Paper trading account
A paper trading account is a broker-hosted account that accepts orders and reports fills without moving real money, typically on a separate server (a paper plant) from live accounts. It lets a trader exercise the order path and the platform, while its fills remain simulated by the broker rather than matched at the exchange.
Senzoukria · Glossary · Updated September 2026
Paper, live and local simulation
Three environments are often called "demo" interchangeably, and they differ in who simulates the fill. In a paper account, the broker's server accepts the order and decides the fill using its own rules; the market data may be live, but the order never reaches the exchange. In a live account, the exchange matches the order. In a local simulation, the trading software itself decides the fill on the machine, with no broker involvement at all.
- Paper account: broker server, broker fill rules, often live data, separate credentials or plant.
- Live account: exchange matching, real queue position, real fees.
- Local simulated account: the application's own evaluation model, no orders sent anywhere.
What paper fills can and cannot show
A paper fill confirms that the order path works: routing, order types, position reporting and the platform's handling of rejects. It cannot show queue position, partial fills at a resting limit, or slippage under stress, because the broker's simulator applies its own policy. A limit touched by an execution is not proof that your own order would have filled. Treat paper results as a test of the process, not as a measure of the strategy.
In Senzoukria
On the Rithmic direct source, paper and live plants are separate; the guided tour says so and adds that the feed needs a market-data entitlement on that plant. A paper login therefore has its own system name and its own data rights, and a free Rithmic demo trial cannot connect because the R | Protocol API is not offered to demo accounts. The Trading screen exposes manual order entry on supported connections, and the optional strategy autopilot can submit orders only after explicit arming with risk settings and a STOP control. Prop-firm evaluations run on paper-style accounts too; the prop firm simulation in the results space applies published rulebooks to a backtest's trades rather than connecting to a firm's server.
Common mistakes
- Using paper fill quality to estimate live expectancy.
- Assuming a paper account carries the same market-data entitlements as the live one on the same login.
- Confusing a free demo trial with a paper account; the trial may be excluded from API access.
- Arming automation on a paper account and forgetting that the same switch would reach a live account if the connection changes.
Related
- Rithmic footprint software checklist
- Orderflow software and prop firm rules
- Simulated account
- Demo account and free trial
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Frequently asked questions
- Is paper trading the same as a simulated account in the software?
- No. A paper account lives on the broker's server and requires credentials and a connection; the broker decides the fills. A simulated account in the application is local, needs no broker and places no orders at all. Both are useful for different tests: the first for the order path, the second for strategy logic.
- Do paper accounts include real-time data?
- Often, but it is an entitlement on that plant, not a property of paper accounts in general. Some paper environments serve delayed or limited data. Check the market-data rights of the paper login separately from those of the live login.
- Can a prop-firm evaluation account be used as a paper account?
- Evaluation accounts are broker-hosted simulated accounts with rules attached. Whether a third-party application may connect to them, and whether automation is allowed, is a firm-by-firm question. Chart access alone is not permission for trading or automation.