From demo to live

This lesson explains how to move from a demo account to a real account and how to know that the process is ready. It is written for a trader who has recorded transactions from demo and wants to turn “I probably can” into a list of verifiable conditions.

What demo does not check, and what a real account does

Demo checks platform handling, order type knowledge, and the cost table. It does not check what changes behaviour on a real account: loss pressure. A demo account result is often inflated because you click more loosely and do not feel the consequences. The transition threshold must therefore be process-based — based on a transaction sample and metrics, not on the equity curve alone. The most common mistakes that only appear under this pressure are collected in the lesson Beginner mistakes — worth going through even before the first deposit.

Before depositing funds, check three things independently of the result: whether the broker is supervised (KNF or an EU regulator), whether you understand the cost table, and whether you know the difference between a CFD and a brokerage account. This is a prerequisite, not part of the measurement.

Six thresholds to measure before deposit

The table below is a decision skeleton, not a certificate of market readiness. Every threshold is indicative — enter your own and record it before starting to collect the sample.

As long as at least one row has “I don’t know” in the result column, the move to live is on hold. “I don’t know” means missing data, not absence of problems.

Transition protocol step by step

1. Set a threshold for every row above and record it with a date. A threshold added after seeing the results protects against nothing.
2. Collect a sample on demo — 20–40 transactions strictly according to the plan. Every entry is created before entry: setup, risk in R, thesis in one sentence. Without this, you cannot distinguish the plan from a decision made under chart movement influence.
3. Calculate metrics — expectancy after costs, plan compliance, drawdown in R, and median slippage. You will find formulas for each of these quantities in the lesson on journal metrics.
4. Check whether the sample resolves anything at all. With scattered results, several dozen transactions is still noise; the method for calculating uncertainty of the mean is described in the lesson on scaling size.
5. Open a real account with an amount whose loss will not disturb your sleep. The deposit is not a courage test — it should be so small that it does not change the way you make decisions.
6. Run the first sessions according to the playbook. Session playbook sets the daily limit and number of allowed entries before you sit down at the platform.
7. Record the transition date and the result of the first ten sessions. This is a new sample, counted from zero and compared with the demo sample only to detect a drop in compliance.

First position size on a real account

Do not transfer the size from demo automatically. The starting rule is: first 1R is 0.5% of real account capital, even if you played 1% on demo. The reason is arithmetic, not moral — smaller size gives more transactions at your disposal before drawdown forces a break.

You calculate position size from three data points:

position_size = (capital × risk_per_trade) / distance_to_invalidation

Distance_to_invalidation is the distance from entry price to the level whose breakout invalidates the thesis, i.e. stop loss. For an account with $10,000 capital and 0.5% risk per transaction, that is $50 (illustrative number). If the invalidation level stands 25 points from entry, and one point is valued at $2 (also illustrative numbers), the size is 1 position unit. Substitute your own numbers — the mechanism is the same regardless of instrument.

Separately check whether you are tempted by “professional client” status just to get higher leverage. In the EU, this choice involves losing part of the protection intended for retail clients, including leverage limits and negative balance protection.

First ten sessions: stricter limits than on demo

For the first ten sessions on a real account, keep stricter limits than on demo:

• at most 1–2 transactions per day,
• 1R not larger than 0.5–1% of capital,
• daily stop at −2R,
• ban on adding to a losing position.

Compare in the journal not the result in USD, but the percentage of transactions compliant with the plan and execution quality. If compliance drops after moving to live, the first step is reducing size, not trying to recover the loss.

Transition checklist (fill in your own data)

Enter numbers, not evaluations. “I don’t know” in the status column is information about missing data, not a reason to move to live anyway.

When the journal says “do not trade on real capital”

1. Expectancy after costs is negative or the confidence interval includes zero. You have no proof of edge, only a series of results with unknown distribution.
2. Plan compliance has dropped below your threshold. If you break the rules and the result is positive, you are measuring luck, not process.
3. Median slippage exceeds the value adopted in backtest. The cost assumption has stopped describing reality, so expectancy calculated on old costs is outdated.
4. The real account changes your behaviour. If after depositing you shorten position holding time or increase size without a journal entry, the source of the problem is not the market, but lack of readiness.

Why a positive demo result alone is not enough

A positive result after twenty transactions can come from one large win, from breaking rules that happened to pay off, or from a favourable market. Each of these cases gives an equity curve similar to a real edge, and they differ only in result distribution and plan compliance. Therefore, the transition threshold is based on several measures simultaneously — a single number is easy to fulfil by chance. The method for calculating sample uncertainty is described in the lesson on scaling size, and formulas for individual measures — in the lesson on journal metrics.

Common mistakes when transitioning to live

• Depositing a large capital amount at once. Pressure grows with the amount, and with it the number of decisions made outside the plan.
• Copying size from demo one to one. A different broker means different margin, different leverage, and different order execution conditions.
• Increasing size after one good session. A sample of size one says nothing about the process.
• Skipping the journal entry after a weak session. Lack of data from the most difficult days distorts metrics towards optimism.
• Treating the real account as a continuation of demo. Demo does not transfer fear, so only live shows the actual discipline level.
• No recorded threshold before starting. A threshold set after the fact ceases to be a threshold and becomes a result description.

Measurable exercise

Choose one instrument on demo and record: capital, value of 1% risk in USD, distance to thesis invalidation level, resulting position size, and whether after a −2R limit you close the session. Then fill out the control table with your own data and calculate expectancy after costs. One worksheet row is worth more than three session impressions.

Common questions

How much money to deposit on the first real account?

As much as you can lose without a life catastrophe. The amount is less important than the risk percentage per transaction and calmness when making decisions. A small account with 0.5% R risk is often healthier than a large account run chaotically.

Can I skip demo if I can read charts?

Demo checks your process on the platform and at real costs, not candle knowledge. Skipping this stage usually ends with an expensive execution lesson on your own capital.

When to increase risk from 0.5% to 1% R?

When on a smaller size you have a clean process and drawdown within the plan through an agreed sample. Thresholds and the pace of increase are described in the lesson on scaling size — it is not a series of wins.

Why measure thresholds at all, instead of trusting intuition?

Without measurement, you cannot distinguish edge from luck, and memory after the fact smooths over your own mistakes. Thresholds make the transition decision based on data collected before the result, so it cannot be bent after seeing the equity curve. Measurement also protects capital: it reveals negative expectancy and rising costs before the deposit turns them into a real loss.