Try Paper Trading

Goal: Get a working trading model running against live market data, with virtual money, in five minutes. No broker account required.

This is the fastest way to understand what TraderTape actually does. By the end you'll have a portfolio that scans 100 stocks daily, generates signals, fills them at the close price, and tracks P&L — all without risking a rupee.

What "paper trading" means here

A paper portfolio runs the exact same strategy logic as a real one. Same indicators, same entry/exit rules, same conviction scoring, same daily scan. The only difference is the execution leaf: instead of placing GTT orders through your broker, the system fills signals virtually at the daily close price (with 5 basis points of slippage to match the realistic backtest).

Capital is virtual. You start with whatever amount you choose. Wins and losses flow through the same current_capital and deployed_capital fields a real portfolio uses, so the dashboard, P&L charts, and history views all work identically. You can reset the portfolio anytime to start over.

This is the same code path as live trading, just with a virtual fill function. If a strategy works in paper mode, it'll behave the same way in live mode (modulo broker-side slippage and fill quirks).

1. Sign up

Go to tradertape.com and click Sign in.

Enter your email and click "Send magic link". Check your inbox — you'll get a one-click link plus a 6-digit OTP fallback (in case your email scanner pre-fetches the link, which would invalidate it).

Click the link, or paste the OTP. You're in.

2. Open the dashboard

You'll land on the dashboard. If this is a fresh account, you'll see a "Try paper trading" callout near the top with a NO BROKER NEEDED badge. Click it.

If you don't see the callout (e.g. you already have a portfolio), navigate to Model Trading in the sidebar.

3. Deploy a paper portfolio

From the Model Trading empty state — or from the + Deploy button if you already have other portfolios — click Start a paper portfolio.

The deploy modal opens with Paper pre-selected at the top (Live / Paper toggle). Fill in:

• Name: anything memorable, e.g. Dip Buyer Paper Test
• Model / Strategy: pick one of the built-in models. V3 Dip Buyer is a good first choice — it's mean-reversion, well-explained, and shows interesting behaviour. (See Built-in Models for what each one does.)
• Starting Capital: ₹50,00,000 (₹50L) is a sensible default — large enough that the suggested ₹5L per trade actually fits, small enough that you'll feel the wins and losses.
• Position Size %: leave at 10%. That's ₹5L per trade.
• Max Positions: 20 (default).
• Max Per Sector: 2 (default).

The Oversubscription Limit slider is hidden in paper mode — there's no broker margin to oversubscribe.

Click Deploy.

4. Run a scan

Your new portfolio appears with a PAPER badge in the tab bar. The header has a Reset button (only shown for paper portfolios — closes everything and restores starting capital) and the usual Pause / Retire / Run Scan buttons.

Click Run Scan.

What happens next:

1. The backend refreshes daily candles for the entire NIFTY 100 universe (slow on first scan, ~30 seconds; instant after).
2. The DSL strategy interpreter evaluates entry conditions on every stock.
3. Stocks that pass become entry signals for your portfolio.
4. The conviction scorer ranks them.
5. Because this is a paper portfolio, every passing signal executes immediately at the close price + 5 bps slippage. No approval queue, no GTTs, no broker call.
6. Each fill creates a ModelPosition with status open, debits current_capital, and credits deployed_capital.
7. The dashboard updates — you'll see open positions, realized/unrealized P&L, sector allocation, and a portfolio chart.

If no signals fire, that means none of the 100 stocks currently match the strategy's entry rules. That's normal — V3 Dip Buyer is selective. Try V1 Momentum or V2 Bull Breakout for more signals, or just wait for tomorrow's scan.

5. Watch it work

The portfolio scans automatically once a day after market close (around 15:35 IST). You'll see:

• New entry signals filling instantly
• Open positions updating their unrealized P&L from live ticker data
• Add-on signals (if the strategy supports them) averaging down on dips
• Exit signals closing positions when the exit conditions trigger

If you're impatient, click Run Scan anytime. It'll re-evaluate the universe with the latest closes and fill any new signals.

6. Reset whenever you want

The Reset button on the portfolio header closes all open positions at their entry price (zero P&L — reset is not a market event), clears any pending signals, and restores current_capital to your starting amount. Closed positions and the audit log are preserved, so you have a record of what happened.

This is the experimentation loop: deploy → scan → watch → reset → tweak strategy → deploy again. Cheap, fast, no broker setup, no real money.

What to do next

• Try a different model. Each built-in is calibrated differently — V1 fires often, V3 is selective, V4 has more aggressive entry. See Built-in Models.
• Build your own strategy. Go to Strategies → New strategy and use the visual rule builder. See the Strategies guide.
• Backtest before you deploy. Backtests are the formal way to evaluate a strategy against history. See the Backtesting guide.
• Connect a real broker when you're ready to go live. See Connect a Broker.

Limitations of paper mode

Paper trading is high-fidelity but not perfect. Things it does not model:

• Intraday slippage — fills happen at the daily close price + 5 bps. Real GTT triggers can fill anywhere in the day.
• Liquidity / impact — paper assumes infinite liquidity. Large positions in mid-caps would actually move the market.
• Brokerage, STT, GST, exchange charges — paper P&L is gross. Real trading deducts roughly 0.1–0.2% per round-trip in costs.
• Fail / partial fill — paper always fills 100%. Real GTTs occasionally get rejected (margin shortfall, tick-size issues, extreme moves).
• Stop-loss GTTs — paper portfolios don't place ATR stop GTTs. Risk control happens through the strategy's exit rules. If your strategy has atr_stop_mult > 0, it'll behave differently in paper than in live.

For strategy validation, paper is excellent. For production-grade P&L estimation, run a realistic backtest instead.