Common IQ Option Demo Account Problems

Balance Problems

A practice balance that reads zero, will not top up, or shows an unexpected number is almost always a display, mode or reset issue rather than a fault with your account.

Balance questions are the most common thing people ask about the demo, and the good news is that the practice balance is virtual. Nothing here can cost you money, and almost every version of the problem is recoverable in a minute or two.

Empty demo funds

If the practice balance has run down to nothing, the usual cause is simply a run of trades, often oversized ones, since virtual money invites larger positions than anyone would take live. The platform generally lets you refill the practice balance from within the account. Work through this order:

1. Confirm you are actually looking at the practice balance, not the real one.
2. Open the account or balance panel and look for a refill, reset or top-up control.
3. Refresh the page, or close and reopen the app, and check the balance again.
4. If the control is not visible, try the other surface: web if you were on mobile, or the reverse.

Our balance-ran-out guide covers the refill flow, and it is worth reading the run of trades that emptied it as useful information: at live sizing, that sequence would have been a real drawdown.

Reset not working

If a reset does not appear to take effect, the cause is usually presentation rather than function. Try these before assuming a fault:

• Refresh the platform fully: a stale page often shows the old figure.
• Close any open practice positions; a reset may behave differently with trades running.
• Check you are in practice mode; the control does not apply to a funded balance.
• Log out and back in, which forces the account state to reload.
• Try a different browser or the app to rule out a local caching problem.

We do not publish any reset limit, cooldown or daily allowance, because none is verified: the current wording inside the platform is the accurate description of how the control behaves. The reset guide walks through where it sits.

Wrong balance shown

An unexpected figure usually means one of three things: the platform is showing the other account mode, the page has not refreshed since your last trade, or the amount simply is not what you expected it to be. On that last point, the practice balance is commonly reported as around $10,000 in virtual funds, but the amount and currency can differ by account and region. Your platform figure is the accurate one. There is nothing to fix if it differs from a number you read elsewhere.

Preventing it next time

Balance problems mostly stop occurring once a few habits are in place:

• Size practice trades as you would live, so the balance lasts long enough to be informative.
• Set yourself a daily loss limit on the demo and honour it.
• Refresh the platform after a run of trades before reading the balance.
• Note the balance at the start and end of each session in your log, so a discrepancy is obvious immediately.

An emptied practice balance is also worth treating as data rather than an inconvenience: the sequence that drained it would have been a real drawdown at live sizing.

Check the mode, refresh, then look for the refill control — that sequence resolves the large majority of practice-balance problems.

Mode Confusion

Confusing practice mode with the funded account is the most consequential demo problem, because it is the only one that can involve real money. It is also the easiest to eliminate with a habit.

Every other issue on this page is an inconvenience. This one deserves genuine attention, and two seconds of checking removes it entirely.

Landing in real by mistake

The platform remembers a mode between sessions, and the two look very similar on screen. The result is a trader placing an order believing it is practice when it is not, or the reverse: logging practice trades as though they were live results.

Build the habit now: read the balance label before every order. Not the number, the label. Make it as automatic as checking a mirror before pulling out.

• Check the mode indicator when you open the platform, every time.
• Check it again after any interruption: a reconnect, a device switch, a long break.
• Check it before your first order of a session, without exception.
• If a real balance is visible when you expected practice, close nothing and switch first.

Switcher not visible

If you cannot find the account switcher, it is usually a layout matter rather than a missing feature. On a narrow window or a small screen, controls collapse into a menu. Try widening the browser window, opening the account or profile menu, or looking at the balance element itself, where the switcher commonly sits on or beside it. Our switching guide shows where to look on each surface.

Web and app mismatch

Web and mobile hold their state separately, so being in practice mode in a browser does not mean the phone is in practice mode too. Treat each device as its own session and check the mode on each one. If the two disagree about your balance or history after a trade, refresh or reopen the lagging one — that is usually a sync delay rather than a discrepancy in your account.

Recovering from a mode mix-up

If it does happen, handle it calmly and in order:

1. Identify which account the position is actually on before touching anything.
2. If it is live, manage it as a real trade: apply your usual rules rather than closing in panic.
3. Attach a stop if the position has none.
4. Once it is resolved, record what happened and what let it happen.
5. Reinstate the balance-label check as a fixed step before every order.

The recovery matters less than the prevention. Two seconds of checking removes this problem permanently.

Read the balance label before every single order; it is the one demo habit that protects real money.

Access Problems

Login failures, verification prompts and dropped sessions are almost always environmental, tied to browser state, app version or connectivity, and they resolve in a predictable order.

Access problems feel alarming and are usually mundane. Work from the cheapest fix to the most involved rather than jumping to the assumption that something is wrong with your account.

Login errors

If a login is rejected, run through this sequence:

1. Retype the credentials manually rather than relying on autofill, which often stores a stale entry.
2. Check for caps lock, keyboard layout and stray whitespace from a paste.
3. Use the password reset flow if two attempts fail, since repeated failures can trigger a temporary lockout.
4. Try a private browsing window, which bypasses extensions and stored session data.
5. Try a different network, since some connections and VPNs interfere with access.
6. If none of that works, contact official support through the platform or the broker's own site.

Only ever reset a password through the broker's own platform. Never enter credentials on a third-party site offering "IQ Option demo access" — that is a phishing pattern, not a shortcut. Our login and access guide covers the normal flow.

