How long should I demo trade gold?

Until you have at least 100 trades under the rule set, including trades around a CPI release, an NFP and an FOMC decision. For most intraday XAU strategies that is two to three months.

Should the demo balance match my real account?

Yes. Percentage risk on a 100,000 dollar demo produces lot sizes you will never trade on a 5,000 dollar live account, and the psychology does not transfer either.

Are demo fills on gold realistic?

Reasonable in quiet sessions, optimistic in news. Assume live slippage of half a dollar to three dollars per ounce on stops during a US data release.

DEMO TESTING GOLD

Demo testing a gold strategy only produces transferable data when the demo account matches the intended live account in balance, leverage, broker and symbol variant.

A minimum sample of 100 XAUUSD trades spanning CPI, NFP and FOMC releases is required before a rule set moves to a small live allocation.