KNGXIn this order, without shortcuts
Open a demo account
It takes under a minute and needs no documents. A demo runs on the same price feed, the same spreads and the same execution model as a funded account, so what you learn on it transfers.
Pick the account type you would actually fund. A Cent demo and a Pro demo behave differently, and practising on the wrong one teaches you the wrong costs.
Open a demoInstall a platform
MetaTrader 5 is the default for anything involving gold, automation or a strategy tester. MetaTrader 4 exists mainly because a great many expert advisors were written for it.
Install on the machine you will actually trade from. If you plan to run an expert advisor, plan for a VPS from the start rather than a laptop that sleeps.
Compare platformsLearn what one lot costs you
Before your first order, convert your intended size into money per point and multiply by the spread. That single number tells you whether the strategy you have in mind is viable at that size.
The calculator does the arithmetic for any symbol, size and leverage, including margin required.
Open the calculatorPlace one trade with a stop attached
One position, minimum size, stop set inside the same order dialogue rather than added afterwards. The point is not the profit; it is to see the whole cycle — margin taken, spread paid, stop resting on the server, position closed.
If the platform rejects your stop with “Invalid stops”, it is inside the broker’s stops level. Widen it.
Course: first positionWrite a one-page risk plan
Risk per trade as a percentage, maximum open positions, a daily loss limit, the instruments you may trade and the hours you may trade them. Written before the session, not during it.
The daily loss limit is the rule people skip and the one that saves accounts.
Course: risk per tradeTrade the demo for a fortnight
Small size, a stop on every position, and a written note of why you entered before you enter. Two weeks is the minimum useful sample and a month is better, because you need at least one payrolls release and one rollover weekend in it.
Do not change the approach mid-sample. A strategy changed after every loss is not a strategy being tested.
Read your own results properly
Look at closed trades only. Floating profit is not money. Count the number of trades, the win rate, the average win against the average loss, and the deepest drawdown — in that order.
If the deepest drawdown would have made you stop trading, the size was wrong regardless of the final number.
Fund the smallest amount that is real
Demo and live differ in exactly one respect, and it is you. Fund an amount where a total loss would be annoying rather than damaging, and trade the same plan at the same percentage risk.
Check the deposit and withdrawal methods, timings and any fees before you fund, not after.
Deposits & withdrawalsReview monthly, change slowly
Once a month, against closed trades, ask which rule was broken and in what circumstances. That pattern repeats, and fixing it is worth more than any new indicator.
Change one thing at a time. Changing three and liking the result teaches you nothing about which one worked.
All coursesWhat nobody puts on a landing page
Most new accounts lose
Across the industry, the majority of retail CFD accounts lose money. Anyone quoting you a different figure is selling something. Starting from that assumption changes how much you risk.
Costs decide viability
A strategy whose average profit is smaller than its round-turn cost cannot be rescued by better entries. Do the cost arithmetic before the strategy work.
Two weeks is not proof
A fortnight of demo results is enough to catch obvious errors, not to prove an edge. Treat early profits as a small sample, because that is what they are.
Step one costs nothing
Open a demo, place one trade with a stop, and see the whole cycle for yourself.