📄 Paper Trader - User Guide

Test your strategy with live market data without risking real capital. Paper trading is the final validation step before going live.

📋 Table of Contents

1. Overview

🎯 What is Paper Trading?

Paper Trading is the final validation step before going live. Unlike backtesting (historical data) or simulation (replayed data), paper trading connects to live market data and executes your strategy in real-time-without risking real capital.

Your Strategy Journey:

1. Strategy Builder - Create your strategy
2. Backtesting Lab - Quick historical validation
3. Trading Simulator - Stress testing
4. Paper Trader - Live data validation ← You are here
5. Live Trading - Real money

Key Features:

• 📡 Live Data Feed - Real-time market data from exchanges
• 🤖 Automated Execution - Strategy runs and trades automatically
• 🌙 Background Execution - Sessions run 24/7 without browser open
• 🖐️ Manual Orders - Place orders manually during session
• 🔥 Warmup Period - Loads indicator history before trading
• 🎲 Execution Realism - Latency, market impact, partial fills
• 📊 Live Telemetry - Monitor runner health and performance
• 💚 Bot Health Monitoring - Active/Stalled status in Dashboard
• ⏱️ Session Lifecycle - Tier-based duration limits (7-90 days)

🔄 Paper Trading vs Other Tools

2. Quick Start

Get Started in 5 Steps:

1. Navigate - Dashboard → Platform → Paper Trader
2. Select Strategy - Choose from your saved strategies
3. Choose Market - Pick provider, symbol, and timeframe
4. Configure Settings - Set capital, commission, and rules
5. Click Start - Wait for warmup, then watch live trading!

💡 Important: Paper trading sessions run 24/7 in the background. You can close your browser and check back anytime!

3. Interface Overview

Left Panel (Configuration):

1. Strategy Selection - Load from library or Strategy Builder
2. Market Selection - Choose symbol and timeframe
3. Test Settings - Capital, fees, trading rules
4. Execution Realism - Latency, slippage, market impact
5. Actions & Templates - Start, stop, save configurations

Right Panel (Active Bots):

1. Running Sessions - List of all active paper trading bots
2. Health Status - Active/Stalled indicators
3. Quick Controls - Stop, view details for each bot
4. Live Stats - Current P&L and positions

Main Content:

1. Runner Telemetry - Warmup status, execution latency
2. Portfolio Stats - Live equity, P&L, positions, cash
3. Live Execution - Open positions and pending orders
4. Equity Curve - Live-updating performance chart
5. Trade List - All executed trades with details

4. Strategy Selection

📋 Loading Your Strategy

✅ Strategy Requirements

⚠️ Important: Paper trading is the final step. Always backtest and simulate your strategy first!

📊 Warmup Requirements

Each strategy has a warmup period based on its indicators:

💡 The system automatically calculates the maximum warmup needed.

5. Market Selection

Choose Your Market:

1. Select Provider - Binance (crypto), TwelveData (stocks/forex), or Demo
2. Search Symbol - Type to find your trading pair
3. Pick Timeframe - 1m, 5m, 15m, 1h, 4h, 1d

Available Data Providers:

⏱️ Recommended Timeframes

💡 Tip: For paper trading, use the same timeframe you plan to use in live trading.

6. Test Settings

Core Configuration:

1. Capital Settings - Initial portfolio size and currency
2. Position Sizing - Fixed amount, % of equity, or risk-based
3. Trading Rules - Max positions, shorting, daily trade limits

💰 Capital Recommendations

💱 Multi-Currency Support: Paper trading sessions run in your configured currency. When viewing results in the Dashboard, all P&L values are automatically converted to your profile's display currency using live FX rates. This allows you to compare performance across different currency-denominated strategies.

📏 Position Sizing Options

🔢 Trading Rules

7. Execution Realism

Model Real-World Trading Conditions:

⚡ Network Latency - Delay between order and execution (10-500ms) 📊 Order Book & Liquidity - Partial fills and order rejections 📈 Market Impact - Large orders move prices 📉 Dynamic Slippage - Slippage increases during volatility

⚡ Network Latency

💡 Retail traders typically see 50-200ms latency.

