Getting a Demo account is essential if you are a beginner or if you are researching, building or testing a new strategy. Many brokers offer demo accounts, so if you already have a broker, you might be just a step away from having a free Demo account and start trying out your strategy. If you are still exploring and learning and haven’t opened a brokerage account yet, you will need to find a Demo account with data providers (some of them also happen to be brokers, but the process of getting a Demo account and opening a live account is distinct). Getting a Demo account is far simpler that opening a live account. For getting a Demo account, you only need to select your data plan, make the payment and fill the agreements for each data feed confirming that you are a non-professional trader. Regarding the live brokerage account, we highly recommend that you do your due diligence and select your broker wisely only after knowing what strategies and instruments you want to specialize in as well as taking into account all your personal variables like the amount of capital you will be depositing into your account and your trading frequency.
So, here are our two favorites for starting out without a brokerage account. In both cases, the Demo account comes free with the data subscription.
TC2000 by Worden
TC2000 demo account is the simpler for beginners. It offers from-the-chart trading and a very simple interface for executions. You will learn trading in a more visual way by interacting with price action on the chart. As well, its many charting and scanning features that we described earlier make it a great all-in-one subscription to get started.
DAS Trader Demo
DAS offers the DAS Trader Pro platform that offers a professional trader style interface for trading and trades execution. It offers more routing options than most platforms and allows you to get used to an interface style that you will probably use for live trading. Many world renowned brokers use DAS Trader PRO as their trading platform and most others use very similar style platforms. Order execution is usually very fast because DAS Trader has direct access to the market. DAS is a market data provider for the CBSX, NASDAQ, and NYSE/ARCA, among others. It provides routing strategies for exchanges, ALGO, dark pools, and liquidity providers. The primary advantage of using DAS Trader Pro is the ability to route orders through over 75 different market makers. You can route orders based on the exchange of the instrument. In this regard, direct-access brokers like Cobra Trading and SpeedTrader can compete with market leaders like Interactive Brokers.
For all those reasons DAS Trader PRO is one of our top recommendations as a Demo software in spite of its higher cost. Expect to be paying between 100USD/month and 200USD/month for data feeds and Demo account at DAS Trader. If you end up choosing or you already have a live account with a broker that uses DAS Trader this cost will be your live trading package cost and the Demo account will appear as free.
Top brokers that work with DAS Trader PRO include:
- Interactive Brokers
- SpeedTrader : here is a nice offer to try it for free DAS Trader PRO 14 days trial
- Cobra Trading
- Capital Markets Elite Group
- LightSpeed
For some of you that are starting those costs might seem high. While we understand that might be the case, our professional ethics and experience makes us want to state out loud that you must be willing to invest in good tools and good training if you want to trade live. You will expose yourself to loose much more in one single failed trade than any cost related to monthly software and data subscriptions.
In the light of this comment, if you are currently on a budget, we recommend to start out with TC2000 and build yourself up while you progress.