How long on demo before you go live? One month

The arithmetic first

Search this and most of what comes back is a broker's "open a demo account now". Plenty of noise on the page, and no answer to the question you asked.

Ours is short: one month on demo, then month two goes live with small size.

But there is one thing people get wrong here.

That month is the first of the "at least three months" we keep talking about. It is not added on top.

Not three months on demo and then three more live, six in all. The three months run like this:

When	What you do	What it is for
Month 1	Demo account	Get the whole routine smooth
Month 2	Live account, small size	Start trading real money
Month 3 onward	Assess	Scale only once it is consistent

Going live is a step inside those three months, not something that starts the clock afterwards.

Six things that stay fixed for those three months

Your capital, how much goes into each trade, your leverage, which index you trade, which timeframe you read, and which method you follow.

Going live is already one variable. Change a second one in the same stretch and at the end of three months you still cannot tell which it was: the method, the capital, or you.

Three months tests one method and one you. The fewer the variables, the cleaner the answer.

If the month is up and you still have no confidence, stay a while longer. Nobody says day 31 is the deadline. Further down we go into how to tell "not ready yet" from waiting for a moment that never arrives.

Why three months, and the three reasons, are in this one: How long does it take to learn trading?

What demo proves, and what it cannot

	Demo can test this	Demo cannot test this
Reading the chart	Whether you spot the three things lining up	—
Execution	Orders, settings, how smooth the routine is	—
Discipline	—	Whether you lose your head when you are down
Discipline	—	Whether you add size when you are up

In one line: demo proves you can read it. It cannot prove you can hold to it.

That is not demo's fault. It is missing one thing — the money being real.

Three things change the moment you switch

The same candle feels different

The chart did not change. You did. On demo you were watching right or wrong. On a live account you are watching a number move.

You start wanting it back

That thought never shows up on demo, because the loss is not yours. Two losing trades in a row on a live account and it arrives.

You freeze

The signal is there and your hand will not press the button. That never happens on demo.

None of the three is a bad sign. They mean the real test has started. The three months before this taught you to read the chart. From here on, what gets tested is you.

What the first month actually looks like is in this one: What actually happens in your first month trading the Nikkei

How you know you are ready

Not by how much demo made. How much can be luck. Whether you followed your own rules cannot.

What we look at is whether you can fill in your journal — whether the three things lined up at that moment, whether you followed them, and where the judgement went wrong in hindsight. If all three columns are there, you are looking at the method and not the result.

How the three columns work is in this one: How to keep a trading journal: three columns

Common questions

Does demo have to be profitable before I switch?

No. The score on demo does not mean much — with no real money in it, the psychological half was never tested. What matters is whether the three columns are there: did the three things line up, did you follow them, where was the judgement wrong.

The month is up and I still have no confidence. Now what?

Stay a while longer. Nobody says day 31 is the deadline. But separate two things: "not ready yet" and waiting for a moment that is never going to come. Your journal shows you which it is — several weeks running where all three columns are filled in and followed is not "not ready yet".

How much capital after I switch?

This one gives no figure. The answer is not the amount — it is something else: trade with money it hurts to lose and your judgement bends. It is in this one: How much capital do you need to trade the Nikkei?

Is the chart different on demo and live?

The chart is the same. You are not. That is exactly why the first stretch is spent getting reading the chart down to something you do without thinking — once you switch, your attention gets pulled elsewhere.

Demo tests whether you can read it. A live account tests whether you can hold to it. The first one you can practise. The second only gets tested when the money is real.

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We do not guarantee returns. We do not trade on anyone's behalf. This is market education, not personal investment advice. Working through this properly takes at least three months of sustained effort. Markets carry the risk of loss — decide what you can afford to risk before you begin.

How long on a demo account before you go live?