📊 Order Book & Liquidity

📈 Market Impact

📉 Dynamic Slippage

Slippage increases during volatile periods:

Actual Slippage = Base Slippage × Volatility × Multiplier

8. Starting Paper Trading

Launch Process:

1. Click Start button
2. System validates configuration and creates session
3. Connects to live data feed
4. Begins warmup period (loading indicator history)
5. Trading starts automatically after warmup
6. Session runs 24/7 in background

Session States: Idle → Initializing → Warmup → Running → Paused/Stopped

🎨 Status Indicators

9. Understanding Warmup

What is Warmup?

Before trading starts, indicators need historical data to calculate. For example, a 200-period SMA needs 200 candles of history. This is the warmup period.

Warmup Examples:

• SMA(50): Needs 50 candles
• SMA(200): Needs 200 candles
• RSI(14): Needs 14 candles
• MACD(12,26,9): Needs 35 candles

💡 The system automatically calculates the maximum warmup needed based on your indicators

⏱️ Warmup Duration

⚠️ During Warmup

💡 Tip: Choose timeframes wisely. 5m charts need hours of warmup, while 1d charts need months of historical data.

10. Live Portfolio Monitoring

Real-Time Stats:

• Equity - Total portfolio value
• Cash - Available and reserved cash
• P&L - Open, realized, and total profit/loss
• Positions - Number of open positions
• Orders - Pending orders count
• Trades - Total executed trades
• Win Rate - Percentage of profitable trades

📈 Live Positions Panel

📋 Pending Orders

11. Placing Manual Orders

Manual Order Entry:

During a live session, you can place orders manually:

1. Select order type (Market, Limit, Stop-Loss, Take-Profit)
2. Choose side (Buy/Sell)
3. Enter quantity
4. Set price (if limit order)
5. Place order

⚠️ Orders are blocked during warmup (returns error until warmup completes)

📝 Order Types

🔒 Order Security

⚠️ Orders are blocked during warmup (HTTP 425 Too Early)

12. Runner Telemetry

Monitor Runner Health:

• 🔥 Warmup Status - Indicator initialization progress
• ⚡ Execution Latency - Order execution delay
• 📉 Order Drops - Orders dropped due to liquidity issues
• 🔄 Cooldown Timer - Time after restart before trading

📊 Telemetry Metrics

⚠️ Warning Signs

🔄 Restart Cooldown

If the runner crashes and restarts, a cooldown prevents thrashing:

13. Background Execution

Sessions Run 24/7:

Paper trading sessions continue running on the server even when you close your browser, log out, or shut down your computer. This ensures your strategy trades exactly as it would in live markets.

How It Works:

• Server checks for new candles every minute (cron tick)
• Fetches all closed candles since last processed
• Runs your strategy logic on new candles
• Executes trades automatically
• Saves positions, orders, metrics to database
• Updates heartbeat timestamp for health tracking

Benefits:

• 🌙 True 24/7 Trading - Sessions run during sleep, work, weekends
• 📱 Mobile Friendly - Check in from phone, no need to stay online
• ⚡ No Browser Overhead - Server is faster and more reliable
• 🔄 Automatic Recovery - Server restarts don't lose session state
• 📊 Complete History - Every trade captured, even offline hours
• 💚 Health Monitoring - Dashboard shows if bot is active or stalled

🛡️ Reliability Features

📊 Monitoring Background Activity

You can verify background execution is working:

1. Dashboard Bot Health Badge: Shows "Active" if recent heartbeat detected
2. Session Logs: Filter by source: market_data to see candle ingestion
3. Last Heartbeat Time: Visible in bot details (should be < 2-3 minutes old)
4. Trade Timestamps: Check if trades occurred while you were offline

14. Active Bots Sidebar

Quick Access to Running Sessions:

The Active Bots Sidebar (right side) shows all your running paper trading sessions with:

• Symbol and timeframe
• Health badge (Active/Stalled/Warmup)
• Current P&L
• Open positions count
• Session duration and expiry countdown
• Quick actions (View Details, Stop)

📋 Bot Card Information

Each active bot shows:

💚 Health Status Indicators

🎯 Quick Actions

📱 Sidebar States

15. Dashboard Bot Monitoring

Dashboard Integration:

All your paper trading sessions are visible in Dashboard → Bots with comprehensive monitoring:

Bot Cards Show:

• Symbol, timeframe, provider
• Health badge with last heartbeat time
• Current P&L in your display currency
• Positions, trades, win rate
• Running time and expiry countdown
• Quick actions (View Details, Stop, Export)

Bot Details Panel: Click any bot card to see:

