| Updated: September 15, 2025Making your first trades
This lesson will cover the following
- How to deal with losing trades
- Your first winning trades
- Advice and final words
If you’ve followed this guide chronologically (as you should), then you’ve already chosen your platform and created the free demo account. You may have even executed a few trades and quite possibly made some money in the market. Now you’re prepared to fund your account in order to start trading for real, because it’s nice to make virtual money but it’s even nicer to make real cash. Are we there yet? Good, now forget about all of that. You are not ready to trade. You might have already convinced yourself that you’re some sort of trading prodigy because you’ve made some profits, but (at least statistically speaking) this is definitely not the case. You are far away from becoming a real trader.
If you want, go ahead – waste your money on the premise that you will become rich in a few days. We’ve seen it time and time again – this ridiculous notion that’s caused many to throw away their savings in pursuit of fairy tales. Or you can keep reading – if we’ve taught you anything so far, it’s that you shouldn’t be impatient because making money is not as easy as it looks.
Your first losing trades
How many of the trades you place in the beginning will count as first trades? Well, it varies from person to person. How long will it take for you to realise that trading involves considerable risk, that nothing is guaranteed, and that it’s quite possible to suffer losses even if you think you’ve thought everything through?
Your first trades are those that show you the real face of trading. They allow you to see how the game is played. You will definitely notice that things are very different from what you expected. The first trading experience is always unique.
Some new traders lose a lot and get discouraged on their first day. This is good (the losing part, not the getting discouraged part). It helps you grasp the essence of investment much faster. It helps you prepare mentally for the fact that it’s quite possible to lose and that there are stakes at hand. Even though you are investing virtual money, you will feel bad about losing. Whether you’ve tried to trade on your own or you’ve copied a trader, your expectations were probably very different from the outcome. How is it possible that a trader with 300% gain in the past six months can lose so much of your investment? Or how is it possible to lose even though you did what 87% of the market was doing at the time?
This won’t make sense to you. It will disappoint you. But it will also help you grow. This is good. Losing in the beginning is good. You’re not investing your own money, so what do you care that you’re losing? Experiment all you want. Get to know the market. Get to know the traders. Get wild with that virtual currency. Use the time. Use the money. Don’t try to rush things. Don’t invest real money just yet. Once you truly understand everything you need, and once you consistently start making profits in your demo account, then you can start real-money trades.
Your first winning trades
Your first winning trades are a thrill that very few things can match. Even if it’s just with virtual money, the idea that you’ve made a profit out of nothing is fantastic. You’ve managed to predict the market movements and made the right call. You’ve won where so many have lost. You’ve succeeded where so many have failed. You’re a winner!
Looking at your total equity increase is mesmerising. This is a truly magical feeling, especially if you’ve lost a lot. It means that you’re finally learning. Once you start consistently making profits, you will feel much better about yourself. Your confidence will soar. You will finally be ready to enter the real game.
However, winning your first trades can be the worst thing that’s ever happened to you (at least in the financial sense). Sometimes having luck on your side is the worst fate to endure. Just like a gambler who thinks he will win every time because of that first win, you too may be fooled into thinking that trading is easy and will make you rich in a matter of months. Many young traders have fallen into this trap – winning their first few trades fooled them into thinking they were ready for the game, so they entered trades with real money. Of course, believing it was a sure thing, they invested far more than they should have, so they were quickly ruined. Some of them managed to get back on their feet, but for many it was too hard.
Even if you win your first trades, always remember – don’t invest real money until you’re truly ready. A few trades don’t prove anything. Getting lucky a few times doesn’t mean that you will consistently make profits. If you don’t believe us, keep trading and you will see. Once your profits disappear and you start losing, you will be thankful that you didn’t rush things.
Final words
Whether you win or lose your first trades, take your time. It’s important to know as much as you can before you start investing real money. Also, it’s always a good idea to have a demo account at your disposal just in case. You never know when you might need it. Maybe you want to test a new strategy, or maybe you want to check a new trader out. A demo account will help you perform trials without risking your own money. Take your time, plan carefully, and test as much as you can. It’s a lot better than wasting your portfolio.