What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?

What this means in practice

Do not go live because a backtest looks good or one demo entry worked. Prove realtime signal behavior, alerts, webhook reliability, duplicate safety, routing, sizing, SL/TP, exits, disconnect recovery, broker constraints and failure visibility first. This page is specifically about “What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?”, so each scenario below is explained by its own mechanism instead of sharing one generic diagnosis.

Real-world scenarios

Scenario A — Backtest only

Use demo to test the exact production route, not only Strategy Tester. Include success and failure behavior for this scenario and verify the final cTrader state before considering the setup live-ready. For Scenario A — Backtest only on question 100, use that evidence specifically to answer “What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?”; keep it separate from the evidence for the other scenarios on this page.

Scenario B — Entries tested but exits not

Use demo to test the exact production route, not only Strategy Tester. Include success and failure behavior for this scenario and verify the final cTrader state before considering the setup live-ready. For Scenario B — Entries tested but exits not on question 100, use that evidence specifically to answer “What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?”; keep it separate from the evidence for the other scenarios on this page.

Scenario C — Multi-account routing unverified

Inspect the mechanism named by “Scenario C — Multi-account routing unverified” directly. Record its input, the state immediately before it and the first observable output that differs from the intended result. For Scenario C — Multi-account routing unverified on question 100, use that evidence specifically to answer “What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?”; keep it separate from the evidence for the other scenarios on this page.

What to check

• active server-side TradingView alert instance
• saved symbol, timeframe and inputs
• realtime versus confirmed-bar behavior
• exact message emitted by the active alert

Practical rule

For “What should I check before switching an automated strategy from demo to live?”, change only the first layer whose evidence no longer matches the intended action. Preserve signal identity, timestamps and final cTrader state, and reproduce execution-affecting changes on demo before live use.