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Paper Trading

In short

Simulated trading with fake money — practice without real risk

Paper trading lets you practice investing with imaginary money. All the real market data, all the real mechanics, but no real money at stake. Perfect for testing strategies before risking your actual savings.

Paper trading simulates real trading using live market prices without actual money. It's used to backtest strategies, practice execution, and build confidence. Limitation: real trading involves psychological pressures paper trading can't replicate.

Related concepts

  • Live Trading — Live trading uses your real money with a real broker. Unlike paper trading, every order affects your actual portfolio balance. Requires a connected broker account and compliance checks.
  • Order Status — After placing an order, it goes through stages: pending (just submitted), open (waiting to fill), partial (partly filled), filled (complete), or cancelled. You can monitor these in your order history.
  • Buying Power — Buying power is how much you can trade with right now. In a cash account, it's your available cash. In a margin account, it can be 2× your cash because the broker lends you money to buy more.
  • Broker Integration — Broker integration lets you connect your real brokerage account (like Trading212) to the platform via SnapTrade. Once connected, you can see your live positions and execute trades directly from Strategy Investor.