Where can I get a small practice trading account?


Hey everyone, I've been browsing this website for about a month and I've decided to make an account and become an active member. I'm really interested in the ES, but right now I don't have the money to trade it. Can anyone point me in a direction where I could get some practice with a small amount of money, approx 10k.

Thanks
Check out the forex market. MB Trading has very fair commissions. The Eur/Usd is some what correlated with the ES but with tighter spreads great for scalping. You could trade 1 10k lots ($1 a pip) and get a feel of trading without the large profit and loss swings. And be trading on zero margin which is a good thing, especially if your new to trading.
Joe, they have zero margin? You don't have to have anything 'down' to trade?
yeah Jim, they let your trade for free its part of their "no trader left behind" obamanation abomination manifesto.


with a 10k account trading a 10k lot it would be close to 100:100 margin
Awesome, I'll have to check it out. Thanks a lot.
LOL...I needed that laugh.

Cheers!

Originally posted by CharterJoe

yeah Jim, they let your trade for free its part of their "no trader left behind" obamanation abomination manifesto.




with a 10k account trading a 10k lot it would be close to 100:100 margin
Better yet, you can trade what you originally intended to do and trade the ES. You can Demo the ES for 30 days via NinjaTrader.
You get the real live feed, and all the full capability of the platform.
My strong advice to you is to choose a platform where you could switch back to demo mode, even if you trade real money at some point.
NinjaTrader has this capability.
You would use that to tweak your methodology without putting your capital at risk all the time. Also, trade 1 contract of ES at a time.
I can tell you that successful trading comes from increasing the # of lots and decreasing the # of transactions if you find your methodology to be good. it's not far from fishing, have to wait with patience for your methodology to occur.

I wish you success in your quest. if you ever want a NinjaTrader demo: http://www.optimusfutures.com/ninja_trader_request.html
Being able to have a demo anytime is the smart way to start for sure. Trading is easy, the emotions of having $ on the line,wanting to be right, not having your mind set on a paticular direction & being flexiable is whats hard. Trading very small at first (something less than 1 ES con) will help you a lot with the mental part of this game, even if comissions are more than your profit at first, START SMALL.
I tried ninjatrader but I could never connect to the live feed, it'd always give me a simulated one. I'll have to mess around with it some more I guess. I might have to figure that out and join the Skype room, just to get a feel for how it all works.
Let me give you a very different advice (than trading small but live right away) ... if you want to gamble, go to a casino, you'll have more fun losing your money.

But if you want to learn to trade ... start by learning as much as you can, then do your homework - a lot of it - find ONE trading strategy that makes consistently money over 400+ trades based on historical data, trade it in a demo account for 100 trades (typically 3 months) to prove to yourself that you are able to trade it w/o any error, then go live and make money.

Here is an example cumulative P&L graph of a good system :

Click image for original size
cumul pl



I can tell you for a fact, trading a good system makes a ton of difference on the psychological aspect of trading. You will really don't care if the current trade is a loser, because you'll know that you'll get it back and a lot more on the following trades.

Dominique
Welcome to the forum.

I don't want to put a damper on your enthusiasm, in fact I think its great you want to trade but please understand starting out with 10k is just that, starting out and you will most likely lose all of it. Are you prepared to spend 10k learning how to trade? Think how much doctors and lawyers spend.

Definitely use a platform that has a market replay function. The more practice you can get the better. Think of it like drills and if you open an account with 10k view that as live drills!

If you survive losing your first 10k maybe a future awaits. Trust me, it takes a lot more than 10k to figure out how to make a career of this.

No one has all the answers. I certainly don't and am constantly reminded of that. Its about humility and having the stomach to face your fears that will allow you to start seeing the patterns within the markets which will make you money.

Much luck to you my friend. Stick around, should be fun!
Ten thousand dollars is enough to trade the ES. Since you are new, I suggest taking a little time to paper trade. Keep your loses within 1.5% on each trade. Set your stop loss limit. That would be equivalent to $150 or three ES points.