I'm going to opt out of the discussion after this comment. There is no way you have the same entry and exit points when real money is not on the line. I'm not talking about slippage or the difference between the logic of the SIM vs real life liquidity and market impact. I am referring again to fear and greed. You just make different decisions when you are using real money.
I'm not a gamer but one doesn't need to be, of course, to know the difference between war games on a screen and on a real battlefield. Great for training, if you are into that sort of thing, but not reality. I always choose reality.
You're 100% right, but that an and of itself is an issue. If there is a DRASTIC difference in what you can do on SIM vs REAL than you have underlining emotional trading issues. Could be to various degree's, but they are there none the less. Most people lose day trading too, and a lot due to emotions, but some people are able to overcome that and be long term successful. So, point is if your results change drastically when trading SIM. Again, be very careful with live money because this means you potentially have issues like maybe not taking trading seriously, or patience issues or just overall emotional weakness when it comes to trading. To me this is the biggest take away no one talks about. If you're serious about trading and really want to be successful, you wouldn't treat SIM like a joke. You would use it to practice properly, therefore unless you're trading huge size, than your results should not be DRASTICALLY different.
Maybe, I should have clarified that I trade options. I am an options buyer. A lot of times the bid and ask spread is wide enough. Any additional slippage would seriously, affect the expectation from trading. I reverted back to the trading system I was using and had no problems. Not faulting the simulation but, saying that real life vs simulation, there is a huge difference. I was using risk management and traded in small size so, was not seriously affected by trying that trading system in real life.
Well if you want to start trading live once you have finished with Demo start with a small micro account of 100 usd this will help with adjusting you psyhcology to the live markets before you go big.
%% Good points+ not much way anyone will shoot down that one /LOL. ITS also like the difference in target shooting+ trying to hit a gamebird that can fly 70 mph+ some cases sees you start your move so it dodges also/LOL.But on the positive side paper trading can help learn levels/\ so paper trading is much ,,much better than nothing. DEMO trading is a good fun broker invention +doesnt really apply to my post @ all...................................................................................................................But with flight simulators helping\ some may find demo helpful\not me
I'm currently up half a million dollars on bitcoin. No ways I could just leave a trade like that on a real account.
I thought IB was Top of Book in Sim, which makes you jump in line for a LMT as if it were a Market if touched order. From IB: https://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/software/omnibrokers/topics/papertrader.htm Limitations Although a Paper Trading Account simulates most aspects of a production account, you may encounter some differences due to its construction as a simulator with no execution or clearing abilities. These differences include but are not limited to: No support for some order types including: VWAP, Auction, RFQ, and Pegged to Market. Fills are simulated from the top of the book; no deep book access. Limited combo trading. Stops and other complex order types are always simulated in paper trading; this may result in slightly different behavior from a production account. Penny trading for US Options is not supported. You will be able to submit the order but it will not receive a penny fill. The trade simulator will reject the remainder of any exchange-directed market order that partially executes. This may or may not match behavior of a real-world exchange. Market orders received while there is no quote on the opposite side will be held until the market data arrives (i.e. until the first partial fill). Mutual Fund trading is not supported in a Paper Trader Account.