@Laissez Faire - your comments on edge i completely agree with and something I want to think more about, thank you. Also, your ability to 'control yourself' in a demo environment without cheating is not something i would be able to do. You are certainly the exception in this regard. Finally, you mentioned you use NT in the previous post, that is good since this plug-in is being tested in NT7 currently. @shizo - no argument there. this is just a new type of environment where you can practice and test your strategies as I am sure you wouldnt want to do it live and risk a lot of capital, and the demo senerio has its disadvantages which were outlined before. On another note, consider this with regard to Prop shops: Now there are a million ways prop shops operate, but for those that take a guy off the street, teach them a method, and then allocate them funds if they've "proven" themselves - here is an idea... This new trading environment will allow a prop shop owner to go out and recruit a ton of traders and put them in an environment where they think they are trading live fund but may not be. The owner will then be able to see if a trader can handle 5k, then 10, 50, 100K+ with almost no risk to the firm - all while the trader believes they may be trading firm capital while the firm protects their risk before they move the trader to the next stage. I am by no means an expert in this arena but the logic makes complete sense to me. Im sure there are a ton of prop traders in here reading this, so please punch holes in it so I can see what I am missing.
I know many approach demo trading like a video game and that may be okay in the beginning in order to test out strategies and simply experiment and have fun However, in the final stages of preparation for live trading, it should be taken very seriously. I will say that since I have traded live for 2 months before going back to sim trading, it is probably easier to get into the experience compared to someone who has never traded live. I try to focus on catching POINTS, not DOLLARS. The goal is to never think about my P&L while trading. Since I now operate with a weekly profit target, it is very important for me to reach that target even though it is sim. The earlier I can prove myself in SIM, the earlier I`m back to live trading. So, in a sense, it`s the same to me Poor sim trading = no live trading. Since I traded well last week, I will probably resume live trading next week. Regards, Laissez Faire