Paper vs live trading and brokers

Paper vs live at a glance

Both modes run the same Portfolio forward on the same live data. What differs is where the orders go, where the capital comes from, and whether a broker is involved.

The rest of this page expands each row.

Paper trading

A paper account runs its Portfolio forward on live data and places simulated orders. Nothing reaches a broker and no capital is at risk. This is the forward-validation path: you watch how the Portfolio would trade in real time, against real quotes, without committing money.

Initial capital is user-defined. You set the starting figure when you create the account, and the account sizes its positions against it exactly as a backtest sizes against its own initial capital.

The default account created for you at signup is a paper account. You can create as many more as you want.

Live trading

A live account runs its Portfolio forward on live data and places real orders with real capital, executed through a linked broker account. The orders it generates are the same orders a paper account would generate from the same Portfolio. The difference is that they go to the broker and fill against real money.

Initial capital is read from the broker account at creation. You do not type it. Whatever balance the broker reports becomes the account's starting capital, and every position it opens is sized against that figure.

How many accounts you can have

You can create many paper accounts freely, with no broker involved. You can also create many live accounts, but each live account requires its own linked broker account. The relationship is one-to-one: one live account, one broker account, no sharing.

At signup the platform auto-creates one default paper account for you. It starts empty: no Portfolio attached, and in the Stopped state. It becomes active only once you attach a Portfolio and start it.

Initial capital by mode

Initial capital is set once, at account creation, and the mode decides how:

• Paper. You set it. Type the starting figure when you create the account.
• Live. Read from the broker account at creation.

After creation the figure does not change on its own. It moves only through ledger events such as deposits and withdrawals. There is no field to edit initial capital directly after the account exists. A live account's starting capital comes from the linked broker account, not from a value you type, so the account starts from whatever balance the broker reports.

Brokers (in progress)

Linking a broker account is what makes a live account possible. It is where a live account's orders are sent and where its capital is read from. Without a linked broker, an account can only run in paper mode.

Broker support is in progress. Backtest.ai is in talks with several brokers to enable live execution. Paper trading needs none of this and works independently of any broker relationship.