Verification prompts

Being asked to verify your identity is standard practice at a regulated broker and is not a sign of a problem. It typically becomes relevant around funding and withdrawal rather than around practice trading. Complete it through the platform's own verification section, and expect the usual identity and address documents. If a prompt appears at an unexpected moment, check you are on the genuine platform before uploading anything.

Session drops

Sessions expire, and platforms often log you out after a period of inactivity or when the connection changes. If you are dropped repeatedly:

• Check whether your connection is switching between networks: mobile data and Wi-Fi handovers commonly break sessions.
• Disable extensions that block scripts or storage, then retry.
• Allow the site to store data in your browser; blocked storage prevents a session persisting.
• Update the browser or app, since an outdated client can fail to hold a session correctly.

Staying safe while troubleshooting

Access problems are exactly when people get careless, and it is when scam attempts land. Hold to these regardless of how urgent the problem feels:

• Reach the platform by typing the address yourself or through a bookmark you created, not through a search advert or a link in a message.
• Never enter credentials on any site that is not the broker's own.
• Never share a password, a one-time code or screen access with anyone, including someone claiming to be support.
• Treat unsolicited help through social media or messaging apps as a scam attempt by default.
• Use the platform's own support channel to raise problems.

A practice-account problem is never urgent enough to justify shortcutting any of this.

Work access problems from cheapest to costliest: retype, private window, different network, then support, and never log in through a third-party site.

Feature Problems

A missing instrument or a product you cannot find is usually availability rather than a bug. Chart and tool glitches, by contrast, are almost always local and clear with a refresh.

Separating "not available to me" from "not working" saves a lot of wasted troubleshooting. The two have completely different fixes.

Missing instruments

If an instrument you read about is not in your asset list, the most likely explanation is that it is not offered on your account. Availability is set by the broker and by the rules in your jurisdiction, and it changes over time. Before concluding anything is broken:

• Check the trading hours, since many instruments simply are not tradable at all times.
• Clear any filter or search term active in the asset selector.
• Scroll the full list rather than assuming the visible portion is all of it.
• Compare against your own asset list rather than a published guide, which may describe a different region.

Region-locked products

Whole product categories can be unavailable depending on where you are, and that is a regulatory and commercial matter rather than a fault. Your own asset list is the authoritative statement of what your account can trade; our product practice guide and regional availability page cover this properly. Do not attempt to work around a restriction; it is a condition of your account, and circumventing it creates problems at funding and withdrawal.

Chart glitches

Charts that stall, indicators that fail to draw or a layout that renders oddly are almost always local rendering issues. In order:

1. Refresh the page or restart the app.
2. Switch timeframe and back again to force the chart to redraw.
3. Remove indicators one at a time to identify a problematic combination.
4. Clear the browser cache, or clear the app cache in your device settings.
5. Update the browser or app to the current version.
6. Try another device to establish whether it is local or account-wide.

If a problem follows you across devices and networks, it is worth reporting to support with the specifics.

Telling a fault from a limit

A quick test separates the two categories reliably. Ask whether the thing you expected ever appeared for you before, and whether it appears on a second device:

• Present before, absent now, absent everywhere: likely a change in availability or an account state to query with support.
• Never present for you, present in a guide: almost certainly availability rather than a fault.
• Present on another device but not this one: a local problem of cache, version or rendering.
• Intermittent on all devices — usually connectivity, and worth retrying before reporting.

Working out which category you are in first saves repeating fixes that were never going to apply.

Missing instruments are usually availability, not a fault. Chart problems usually are a fault, and a refresh or cache clear fixes most of them.

Resolving Issues

A short standard routine resolves most demo issues before support is needed: refresh, check the mode, clear cache, update, change device, then report with details.

Having a fixed sequence stops you making random changes and losing track of what you have already tried.

Clearing cache

Stale cached data causes a surprising share of "the platform is broken" reports: old balances, missing controls, half-rendered charts. Try a private browsing window first, since it is instant and non-destructive; if the problem disappears there, cached data or an extension is the cause. Then clear the site data properly and log in again. On mobile, clear the app cache through your device settings rather than reinstalling as a first step.

Updating the app

An outdated client is the second big cause. Update the app through your device's store, and on desktop make sure the browser is current. If the platform's own interface has changed and a control has moved, an update is what brings the layout into line with any guidance you are following.

Contacting support

If the routine has not fixed it, report it, and report it well. A useful message includes:

• Whether the problem is on the practice or the funded account.
• The device, operating system and browser or app version.
• The exact steps that produce the problem, in order.
• Any error message, quoted rather than paraphrased.
• What you have already tried from the list above.

Contact support only through the platform or the broker's own site. Never share your password, and never accept help from someone contacting you first through social media or messaging apps — that is a well-established scam pattern in this industry.

Perspective is worth keeping here. Practice problems cost nothing but time, which is the whole point of solving them on a demo rather than a funded account. Once the platform is behaving predictably, our main demo guide and the demo-to-real guide cover the next steps. Trading carries a risk of loss, and demo results do not predict real results.

The routine in order

For reference, the sequence that resolves most things, from fastest to slowest:

1. Refresh the page or restart the app.
2. Check the account mode indicator.
3. Open a private browsing window and retry.
4. Clear the site data or the app cache, then log in again.
5. Update the browser or the app to the current version.
6. Try a different device and a different network.
7. Report it to official support with the details listed above.

Work down the list rather than jumping around it, and note what you tried; that record is what makes a support message useful if you get that far.

Run the same routine every time: refresh, check mode, private window, clear cache, update, change device, then report with specifics if it survives all six.