[How-to] [How-to] Your first 3 months: demo → small → verify

People who start with big money quit fastest. Follow these steps and even losses end up as the cost of learning.

Weeks 1–2: demo and the basics

• Open a broker demo account and buy and sell on MT5 yourself
• Get a feel for how much 0.01 lot moves per $1 of gold and how to set stops and targets
• Use Paper copy on EADesk to follow 3–5 traders you like with virtual money

Weeks 3–6: a small live account

• Deposit only money you can afford to lose
• Run the same approach live and notice what differs from demo (spread, fills, emotions)
• Do one full cycle: deposit → trade → withdraw

Weeks 7–12: record and judge

• Each week, write down return, max drawdown and number of trades
• Check whether you kept your own rules (e.g. stop if drawdown passes 10%)
• With 3 months of records, post them on Verified strategies and get feedback

Stop if you notice

• You want bigger lots to win back losses
• You keep moving your stop further away
• It's costing you sleep