Hi Ben

No you dont need to put any money in to get the Demo account. Set the volume at 0.01. I use Oanda or FX pro, they seem to be good companies. Go for the Meta Trader 4 platform. Use You Tube to shown you how it works. You can change the screen colours tec by going into system properties.
Use candlesticks and look up price action strategy for change of trend, free info on You Tube, no need to pay.
Concentrate on the 4 hour charts. A big heads up, play with the equidistant channel ( indicator, top bar) after putting on the zig zag free tool on the meta trader system.
The information I have given you will save you months of searching and wasted time and you will start to make a profit.
John Burford forex videos on You Tube very informative.
I have been suffering from a long term, lung infection, which now seems to be on the mend, so I have not gone back to my blog. Hopefully I will be blogging again next week.
Let me know how you get on Ben