StoneX Trading Demo Account Expert Review & Ratings

Is StoneX Trading's demo any good?

StoneX Trading has one of the better demo trading accounts because it gives you a fairly realistic idea of what the platform is actually like to use.

I’ve tested the demo account before alongside my live City Index account and, when I compared them, the pricing and margin requirements were the same. I actually had the live and demo Germany 40 deal tickets open next to each other and both were showing the same 16,887.9 sell and 16,889.1 buy prices, with a 1.2-point spread.

That’s important because there isn’t much point practising on a demo if the experience bears little resemblance to what happens when you start trading real money.

You currently get £10,000 of virtual funds for 12 weeks, which is enough time and money to get used to how spread betting and CFDs work, experiment with position sizes and learn how to use stops and limits.

I also think £10,000 is actually quite a sensible demo balance. Some brokers give you £50,000 or £100,000, which sounds generous but isn’t particularly useful if you’re eventually planning to fund your real account with a few thousand pounds. You end up putting on trades you would never realistically make.

One downside is that the demo isn’t quite a complete copy of the live account anymore. Performance Analytics is only available to live customers, which is a shame because it’s one of my favourite features on the StoneX Trading platform.

Overall, though, StoneX Trading’s demo is a very good way of getting familiar with the platform and leveraged trading before putting real money at risk.

Pricing

The StoneX Trading demo account is free and you don’t need to deposit any real money.

You get £10,000 in virtual funds, which you can use to practise trading for 12 weeks.

When I tested the old City Index demo against my live account, I found that the prices and margin requirements were the same. The screenshot I took at the time showed exactly the same Germany 40 prices on both accounts.

Obviously, that doesn’t mean demo trading can perfectly recreate live trading.

The biggest difference is psychological. Losing £500 of virtual money is mildly annoying. Losing £500 of your own money feels completely different, and that changes the way you make decisions.

So I wouldn’t use a demo account to prove that a trading strategy works. I would use it to understand how the platform works, how much margin trades require and how quickly your P&L changes as markets move.

Market Access

The StoneX Trading demo gives you access to thousands of markets, so there is plenty available to practise on.

That means you can get used to trading the sorts of markets you might eventually trade with real money rather than being given a small selection of demonstration markets.

You can practise trading through both spread betting and CFDs, covering the major asset classes available through StoneX Trading.

That’s useful because different markets behave very differently.

Trading £1 a point on the FTSE is not the same experience as trading gold, EUR/USD or Nvidia. A demo gives you the opportunity to see how quickly different markets move and how position size affects your P&L before you risk anything.

I wouldn’t carry across the old claim that the demo gives access to 13,500 markets, though. That was the City Index figure when I originally reviewed it; StoneX’s current material now says thousands of markets.

Platform & Apps

The main reason I like StoneX Trading’s demo is that you get to properly test the platform rather than being given a simplified simulator.

You can use the integrated TradingView charts on web and mobile, so you can experiment with technical analysis, build watchlists and get used to navigating the platform before opening a live account.

When I tested it previously, I had the demo and live platforms running side-by-side. They looked and behaved very similarly, right down to the deal ticket, market prices and margin requirements.

That’s exactly what I want from a demo account.

One important change from when I originally reviewed City Index is MT4. At the time, I said you couldn’t open an MT4 demo account. StoneX Trading now offers a separate MT4 demo, so if you want to practise using Expert Advisors or simply see whether you prefer MetaTrader to StoneX’s proprietary platform, you can.

Personally, I’d start with StoneX Trading’s own platform. I’ve always thought it was better than MT4 for most manual traders.

Customer Service

StoneX Trading provides customer support while you’re using the demo, which is useful because the whole point of a demo is to learn how everything works.

StoneX specifically says demo users have access to service information and account support while evaluating the platform.

That’s useful if you’re trying to work out something practical such as how margin works, where to find an order type or how to navigate the platform.

I’d actually encourage new traders to use the demo to test the broker’s customer service as well as its trading platform.

If you can’t get a straightforward question answered when you’ve got £10,000 of imaginary money in the account, that’s worth knowing before you put £10,000 of real money in.

Research & Analysis

StoneX Trading gives demo users access to the same market analysis as live account holders, including real-time commentary from its in-house analysts.

You can also use integrated TradingView charts and practise both technical and fundamental analysis.

That’s useful because I’d use a demo for more than just learning where the buy and sell buttons are.

If you’re thinking about trading gold, for example, you can form a view on the market, look at the TradingView chart, decide where you’d enter, set your stop and then see what actually happens without risking anything.

What you don’t get anymore is Performance Analytics.

That’s a shame because I’ve used Performance Analytics on the live platform and think it’s one of StoneX Trading’s best tools. It analyses your actual trading behaviour and can highlight where you’re performing well or making mistakes. StoneX confirms that it is now restricted to live accounts.

So I’d use the demo primarily for learning the platform, testing order types and practising position sizing, rather than trying to replicate the complete live StoneX Trading experience.

And there is one final limitation worth remembering: demo trading can teach you how to trade, but it can’t teach you what it feels like to lose your own money.