FAQ Section | Frequently Asked Questions
Yes.
Modern simulation environments (DEMO, paper, sandbox trading) generally reproduce the technical and market conditions of trading very realistically. Price positions, chart movements, order types, trading logic and evaluations follow the same mechanisms as in real money trading.
However, it is precisely this technical proximity that is the reason why demo accounts are often perceived as completely comparable. The realistic depiction creates the impression that identical decisions under identical conditions should also lead to identical results. This assumption is the basis for the widespread notion that demo trading is a reliable dress rehearsal for real money trading. Technical realism does not automatically mean behavioral realism. A system can function objectively correctly and still produce different decision-making behavior if a central active component is missing. Demo accounts are therefore not unrealistic - they are incomplete in relation to the human decision-making level.
The deviation is not caused by incorrect market mapping, but by the lack of a real value link, which only becomes effective in real money trading.
In the context of trading, investment strategies and performance presentations, different analysis and testing tools are used to prepare decisions, evaluate strategies or shape expectations. However, these tools differ not only in their methodology, but also in the type of reality to which they refer. The reality framework serves to clearly categorize these differences. It does not describe quality levels or a sequence, but rather different areas of knowledge, each of which answers its own questions - and has its own limits.
1. Demo accounts - decision without real value Demo accounts depict decisions under realistic market and system conditions, but without real value. They allow learning, orientation and functional understanding, but make no statement about behavior under real decision-making pressure.
2. Simulation & strategy tests - strategy without real stress Simulations test the logical functionality of sets of rules under controlled conditions. They are tools for developing and comparing strategies, but consistently abstract from the human being as the stress carrier of the strategy.
3. Backtesting - past without uncertainty Backtests apply strategies retrospectively to historical data. They provide statistical plausibility and consistency, but operate without uncertainty, without decision points in time and without a real implementation situation.
4. Real money trading - Decision under real value Only in real money trading do real value retention, loss aversion, psychological pressure and irreversibility come together. This not only shows whether a strategy works, but whether it can be sustained.