4 min read · educational content, not investment advice
Paper trading gets dismissed because "it is not real". That is true, and it is also the point: it is the cheapest place to fix process.
What it is genuinely good for
Learning the mechanics of your platform without paying tuition.
Testing whether you actually follow your own rules when there is nothing at stake.
Building the journal habit before it costs anything.
What it cannot teach
It cannot teach you how you behave when the money is real.
The absence of fear changes decisions. Someone who is disciplined with $25,000 of simulated cash can be a completely different trader with $2,500 of rent money. Treat paper results as evidence about your process, never as a forecast of your returns.
How to make it useful
Use the same size rules you would use with real money — 1% risk, stops defined before entry.
Log every simulated trade the same way. The habit is the asset.
Set a clear graduation rule: e.g. 30 logged trades with no off-plan entries, then go live small.
Go live at half your simulated size. Emotion scales faster than capital.
Try it in the paper account — and when you are ready to look at the numbers, the review page reads the same journal.