Hi,

I have been trading a simple scalping automated system using Metatrader with awesome results on my demo account, and wanted to know if what difference I might expect when I move to a live account.

The system is fairly simple, choosing either a sell or a buy, then taking one pip profit. If the market moves in the opposite direction, then another position is added (basically doubling down). After the third doubling down, the lot size doubles, then doubles again. All the while the profit point is moved down to make a one pip profit per trade. So even though several of the trades may be negative, the end result is a one pip profit per trade.

It seems to work with an average of about 1-2 doubling down before hitting its target.

My demo account of $50,000 has made about $300-$500/day, with a maximum drawdown of about 6% in a month, trading 0.3 size lots.

Back-testing shows consistent profit week after week, with only one major drawdown in 6 years.

What factors would cause a live account to trade differently than the demo account?


Thanks for any comments!

Doesn't my demo account take spread into account? The price between bid and offer shows up, and my trades are executed accordingly. I'm currently testing AUD/USD, and the spread is usually between 2.0 to 4.0, usually around 2.8. Is this not what I should expect when I'm trading a real account?

Just curious. The more info I have the better. Thanks for the post, and I look forward to clarification.


Happy Labor Day!

Well, I'm going to be testing it for a while longer. The EA generates about 150 trades per 24 hours, so 150 pips per day. I can live with that.

But like you said, it will be a different story once I'm using real money.

Thank you very much for your input. I appreciate it.

As I can see from your stats, your avg. gain is 2.8 pips. I'm pretty sure, this is unrealistic for profitable live trading.
You often will not get prices as good as on demo and your strategy will not be profitable.
Try a strategy with at least 5 or 7 pips.