In brief
- Configurable initial virtual capital.
- Market, limit, stop orders in real time.
- P&L, win rate, drawdown, Sharpe automatically computed.
- Order history and equity-curve charts.
- No real risk, but real data.
In depth
What it's really for
Paper trading is often underestimated. It's seen as "just practice", but it's actually the most powerful tool to separate idea from execution. A trading idea can be theoretically correct and practically disastrous because you lack the discipline to respect stops, or because you always enter late.
With paper trading you can:
- Test a strategy for a few weeks before risking real capital.
- Train discipline: respect stop losses and take profits as if they were real.
- Measure performance objectively, without selective memory.
- Compete with other traders on the leaderboard (when enabled).
How to open a position
- Pick an asset from global search.
- Hit "Open position" or use the shortcut.
- Select: direction (long/short), size (in dollars or % of capital), order type (market/limit/stop), optional TP/SL.
- Confirm.
The order is filled at real market prices, with a realistic spread and slippage simulation for sizable orders. No magic: if you get great results in paper, you're likely to get them in real too.
Available metrics
For each paper-trading account you see:
- Equity curve — capital over time.
- Win rate — percentage of profitable trades.
- Average win / average loss — ratio of average gain to average loss.
- Profit factor — total gained / total lost.
- Max drawdown — largest peak-to-trough decline.
- Sharpe ratio — risk-adjusted return.
These metrics are more important than absolute profit. A +30% with 70% drawdown is a disaster. A +8% with 5% drawdown is excellent.
Separation from real portfolio
Paper-trading accounts are completely separate from the real portfolio: they don't influence each other, don't add up, don't pollute statistics. You can have multiple parallel paper accounts (e.g. "strategy A", "strategy B") to compare different approaches.
Common beginner mistakes
- Starting with too much leverage — if you use 10x in paper, you're building dangerous habits.
- Not respecting stops — if you don't respect stops in paper, you'll always break them in real.
- Changing strategy every two days — paper is for testing an approach, not swinging.
- Being fooled by profits — 3 winning trades aren't a strategy. You need 50+ trades to evaluate.
How long to paper-trade before going real
There's no fixed rule, but we recommend:
- At least 50 completed trades with the same strategy.
- Positive and stable metrics for at least 2–3 weeks.
- Max drawdown you could emotionally sustain on real capital.
If these conditions aren't met, keep doing paper. No rush.
Next step
Check out the leaderboard to compare your performance with other community traders.