Simulator or a live account to start with?

It isn't an either-or choice. A simulator and a live account teach different things, and they're best treated as successive stages.

What a simulator and replays give you

• learning the platform without costly mistakes
• lots of repetitions, including on replays of past sessions
• a test of whether you can follow your process consistently

What a simulator can't give you

• real emotions: decisions with “nothing at stake” can build habits that won't survive the first real loss
• the full reality of execution: slippage and the order queue are usually simplified in simulation

A sensible order

1. Simulator and replays: learning the platform, the plan and the process.
2. Live account: testing the process under pressure while keeping to the risk rules in your own plan.
3. Going back to the simulator and replays as a permanent part of training, not just a starting stage.

You decide when to move on to the next stage – ideally based on process metrics from your journal (🧠 Trader psychology, Journal #4), not just your simulated P&L.

Educational content, not financial, legal or tax advice.