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 connects your brokerage account to Strategy Investor, so you can track your positions here and, where your connection supports it, place orders.