trading the forex market “properly” are very similar to one another. Spreadbetting differs in that it is treated differently for tax purposes (tax free trading profits from spreadbetting, but not necessarily from forex trading with a standard broker, check with an accountant). Spreadbetting also isn’t “real world” trading in that you are not interacting with the market directly, although the price feed may resemble the direct market, by definition you are merely “betting” if the market will rise or fall. These ‘bets’ are normally in points, e.g. you can bet £1 per point, or £5 per point, or £10 per point, whereas real forex trading is done in sizes called “lots” 0.01 lots is 1000 units of base currency, a little more confusing than spreadbetting.

    If you want to trade with trading robots you have to use a normal broker with Metatrader, you have no choice (there are a few other platforms which have trading software however i am not aware of any for spreadbetting platforms). I cannot really go into this topic in more detail here in a comment response, i really have only barely scraped the surface of what the differences are here.

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