• Live positions and pending orders
• Recent trades with entry/exit details
• Performance metrics and equity curve
• Session logs (market data, trades, errors)
• Strategy configuration
• Stop/export controls

💚 Health Monitoring

Active Status (Green):

• Last heartbeat within 2-3 minutes
• Candles being processed regularly
• No stuck indicators or errors

Stalled Status (Yellow):

• Last heartbeat > 3 minutes ago
• Possible causes:
  • Market closed (weekends for stocks)
  • Data provider downtime
  • Server cron issue
• Action: Check session logs for errors

Expired Status (Red):

• Session reached max duration limit
• Automatically stopped by server
• Action: Review results, start new session if needed

🔍 Session Logs

Filter logs by type:

🎯 Quick Actions from Dashboard

16. Session Lifecycle

Duration Limits by Tier:

Automatic Expiry:

When a session reaches its maximum duration:

• Session automatically stopped
• All positions closed at market
• Pending orders cancelled
• Results saved permanently
• Status changed to "expired"

Health Monitoring:

• Heartbeat updates every minute
• Active: Last heartbeat < 3 minutes ago
• Stalled: Last heartbeat > 3 minutes (check logs)
• Cleanup: Sessions with no heartbeat >6 hours auto-stopped

17. Session Controls

⏯️ Controlling Your Session

⏸️ Pause vs Stop

18. Results Analysis

Performance Summary:

Returns:

• Total Return %
• Sharpe Ratio (risk-adjusted return)
• Sortino Ratio (downside risk)

Risk:

• Max Drawdown %
• Volatility

Trading:

• Total Trades
• Win Rate %
• Profit Factor
• Average Trade

📈 Key Metrics

📈 Available Charts

💾 Exporting Results

19. Templates

💾 Saving Configuration Templates

📁 Example Templates

20. Tips & Best Practices

Pro Tips:

✅ Match Your Live Trading Plan - Use same capital, timeframe, and rules as you plan for live ✅ Run for Meaningful Duration - At least 1-2 weeks for day trading, 1-3 months for swing ✅ Track Everything - Export results regularly, keep a trading journal ✅ Test Different Conditions - High/low volatility, trending/ranging markets ✅ Use Realistic Settings - Enable latency, slippage, market impact ✅ Monitor Health Status - Check Dashboard regularly to ensure bot is active

Common Mistakes:

❌ Skipping warmup - Wait for warmup to complete before expecting trades ❌ Ignoring realism - Results too optimistic without realistic execution settings ❌ Too short duration - Need weeks of data, not hours, for statistical significance ❌ Different settings than live - Can't compare if settings don't match ❌ Over-optimizing - Accept reasonable performance, don't curve-fit

Success Criteria Before Going Live:

• Win Rate > 50%
• Profit Factor > 1.5
• Max Drawdown < 10% of capital
• Sharpe Ratio > 1.0
• Paper Trading Duration > 2 weeks
• Emotionally comfortable with the trades

21. FAQ

Do sessions really run 24/7 without my browser? Yes! Server processes new candles every minute, even when you're offline. Check Dashboard for live updates anytime.

How do I know my bot is still running when I'm away? Check the health badge in Dashboard. "Active" (green) means last heartbeat was less than 3 minutes ago.

What if I want to stop a session remotely? Use Dashboard on mobile/any device. Each bot card has a "Stop" button.

How long can a session run continuously? Depends on tier: Free (7 days), PRO (14 days), PRO_PLUS (30 days), ENTERPRISE (90 days).

How long should I paper trade before going live? At least 2 weeks for day trading, 1-3 months for swing trading.

Why can't I place orders during warmup? Indicators need historical data first. Trading during warmup could produce incorrect signals.

What happens if I close my browser? Session continues running server-side. Reconnect anytime to see updated results.

Why are results different from backtesting? Paper trading uses live data and execution realism. Results should be slightly worse than idealized backtesting.

Why does my bot show "Stalled" status? No heartbeat for >3 minutes. Common causes: market closed (weekends), data provider downtime. Check session logs.

22. Related Guides

Your Trading Journey:

1. Strategy Builder - Create your strategy
2. Backtesting Lab - Quick historical validation
3. Trading Simulator - Stress testing
4. Paper Trader - Live data validation ← You are here
5. Dashboard - Platform navigation

🆘 Need Help?

• In-app support: Press Ctrl + ?
• Email: support@flytradr.com
• Documentation: docs.flytradr.com

Validate your strategy with live data before risking real capital! 📄