Markets, side by side

Hong Kong — Demo account: the free bench for putting two markets next to each other

Descriptions of how instruments differ are cheap and hard to hold on to. A demo shows the whole list quoting at once, with every per-symbol figure open, and costs nothing to run.

A demo account is free, holds virtual money instead of real cash, and opens with an email and a password — no deposit, no documents, no time limit. What it is unusually good for is comparison: the same order screen over a currency pair, a metal, an index CFD, a crypto CFD and an energy, with each symbol's own contract details a click away.

What the instrument list shows the moment it opens

Which symbols are quoting and which are still. That alone separates round-the-clock weekday markets from ones with a session timetable — and, at a weekend, leaves the crypto CFDs moving on their own.
How far apart the two prices sit on each symbol, right now, rather than in a sentence written months ago.
What one unit of size holds, stated per symbol instead of assumed from the last market you looked at.
What one step is worth at the size you intend, printed with the order figures before anything is confirmed.

A comparison run, in four moves

Pick two symbols from different families

A currency pair as the reference case, and something as unlike it as possible — a metal, or an index CFD.
Open both order screens without confirming anything

Type the same size into each. Reading is free and nothing is at stake, so this step can be repeated as often as you like.
Copy four figures from each

Contract size, the gap between the two prices, the value of one step, the swap per night — with the symbol and the moment written beside them.
Redo the sizing sum with each set

The same money at risk, the same distance, two different sizes coming back — the calculator does that step in the open.

What the bench reaches, and where it stops

Part of trading	Its state on a demo	What it lets you compare
The instrument list	The same list a funded account sees	Every family, quoting together, at your own hour
Market prices	Real prices arriving, charts moving with them	How differently two symbols move in a single sitting
The contract details	Open on every symbol	Contract size, step value, swap, hours — per symbol
The order screen	Identical furniture on every family	Which numbers came from the platform and which from the market
The money	Virtual, so nothing costs anything	Nothing about the route in or out — that is the money page
How a loss feels	Switched off with the money	Nothing. It stays untested where it would matter most

What a comparison cannot settle

Which market is the better one to trade. The bench shows differences in unit, step and hours. None of those is a ranking, and leverage magnifies losses identically across the lot.
What either symbol does next. No one predicts these moves reliably, so two charts side by side are two histories, not two forecasts.
Whether money comes back out. Nothing real went in, so nothing real can be asked back.
How the same run feels funded. Demo results don't guarantee real-account results, however many families have been compared.

Reading the two notes afterwards

What the pair of notes shows	What that earns
The same size number, two different quantities	Contract size is a symbol's property, not the platform's
A step worth several times more on one than the other	Any size carried across families was never for that market
One symbol quoting while the other is still	Hours belong to the market being tracked
A swap line that is a credit on one side	The overnight figure is per symbol, and has a direction
Both charts moved a lot today	Nothing about tomorrow, on either of them

There is no number of weeks after which the bench has proved enough, and anyone naming one is guessing. The answerable version is narrower: can each family's four figures be found without hunting, and does the sizing sum get redone every time the symbol changes. Risk basics keeps the funded steps small afterwards.

Questions asked at the bench

Does opening a demo need documents or a deposit?

Neither. An email and a password open it, virtual money is already inside, and documents are asked for later, only for a real account.

Are the instruments on a demo the same ones a funded account sees?

The same list and the same prices, with each symbol's own details open — which is what makes it usable as a comparison bench.

Half the list is not quoting. Is the demo faulty?

Almost certainly a timetable. Index, share and energy CFDs follow the sessions of what they track; crypto CFDs quote 24/7.

Which two symbols make the clearest first comparison?

A currency pair against a metal or an index CFD — the further apart the unit, the more obvious the finding.

Can the figures be copied once and reused next month?

Contract size and hours are stable; spreads and step values move. Note the moment beside each, or the comparison quietly expires.

Does a good month here say anything about a market?

Nothing about the market and nothing about next month. It shows the buttons were pressed correctly.

How is the sign-up page checked before anything is typed?

By reading the address bar: it should say exness.com. That comes before an email or a password goes into a form.

Can a demo stay open beside a real account as a bench?

Yes, and it is normal practice: an unfamiliar family gets read there before it is ever sized with real money.

After the comparison

The five families

What one account reaches, and what each market re-sets.

See the market list

Run it as a trade

Two small runs on two families, and the notes side by side.

See the sequence

Redo the size per symbol

The step value goes in, the size comes back out.

Count it again

Put the whole list on one screen.

An email, a password, virtual money on real market prices: no deposit, no documents, no time limit — and every family quoting side by side.

Open a free demo at Exness