Paper Trading Account Summary: Running a Real Book Without Real Money

Paper Trading Only Works Honestly

Most paper trading is self-deceiving. People log hypothetical trades at the exact price they wanted, ignore slippage and fees, and then wonder why the live results look nothing like the paper ones. A useful paper-trading account simulates fills at realistic prices (bid/ask crosses, not midpoint), tracks cash and margin as a real broker would, and reports P&L and drawdown on the same basis you'll experience in live. Done that way, paper trading is a genuine developmental tool — a place to try a strategy before risking capital.

What the Account Summary Card Shows

The Paper Trading Account Summary card shows starting equity, current equity, cash available, margin used, total P&L (unrealized + realized), YTD return, max drawdown, Sharpe ratio (on daily returns), and number of round-trip trades. A daily equity curve plots the full account history; a fills table shows every paper execution with the assumed price and any modeled slippage. Execution quality is modeled against the actual quote at order entry — not against the intraday VWAP that gamifies performance.

Using It Honestly

Three rules keep paper trading honest. First, don't reset the account after a drawdown — drawdowns are information about your strategy and your psychology; cleaning the slate erases both. Second, treat fills as binding — if the model slipped you 5 cents, that's 5 cents; don't mentally edit it. Third, compare paper P&L distribution to live expectations before you trade live — if your paper Sharpe is 2.5 and the strategy historically tops out at 1.0, something is off in the simulation before you fund it.

Where It Fits

Pair with Paper Trading Positions for the open-risk view, Order Entry for the trade surface, Order History for the audit, and Coach for AI-assisted review of your executions.

Open the Account Summary → /app/paper-trading