Paper trading

Paper trading means trading with virtual money on live market prices. Orders are simulated instead of being sent to an exchange, while the account tracks positions, fees and results as if they were real.

Example

A paper agent starts with $10,000 of virtual money. BTC falls 5.3% overnight, and the agent's rule buys $50 of BTC at the live price, paying the exchange's fee. Three days later BTC is 4% higher and the agent sells. You read both trades, and the days it stayed out, in its decision log. This is an illustrative example, not a real result.

Why it matters

A backtest shows how rules did in the past. Paper trading shows how they behave in today's market, in real time, without risking money: how often they trade, whether they do what you meant, and what fees they pay. Its limits are real fills, which can be worse than simulated ones in fast markets, and real emotions. That is why a small live start comes next.

How TradeCorgi uses it

Every agent starts on paper, on every plan, and every edit to a live strategy creates a new version that starts on paper again. The free Sandbox plan runs one paper agent with $10,000 of virtual money, or the local equivalent. Paper trades pay the exchange's fee, so paper results are after costs.