A critical part of becoming a successful trader is learning how to put an education into use.
But every coach worth their salt will tell any aspiring trader that the smart plan begins with
virtual trades. Until a student has become profitable on paper by participating in practice
trades, they have no business putting their real money on the line. This is where Real Time
Markets becomes such an indispensable tool.
The platform for conducting virtual trades on Real Time Markets is identical to the one used to
make real trades. The only difference is the color of the screen. The background of the screen
for virtual trades is white, while the background for the screen for real trades is yellow. That
allows a student to immediately recognize whether or not they're trading for real money or
practice money.
The tool's creators wanted the platform for virtual trades to mirror the one for practice
trades. This allows students to become accustomed to using the tool to place non-funded
trades and learn how to take advantage of the variety of options available through Real
Time Markets. Once a student masters the tool in practice mode, the techniques are then
applied to the real trades. There's no additional learning curve.
Just like the real platform, the non-funded platform asks a trader to fill in essential
information: the stock or option being traded, the number of shares or number of contracts,
the strike price for an option, whether an order is for the day or until cancelled, and whether
it's a limit order or a market order. Once a practice order is placed, a trader must confirm it
before it is sent to the trading floor. Practice trades are sent with the same expediency as
funded trades.
A student can take advantage of the virtual option to increase their knowledge of different
techniques. Students are encouraged to focus on one or two forms of trades. By using Real
Time Markets to conduct practice trades, a student can get a real idea as to their proficiency.
Most instructors encourage students to make 10 consecutive successful non-funded trades before
placing money in a real trade.
Being able to conduct virtual trades also enables students to try different strategies.
For example, a student has become successful buying and selling calls and puts, the basic
building blocks of trading options. But as their account has grown, so has their need to
learn more conservative strategy. The idea of using credit spreads makes a lot of sense,
but they have no experience in that field; they may not even know the difference between
a bear call spread and a bull put spread. But by using the practice mode, a trader can
learn how to execute entries and exits on these spreads and hone their ability to profit
from the strategy.
The virtual mode in Real Time Markets permits the user to create several practice accounts.
With this flexibility, a student could designate one account solely for bear call spreads,
another strictly for bull put spreads, another for channeling stocks, or another for straddles
or strangles. A student might wish to use one account for aggressive trades and another for
conservative trades. By putting the tool at the heart of a practice account, a student should
be able to show improvement or have a better understanding about what they're doing wrong or
right, and not lose a dime while doing it.
