Sim VS. Real Money trading

[Millionaire]

I never traded sim. The best way to learn this game is to lose real money, and meaningful amounts of money at that.

To quote ROASO 'The game taught me the game. And it didn't spare the rod while teaching.'

 

[Jdesey]

I think Millionaire just hit it... You can do Sim till the cows come home. But it sure is a much bigger lesson when you are making/losing real money!

 

[speedo]

Sim is useful for forward testing a strategy and developing the confidence to trade it. If you can't show "profitability" in sim then you certainly won't live. But as alluded to, the difference is the emotional divide and the ability to replicate the results live is what separates the traders from the wanna-be's.

 

[Jdesey]

"forward testing" ???? how is that done?? Do you have a magic time machine that let's you see the future?

 

[speedo]

"forward testing" ???? how is that done?? Do you have a magic time machine that let's you see the future?

Yes, I lease it to mindless newbies.

 

[speedo]

Sim trading IS forward testing.

 

[Jdesey]

When anyone asks what super power you would want,,, for me for sure it would be the ability to see into the future

 

[speedo]

When anyone asks what super power you would want,,, for me for sure it would be the ability to see into the future

And spoil the surprise ?

 

[Jdesey]

Well, Invisibility would be pretty powerful as well... but yeah, I am sticking with seeing the future.

 

[nonlinear5]

"forward testing" ???? how is that done?? Do you have a magic time machine that let's you see the future?

"Forward testing" is simply trading (or auto-trading) in real time, but with paper money. This is to differentiate it from "back testing", in which trading (or auto-trading) is done using historical data.