Mastering Trading Skills with Paper Trading on TradingView
Paper Trading on TradingView: Simulate and Refine Your Trading Strategies
Welcome to the wonderful world of paper trading. If you’ve ever been on a basketball team, or know someone who has, then you would be familiar with the concept of practices.
Practices ensure proper form, proper technique, and the best teamwork on the court. A new basketball team would never go into a game without getting to know one another and working together both offensively and defensively.
Let’s relate that analogy to financial trading. Paper trading gives new traders the opportunity to practice trading without real money in order to hone their skills.
Just like basketball practice allows players to increase their skills before the big game, paper trading is a way for up-and-coming traders to get their feet wet and explore the trading world without risk.
Let’s dive in a bit further and unpack this concept.
What Is Paper Trading?
Paper trading is not when you take a piece of paper and trade it with the neighbor next to you. Instead, it is the term used for practicing trading before placing real-life trades. The most common way to do this is by utilizing a demonstration account that has no real impact on actual capital.
How to Practice Risk-Free
Practicing paper trading risk-free can be done simply on a number of apps and simulators which we will touch upon a bit later in this article. All that needs done is to sign up for an app that contains paper trading as an option, then start paper trading by entering the paper trading menu on the app you chose.
Keep in mind, there are no risks when paper trading. In other words, paper trading is completely risk-free no matter what app you choose to utilize. No actual capital is involved in the paper trading process. It is essentially like a trading simulator that mimics real-life trading.
Is Paper Trading Worth it?
Paper trading is worth it, even if it costs you some upfront time. Look at it this way, say you are about to invest significant capital into trading. Instead of executing trades knowing nothing about the industry or the app you are using, you instead enter the arena with a fresh perspective on how to trade and get the best results.
Would it be worth it to take a practice test before the big exam? Of course it would, because it equips you to become better and increase your knowledge of the subject. Paper trading is like a prep course leading up to the big exam, as it allows you to test the waters before diving into the deep. Real-life trading should not be taken lightly, so proper preparation is key to success.
Why Paper Trading?
The question often arises, why paper trading? Paper trading is important to utilize, especially if you are new to trading and want to get some practice ahead of time. Paper trading allows investors to trade, risk-free, without worrying about losing capital.
Is paper trading mandatory? No, it is not mandatory. Is it a good idea though? Paper trading is a good idea, especially if you are the type who likes to be prepared for real-life situations. This type of trading gives you are great understanding of what real trading is like, making you ready for when you make your first handful of trades.
Always Test Your Trading Strategy
Trading involves choosing a strategy before executing actual trades. Testing your trading strategy beforehand in a controlled, simulated environment is critical to understanding how the strategy works and if it is the one you want to pursue long-term.
Testing your strategy by paper trading on an app or simulator will allow you to get a good feel for your chosen trading strategy before using actual capital. Testing your trading strategy is always recommended to achieve the best possible outcome from your trading journey.
Best Crypto Paper Trading Apps & Simulators
The following list displays the current best crypto paper trading apps and simulators. Choosing one or multiple of these will give you a top-notch paper trading experience.
- TradingView
The neat thing about TradingView is that you can chart with other traders on the platform. TradingView gives traders a unique community experience that isn’t readily available on other apps. You also get access to tools which allows you to analyze various spot opportunities.
- CryptoHopper
With CryptoHopper, you are able to “spin up” a single simulator for paper trading. Once you activate a paper trading account, you are able to use a single exchange on it. Paper trading with CryptoHopper is simple and straightforward, making it easy to navigate, especially for beginners.
- 3Commas
3Commas is a platform that gives you the ability to paper trade with a subscription plan. If you are brand new to the service, then you get free access to the Pro plan for 72 hours in order to test out paper trading.
- StormGain
StormGain is a powerhouse trading engine that allows for trading on futures markets. You have the ability to perform paper trading without activating a paid plan. 50,000 USDT is used in paper trading accounts (of course, that money is not real) which mimic actual paid accounts on StormGain.
- BitMart
BitMart is a trading platform that integrates TradingView’s charts in order for people to take advantage of over 45 different tech indicators. After getting your account made, you have the option to use a simulated account to acquire a “lay of the land” before committing to the paid version.
- eToro
eToro is a master of all trades (pun intended) since it gives traders the ability to trade both stocks and crypto. The only downside is that only 20 cryptos are available at this time to trade but should be sufficient for the novice trader. Paper trading is available in order to try the platform before trading with real currency.
Of course, this is not an exhaustive list. Many other apps and simulators exist on the market today. Feel free to explore the options above, and also do your own research on possible services that work for you.
Features of TradingView
TradingView is a robust ecosystem for all things trading related. Time to take a closer look at some of the features associated with this app.
