The first 30 days with real money: what to expect

Real money feels different. The same trade that was boring on demo now raises your pulse. That's normal.

What will happen

• Nerves: in the first days you'll close trades too early.
• Slippage: sometimes you get a slightly worse price than you wanted. That's slippage.
• FOMO: when the market takes off without you, you'll feel pulled in.
• The first bigger loss: it will come. All that matters is that it stayed within your plan.

How you get through the first month

1. Smallest size: 1 micro contract, even if you traded more on demo.
2. The same process as on demo: bias card, checklist, rules.
3. The goal is not profit: the goal is 30 days without breaking a rule.
4. One Sentinel entry every day: how you felt and whether you kept your rules.

If you break your daily limit in the first month, go back to demo for 2 weeks. That's not a punishment, it's a reset.

After 30 days

Look at your stats with Sentinel. If you kept your rules, you can slowly increase size, one step at a time. If not, you know what to fix next. Either way, you've walked the whole path from “I know nothing” to a trader with a plan.