Practise with virtual funds before you go live

A practice account lets you place orders with virtual funds. Those orders are not sent to a market. A profit in that mode is not cash, and it is not evidence that the same steps will make money later.

Use the rehearsal to learn the desk, not to prove a strategy. Note where the buy and sell buttons sit, how a stop is entered, and what the screen does when a price jumps. Then read the risk disclosure. Leverage can magnify a loss as well as a gain, and a stop is a request, not a promise that you will exit at that price.

When you do move to live orders, start with an amount you can afford to lose. Confirm each order inside the account. A screen that looks updated is not the same as an acknowledgement from the venue.