It’s more important that I progress as a risk-aversed trader. For newer traders, it’s very important for you to understand that learning methods to control your risk should be a priority. Making gains monetarily is obviously important but making gains and strides elsewhere are more important.

When I first started trading mostly with demo accounts, I had some unbelievably profitable trades but my strategies were random and my risk and leverage too high. A lot of this is just pure luck and not going to take you to the next level. Your account balance shouldn’t be used as a guage for success. Some questions to ask yourself to guage your success may be:

Have you managed to minimize your risk and maximize your reward?
Have you maintained consistency?
Have you been able to control your emotions?
Have you developed a complete trading system that you’ve been able to follow without deviation?
If you haven’t been profitable, have you at least been able to turn those gushing drawdowns into slow bleeders?