Paper Trading

Hello All!

I would appreciate any advice on a quality platform for virtual trading/ paper trading. I see you can register on almost every broker website for a free £100,000. I am keen to simulate the day trading experience as close as possible.

I know you are excluding the emotions here, but at least I can measure for say 3 months what I would be doing with 30k (win or lose).

I look forward to any suggestions.

Cheers
Swiss2004

i would always rather trade really small than paper trade. But either way, many people seem to reccomend Oanda when they're doing this sort of thing starting out.

Hope that helps

Good luck

GJ

Cannot really suggest any good platforms, as I don't really think there is a lot of diffeence between one platform or another with regards to simulated trading. I would advise that if you know what it is you want to trade and have an idea of who you want to trade with, then go with their simulator as you will get used to the quirks of their platform. One word of caution on paper trading on a simulated platform, I have noticed that fills can be a long way from current inside bids and asks, the major problem with this for what you are trying to do is that in a fast moving market you will get into, and out of trades at prices, that in reality you could never achieve, for example while trading on cybertraders simulator I would place a limit order at say .55, watching closely I see that price has moved beyond me to say the area of .65/.66 bid/ask, and bing I get filled at .55. Clearly in realtime I should not be in this trade. The main reason for this is that most simulated platforms are not designed to test trading strategies etc but simply to familiarise you with using the features of the platform. For me paper trading to test a strategy was better done studying the price and volume action and determining if it was reasonable to assume that I would have got in and out at the prices specified.
Something to consider.

Thanks for the advice guys, I can see the value in trading small, this also lets you experience parting with money as well as testing strategies.
Its easy to buy and short 50K of fantasy money and still not get a true flavour of trading.
I guess the mind set should be much the same as trading paper compared to real cash flow as long as you believe in your strategy and principles.

Swiss2004

My own opinion is that paper trading doesn't teach you much....others may disagree. There is a danger that it can give you a false scence of security if it goes really well. If you want to test strategies then one should back test. If you want to lean/feel what its like to trade then trade real money in a small amount. Having said that I'll contradict myself now. When I backtest I do try and pretend I am really trading what I'm backtesting and I note down my feelings with the trades. I'm trying to see if I could really trade it in real life given the ups and downs. After a few hours of doing this I feel really mentally exhausted and I've normally given up a few times thinking the system stinks.

Would agree up to a point Tufty, however once you know what it feels like to trade and you are simply strategy testing I find paper trading works fine, just don't use a simulator to do it, not a fan of backtesting. Trading in hindsight is easy.

With training, time and patience, paper trade futures can turn the unskilled novice into an active, futures-educated investor. With paper trade futures your losses are only a matter of pretend figures.. as are your profits. Once you have confidence in your abilities, it might be time to abandon the paper trade futures and step into the genuine futures trading markets.
http://www.infinitybrokerage.com/fut....aspx?ref=JBAR

I paper trade on a simulator because it keeps me honest. My clicks are recorded. It provides an easy record for me to journal. It is a valuable tool for the lesson I am currently working on: Now that I can recognize certain setups and patterns in hindsight, can I recognize them in real time, and act at the appropriate moment? If not, then it is back to the drawing board to further define my setup and action. My goal is to pull the trigger when the plan says to, so if I'm looking at the simulator, and I don't know what to do (sit tight, enter,or get out), then that tells me my plan is incomplete.

I am amazed at how much b.s. I can generate and swallow if I don't simulate and journal. The simulator doesn't leave any wiggle room. Yes, I'm getting the good setups and trades now, but I am still entering too often, and the simulator shows just how the commisions and spread grind down the stake. Without the simulator and the journal,I tend to discount the little losers and accentuate the larger gainers. I rarely look at the $$ value while I'm trading - just the chart position. Can't tell you how many times I ended the day thinking I was up a decent amount, when in fact the simulator showed the truth - I was break even or down a little.

For me, simulator = stake preservation. There is no reason for me to put money on the line until my plan is generating regular gains and very small draw downs on paper. You don't have to win big in this game, but you have to gain consistently -compounding and increasing position size will take care of the money.

JO