Demo trading for now

I am going to demo trade for a couple of weeks now.

I need to refine my trading plan. Though I think you can learn things about trading a real account that you can never learn from trading a demo account, dealing emotions, I need more grounding in the fundementals.

At this point, here is what I believe is the process that a new forex trader should go through on his journey with respect to trading from demo to live.

first, trade demo only until you can show consistency over some reasonable period of time

Second, once you have show consistency over some reasonable period of time, switch to a low balanced mini or even micro account. I believe that there simply are things you just cant learn trading a demo account. It has been revealed to me that one of the largest factors in trading success is dealing with emotions. You simply arent going to have the same emotional investment and thus not have to learn to master your emotions with a demo account as you would with a real live trading account.

What is a "reasonable period of time"? I think this would change from trader to trader depending on what you are comfortable with. This is where self knowledge and self honesty become the key. I would think that it would be a minimum of two weeks at the very least.

Third, it is only when you have shown consistency over a reasonable period of time that you should increase the balance of your mini account or switch to a non mini or standard account.

I also believe that at any given time if you experience a major set back you should rachet it down. For example if you blow through your mini account go back to demo and start the process over again, trying to learn from your mistakes.