Feature
Paper Trading with Virtual Money on Charts
TradingLead paper trading lets you place simulated buy and sell orders with a virtual balance, either on historical candles from a paused chart replay or forward on live 1-240 minute charts. It supports market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders, stop-loss, target, trailing protection, partial closes and configurable costs. No real broker orders are ever sent.
What it does
Paper trading in TradingLead lets you practise entries, exits and risk management with virtual money on the same charts you use for analysis. It is useful when you are learning to trade Nifty, Bank Nifty or individual NSE/BSE stocks. It also suits rehearsing a strategy's rules by hand, or checking how a backtested idea behaves on new candles, all without putting capital at risk.
There are three ways to paper trade:
- Replay practice: pause the chart's bar replay at any past date and trade forward as candles are revealed.
- Backtest replay: branch from a completed backtest and replay its frozen candles, either manually or (for Python strategies) letting the strategy act step by step.
- Forward paper: from a completed backtest, paper trade on live 1–240 minute candles as they close.
How it works
Paper trading uses the same simulation engine and ledger as backtesting. Orders, fills, fees and balances are tracked per session, and trades appear on the chart with the same arrows, labels and position lines as backtests. The Paper Trading tab and a draggable replay toolbar give you Buy/Sell, account and order controls.
In replay practice, the session starts flat at the candle where you paused, with up to 300 preceding candles visible. When you step or play forward, more closed candles are fetched from the same feed in bounded pages, so a session can continue well past its starting window. A Back action can undo recent steps (up to 20 checkpoints).
Forward paper processes only closed candles. A forming candle is never treated as finished. If ticks go stale, the feed disconnects or candles are missed, the clock pauses rather than guessing. You can resume or explicitly catch up on missed candles.
Key capabilities
- Order types: market, limit, stop and stop-limit entries and exits; cancel or replace pending orders.
- Protection: stop-loss, target and trailing stop on open positions; full or partial closes.
- Costs and assumptions: starting balance, optional shorting, commission and slippage under Advanced settings.
- Multi-stock replay: one session can share balance and clock across up to ten instruments from the same feed.
- On-chart trading: entry/exit labels, open-position price, quantity and P&L lines, and editable SL/TP levels.
- Analytics: the same win rate, drawdown and P&L analytics as backtests where a single price series is available.
- Saved sessions: manage, archive and resume sessions; a stopped session can be archived to the saved-run library.
- Contests: separate multiplayer Trading Contests (
tradinglead.in/contests) with equal virtual INR funds and up to 100 participants. Free practice with no real orders or prizes.
How to use it
- Open Charts, choose a symbol and start Bar Replay; pause at your starting date.
- Choose New session in the Paper Trading tab or replay toolbar and set a starting balance.
- Place Buy or Sell orders and attach a stop-loss and target.
- Use Next or Play to reveal candles; playback can pause automatically when an order fills.
- Review the account summary, trade ledger and analytics. Save the session if you want to keep it.
A detailed walkthrough is in Paper trade without risk.
Limitations
- Paper trading is a simulation. It does not place broker orders, and practice results don't guarantee future live results.
- Fills are modelled on candles: manual replay market orders fill at the current revealed close, and other orders wait for later candles. Real execution can differ.
- Forward paper requires a live 1–240 minute chart, isn't supported on daily or higher intervals, and doesn't run when the page is closed.
- Margin, lot sizes and fees are assumptions you set, not broker rules. Taxes are not modelled.
- There is no reset button. Start a new session for a fresh balance; the old one keeps its slot until you remove it.
- Available symbols, intervals and history depend on the connected data feed.
Access
Paper trading is part of the main TradingLead workspace (5-day free trial, then subscription; see pricing). Contests require sign-in.
Steps
- Open /charts and start Bar Replay, then pause at the date you want to begin.
- Open the Paper Trading tab or replay toolbar and choose New session.
- Set a starting balance (and optionally shorting and costs under Advanced settings).
- Place Buy or Sell orders, add stop-loss/target, and step or play forward.
- Review the account, trade ledger and analytics, then save the session if you want to keep it.
Limitations
- Simulation only: no real orders, and results do not reflect real exchange fills, liquidity, margin or taxes.
- Forward paper needs a fresh live 1-240 minute chart and does not run after the page is closed; reload restores it paused.
- Fills are candle-level; manual replay market orders fill at the current revealed close.
- There is no account-reset button; start a new session for a fresh balance.
- Up to three active sessions/runs are stored per account; remove or archive one to start another when full.
- Market data and history depend on the connected feed.
Frequently asked questions
- Does TradingLead paper trading use real money?
- No. Paper trading uses a virtual balance you choose. TradingLead's backtesting and paper engine has no broker-order client, so no real orders are placed.
- Can I paper trade on past market data?
- Yes. Pause the chart's bar replay at any historical point and start a new paper session. You trade as candles are revealed one step at a time, and later candles stay hidden until you move forward.
- Can I paper trade live markets?
- Yes, from a completed backtest, on fresh live 1-240 minute charts. It processes closed candles only, pauses if data becomes stale, and does not keep running after you close the page. Daily and higher intervals are not supported for forward paper.
- Can I trade several stocks in one paper session?
- A manual replay practice session can share one virtual balance and clock across up to ten instruments from the same data feed, with one net position per instrument.
- Will my paper results match real trading?
- Not exactly. Fills are modelled at candle level with the costs and slippage you set. Real fills, liquidity, margin and taxes can differ, so treat paper results as practice, not proof.
- Are there paper-trading contests?
- Signed-in users can join Trading Contests at /contests. They use scheduled live windows, equal virtual INR funds and up to 100 participants. They are free practice with no real orders and no prizes.
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