You’re brand spanking new to binary options. Never made a trade before in your life. I get it. You’re confused. But you want to give it a shot. You heard about this new way to make money and want to get your piece of the pie. Maybe even make enough to quit your job.
The problem – binary options are bloody confusing.
You get the gist. You want to predict if the market rate is going to be higher or lower than the current rate. Get it right and you’ll pocket some extra monies. Get it wrong …and …you know. The theory makes sense. Where you get lost is in the application. Using the software. Making the trades. Knowing if your prediction was right or wrong, and when you can find out. Just getting started.
Actually trading binary options is a lot harder. But there’s a way to make it easier. Want to know what it is?
Demo Accounts
A demo account is just as it sounds – a demonstration of a broker’s platform. You can trade most, if not all of their major assets and products (aka options) in real time.
- 24option Demo Account – Make a minimum deposit and they will give you a demo trading account where you can trade with fake money to learn how it works.
- MarketsWorld – Get a 100% free demo account without a deposit required. Practice and start out with totally no risk
- Goptions – Make a minimum deposit and get a demo account to trade with at this US friendly SpotOption broker.
The best part – demo accounts aren’t for real money. It’s play money.
No longer do you have to worry about learning binary options the hard way …aka with your hard-earned money. You can get your feet wet, learn the platform and even a strategy or two first. Then make the switch to real money when you’re more comfortable.
Demo accounts aren’t just for beginners either. Advanced traders use demo accounts to hone their strategies so they can make more money than they do now. So they’re for everyone.
But where do you find a demo account? That’s the question we’ll answer next.
Where to Find a True ‘No Deposit’ Binary Options Broker
The truth is not every broker will offer a demo account.
Why?
My guess is because they don’t encourage you to deposit real money which means the broker doesn’t make any money.
So what some brokers offer instead are free trades. On your first five or ten real money trades, if you lose the broker will cover the losses. You still get to (temporarily) trade risk free and the broker gets a customer. Win/win.
Sort of. Some people need more than five or ten trades to get used to binary options trading. Does that sound like you? Then check out the following brokers – they all offer a 100% free binary options demo.
- MarketsWorld
- 24Option
(Keep in mind when you sign up for a demo account the broker will probably reach out to you. Their goal is to turn you into a real money customer at some point. Just let them know you’re not interested right now, but you may be later.)
If you decide to find a demo account on your own – BEWARE – there is something you need to watch out for.
Some brokers advertise a free demo account, but only if you make a minimum deposit or deposit enough to reach a specific account level.
My guess is this is their attempt to avoid wasting time on tire kickers. It does take manpower to call every person who signs up and try to sell them on an upgraded account.
Makes sense, but that’s not exactly what I’d call a ‘free’ account.
What’s worse is if you try to cash out your money – for whatever reason – the broker will charge you a fee if you didn’t make a trade. So it’s not only is it not a free account, but it’s costing you money.
Be sure to read the terms and conditions before signing up anywhere. Or read our broker reviews.
Once you get signed up somewhere you’ll want to start practicing making trades. And some brokers may only give you limited access, so you’ll want to make the most of the demo account.
Here are some ideas for how to do that.
How to Get the Most Out of Your Demo Account
If you’re new – even on a demo account – it can be hard to know where to start.
Here’s what I suggest you do.
The first thing I would do is run through the broker’s educational content first. Make sure you understand what binary options are and what each option/product does. Just so you know what kind of results to expect.
Then jump in – with both feet.
I recommend getting as much experience as you can. Try all the major products such as:
- Binary options
- Long term options
- Short term options
- One touch options
- Pairs
- Ladders
- Currencies, commodities, indices and stocks
Everything.
I suggest starting with the 60 second options first. The reason for this is simple – you can make a trade, then pull up the clock on your computer and wait 60 seconds. Things should happen. Beeps. Buttons flashing. Money being added to your account.
This is the fastest way to get used to the software.
If you set aside a couple hours to play with the software you can make some longer term trades. Make those first, then get busy with the shorter term trades while you wait. After a couple sessions you should have a good idea of how the software works and the general trading process.
That’s pretty much it. From there you can move on to making real money trades. But I still recommend having a demo account open somewhere you can access whenever you want. Here’s why:
For one thing you can practice more advanced strategies. I’m not an experienced enough trader to know of any, but I have seen this recommendation from expert traders.
Another thing you can use a demo account for is to test out tools and gadgets. You can test out a trading signal service or robot. Make sure they work with the platform and they live up to their claims before shelling out tons of money for them.
The bottom line – demo accounts are a great way to test things without having to spend much, if any money upfront. It doesn’t matter if you’re a beginner or advanced trader, you need to have a demo account.
So go get one now.