Paper Trading
Paper trading lets you run the same bot strategies against live mainnet market data without connecting an exchange key or sending a real order.
What this is
Each user has one virtual account that starts with 10,000 USDT . Open Dashboard → Profile → Paper trading to view its balances, virtual-account activity, plan limit, and reset controls.
Paper is an execution mode of a bot, not an exchange environment. Select Paper in the bot editor; then choose Binance or Bybit and Spot or Futures only to select the live market data source. You do not need an API key.
Before you start
- Verify your email and pass the normal backtest gate before starting a bot.
- Check the paper-bot limit shown in the Paper trading tab. The standard limits are Free: 1, Basic: 10, Pro: unlimited.
- Use a valid mainnet symbol, such as BTCUSDT .
- Paper trading has no platform performance fee. Virtual exchange fees and the execution model are still included.
How fills are simulated
- A buy uses the best available ask ; a sell uses the best available bid .
- The platform applies a fixed adverse slippage. The default is 5 basis points (0.05%).
- Market orders fill immediately at that simulated price.
- Limit orders stay open until the simulated price crosses the limit. There are no partial fills, queue position, or depth-of-book simulation.
- Futures funding is recorded from mainnet funding settlements while a paper futures position is open.
This makes Paper useful for workflow and strategy validation, but it cannot reproduce every exchange fill, latency, or liquidity outcome.
Step by step
1. Create a Paper bot
Open Bots , create or edit a bot, and select Paper under Execution mode . Choose the exchange and market type, then finish the usual symbol, sizing, entry, exit, and risk settings.
You can switch an existing bot between Paper and Exchange only while it is stopped and has no open position or pending order.
2. Run the backtest and start the bot
Run a backtest for the exact configuration. After the usual email-verification and backtest checks pass, start the bot. Paper starts do not require an available billing balance or an exchange account.
3. Use Base Accumulation on spot when needed
Base Accumulation sells a virtual base asset first and buys it back later. Before starting this kind of spot bot, open Profile → Paper trading and convert virtual USDT to the base asset for the selected pair. For example, convert USDT to BTC before using BTCUSDT Base Accumulation.
4. Check the virtual account
The Paper trading tab shows free and reserved balances, the activity ledger, and your paper-bot limit. Reserved balance is held by outstanding virtual limit orders.
5. Reset only when the account is idle
Reset account archives the current virtual account and creates a new 10,000 USDT account. It is available only when all paper bots are stopped and there are no open paper positions or orders. Reset does not delete the archived history.
Common mistakes
- selecting Paper but still expecting an exchange-account selector; Paper does not use one
- using a demo or testnet symbol assumption; Paper always reads mainnet market data
- treating a paper fill as a guarantee of the same live fill
- starting Base Accumulation without converting virtual USDT to the required base asset
- trying to reset while a paper bot, position, or limit order is active
Related articles
- Bot Core Fields: Exchange, Symbol, Side, Leverage, And Sizing
- Spot Modes And Base Accumulation
- Plans And Limits