I realize trading a demo account is not the real deal but what good can come out of using one during the learning curve and what are some ways to maximize it's use?
Trade like you would with real money. 1) Dont put on unrealistic huge size,. 2) Dont endlessly add to losers until they eventually come back your way, you wouldnt sit through a massive loser when real money was on the line. 3) Dont reset your demo balance when you lose money and get pissed off. 4) Stick to your system rules, dont trade like a madman. If you dont have a system down yet, take notes while demo trading and go over every trade in the evening. Hopefully you can then start connecting the dots and get a nice coherent system put together. For me demo trading became extremely effective after I blew out one account and felt the sting of losing real money. Having that fresh in my mind helped me keep my emotions in the same state demo trading as they would be live, when I got my act together and went live again it was no sweat.
The good that can come out of it is that you can learn what you're doing it and practice until you are consistently profitable without losing your own money in the process. This is the case regardless if you are doing it to - learn trading in the first place - learn a new platform (we all hit the wrong buttons now and then) - work out a new strategy demo/simulator is easier than live trading so figure out a consistency benchmark to reach as a target before trading live. The largest difference I've found is that demo/sim trades get filled easier and with less slippage than live money trades so keep this in mind as you transition from simulator to live.