Practice make perfect is the old cliche. Trading is a competitive activity like sports. Some great trading psychologists/coaches are former sports psychologist. So if both activities are related, how can we practice trading like the great athletes do before they compete in their sport?

You can demo trade, which is sort of practicing, but not quite the same experience. The best way to practice trading would be in simulation mode. So what’s out there to help a Forex trader practice?

You could invest in the Forex Tester, which currently is on sale for $149.00. I have tried the demo and it has some great features. For my style of trading, what it lacked, is seconds on the trade clock; very important for a scalper. After writing to them, they did say they could create a script or plugin to add seconds. But then there is a monthly fee if you need historical tick data, $22 – $37 a month.

Let me offer you a free program that I use that can help with trade simulation. I am not getting any compensation for recommending this program. It is a great tool that every trader should have. The program is NinjaTrader and can be downloaded at www.ninjatrader.com. It’s a little tricky to figure out and use at first, but once you have played with it a few times, you will experience the benefits of simulation (practice) trading. Below is a quick video tutorial to get you started.