DRILL Training · January 2026 · ~4 min
Paper trading, done right
Most people use a demo account wrong: random full-size punts, reset after losses, and "I'm ready for live" after one good week. A demo's value is not the P&L — it's the process. It is the test bench for your trading system.
Three things a demo is for
- Execution: place the order, set the stop, arm the alert — by plan, no steps skipped;
- Sizing: use the same account size and risk fraction as your real money; a ten-million demo teaches nothing about a ten-thousand live account;
- Logging: journal every trade with the same seriousness as live.
What a demo cannot teach
The money isn't real, so the pain isn't real. Trades you can sit through on demo you may not sit through live — emotional pressure does not simulate. So the graduation bar is not "made X%" but "N consecutive trades executed exactly to plan." The emotions course can only be taken with small live size.
Tip: pair it with bar replay to compress months of market into an afternoon; for how big each position should be, see position sizing.