-Worldwide market reporting
Information is extremely important, especially when it comes to global financial news. TradingView offers the most recent news and updates from all over the world. This feature provides traders on the platform a one-stop-shop for both trading and news all wrapped into one place.
-Customized Lists
With TradingView, customers can create lists to watch, or watchlists, and tailor them to track stocks, mutual funds, cryptos, and a lot more. Whatever asset a trader wants to keep track of, they can do it by customizing a list that is geared towards their goals.
-Charting
Probably one of the biggest advantages TradingView offers is their advanced charting mechanisms. While paper trading, you have access to dynamic market charts in order to properly analyze various patterns and market trends.
How Do I Use Tradingview’s Paper Trading System?
TradingView’s paper trading system is simple to use. Sign up for an account and use fake money to practice your trades with. Log into the account you just created and start by using the buy/sell options on the webpage. You are given $100,000 to start with in order to trade basically any security offered.
Advantages of TradingView Paper Trading
Multiple advantages exist for those engaging in TradingView paper trading. Below are a handful of the main ones for you:
-Practice leads to success
Traders get to develop their skill sets on a platform that uses fake money instead of real money. Discover all the various features of the site before jumping headfirst into actual trading with your own capital.
-No risk
A huge advantage of TradingView paper trading is the ability to trade without risk. Typically trading involves risk, you can’t get around it. But, paper trading is a special circumstance that provides a risk-free environment to play around in.
-Tools to draw with
Interested in technical analysis? TradingView’s paper trading platform encourages tools that display patterns, geometric forms, trends, annotations, and lines to get a good feel for the market.
-Thousands of Indicators
How many indicators does a single trader need? A lot. TradingView offers the top 100 pre-built indicators, in addition to 100,000+ community built ones. These indicators look at recent patterns and trends to help traders in their decision making.
Disadvantages Of Virtual Trading
Even though there are advantages to virtual trading (paper trading), there are also disadvantages to discuss. Below are a couple of them to be aware of:
-Not the exact same as real trading
Paper trading is extremely close to real-world trading, but isn’t quite the same. There are minor discrepancies between them such as commissions, slippage, and wide spreads that aren’t necessarily displayed accurately.
-Minimal exposure to emotions
In other words, you don’t sweat the same as you would in real-life trading with paper trading. Since the money technically isn’t actual cash, you don’t feel the same type of pressure when performing an actual trade. It’s hard to build up tough skin while paper trading.
-Not committing
When engaging in paper trading, you are essentially in trial mode. You haven’t fully committed yourself to a paid account which involves real money and real knowledge to put into practice. Basically, you aren’t able to put your money where your mouth is quite yet and not committed to the process as much in the beginning.
Paper Trading vs. Regular Trading
Paper trading, although it may seem like real trading, it isn’t. No real money, or capital, is at risk, therefore emotions tend not to come into the picture as much. Paper trading is beneficial, especially for newcomers to the trading space, because it gives them a good idea of what actual trading will be like before they jump in with both feet.
Regular trading is real-life trading that involves actual risk to your capital. When a trader reaches this level of trading, they must be careful to closely monitor what they are doing or else they could lose out on money they don’t want to lose. Regular trading is the end goal though, since staying with paper trading won’t get you ahead financially.
Analyze Your Paper Trading
While paper trading, you will experience good trades and bad trades. It is a good thing to experience both, as you can learn from your mistakes, and track all of your transactions. Learn from what you did wrong and use that as fuel for future trades.
Always analyze your trades either at the end of the day, or the end of the week, depending on how much time you have at your disposal. Keeping track of your trades, perhaps in an excel spreadsheet, will help you in your journey towards trading mastery.
Conclusion
Paper trading is an excellent way to get your feet wet and practice trading before it really counts. It is similar to taking a practice test before the big exam, as it gives you exposure to what the test will actually look like, and you can practice inputting answers like you would in an actual test.
Trading is one of those skill sets that may take a while to learn. Don’t get discouraged if you don’t understand much at first. Everyone starts as a beginner. Keep practicing a little bit each day, and don’t give up even when it doesn’t make sense. Reach out to TradingView support if you need further help in this area.
Happy trading!
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Author:
Ken Melendez
✍️ Head of Content @ Cindicator
📊 Certified Bitcoin Professional
🔐 Blockchain Chamber - Chapter President
Who is Cindicator?
Cindicator is a world-wide team of individuals with expertise in math, data science, quant trading, and finances, working together with one collective mind. Founded in 2015, Cindicator builds predictive analytics by merging collective intelligence and machine learning models. Stoic AI is the company’s flagship product that offers automated trading strategies for cryptocurrency investors. Join us on Telegram or Twitter to stay in touch.
Disclaimer
Information in the article does not, nor does it purport to, constitute any form of professional investment advice, recommendation, or independent analysis.