Paper trading (aka demo trading) on TradingView is an awesome feature and one that we at Trend Friend highly recommend you use extensively before putting real money into the market. For those that are new to this, paper trading is also called demo trading or simulated trading and it is how you practice trading stocks, crypto, forex, futures and more with fake money.
TradingView’s paper trading feature lets you practice with real market data and zero real money on the line with stocks, crypto, futures, forex, and more. This guide covers account setup, leverage configuration, order placement, stop loss and take profit management, and how to review your trade history.
Simulated trading is the perfect way for you to test your strategy, practice proper risk management, backtest your best premium Tradingview indicators, work on controlling your emotions while trading and anything else you need to work on to become a better, more profitable trader.
From your charts, you can set up a new paper trading account by clicking on the button at the top right of the screen labeled Trade. The first option at the top left says Paper Trading Brokerage simulator by TradingView. Click on that and then click connect when the popup appears. Now you can name that account, set your initial capital balance and set your commission amounts based on whatever you are trading and the fees that your exchange charges. Commission can vary quite a bit based on the type of market you are trading, so try to make sure you get it right or it can throw your results off.
The biggest thing you need to get right in the setup panel is the Leverage ratio. If you are trading futures, most contracts are going to be 500:1 leverage, so make sure to set the futures tab to 500:1. You can find the leverage amount at the bottom of the order placement pop up and use that value.
Stocks you can set to 1:1, and the rest you need to adjust based on the exact leverage ratio that you use. For example if you have a forex account on 50x margin, set the Forex leverage to 50:1. If you trade crypto on 5x margin, set the Crypto tab to 5:1 and so on.
It is extremely important that you get this step right, otherwise when you go to trade real money, the profit and loss number will be very different from your paper trading account if the leverage amount is different so make sure you get this right.
That’s it! Now you can start demo trading right from your TradingView charts.
The next thing you want to do is get your charts set up how you like them. So click on the nut icon in the top right of your charts and go to the Trading tab. There, you will want to customize your charts with whatever you like. We recommend enabling the following options: Buy/sell buttons, Instant orders placement, Positions, Profit & Loss, Orders, Brackets Profit & loss and Executions.
Now click on the Trade button next to the Paper Trading tab at the bottom of the screen. This will open up your order placement dashboard. Now you need to calculate the amount of units/contracts/shares you are going to be purchasing and enter that amount into the Units box.
To place a market order, you have a few options. If you have Buy/Sell buttons enabled on your charts, you can just click the red button to open a short position and click the blue button to open a long position. Make sure you click on the lower box between the buttons and set your purchase amount before taking your trade.
From the order dashboard, you can place a market order by clicking on the Market tab to select a market order and then toggle the buy or sell button at the top to match whatever direction you plan on trading. If you want to add a stop loss and take profit before placing the order or change the size of the order, you can do that now. Then when you are ready to open the position, click the buy or sell button at the bottom.
From the order dashboard DOM tab, you can place a market order by setting your purchase amount and then clicking the Buy Mkt button or Sell Mkt button.
To place a limit order, you have a few options. You can drag your cursor to the right side price axis and next to the prices, a plus icon will pop up. If you have your cursor at the price you want to place the order, you can then click the plus icon and select Buy Limit or Sell Limit from the menu. Then you can drag the limit order up or down to adjust the price.
From the order dashboard, click the Limit tab towards the top and toggle the buy/sell to the direction you want to trade. Then enter the price you would like to place your limit order at or select a custom option from the bid minus a tick menu. You can also set your trade size, take profits and stop loss levels at this time. Then select the Time In Force you would like. Time in force means how long the limit order is active in the system if it doesn’t get hit. You can set this to cancel after a day, week, month or select a specific date to expire. Then just hit the buy/sell button at the bottom to place the limit order.
From the order dashboard DOM you can place a limit order by selecting the value you would like to place that order from the list. Make sure you click above the white numbers and on the right side of the panel for a short position just above market price. Then select a number below the white numbers and on the left side of the panel to open a long position just below market price.
If you did not set a stop loss order when opening the initial position, then you can add a stop loss from your charts if you have the trade brackets enabled. Hover over your position and near the profit and loss box, you will see a yellow bordered button that says SL. Click on that button and drag the line to where you want to place your stop loss. This will set the stop loss and show you how much of a loss that would be at that price. Your order is exited as a market order if your stop loss is hit.
If you did not place a take profit order when you first opened the position, then you can set one from the chart. Hover over your open position line and next to the profit and loss box, you will see a green bordered button that says TP. Click that button and drag the line to where you want your take profit to be set. Your order will be exited by market order at that level. You can see how much profit your trade will make in the profit box on the line of your take profit level.
You’re most likely going to blow multiple accounts while learning to trade, so you might as well do it with a demo account right? Well, we recommend keeping track of your trades and analyzing them on a regular basis to see where you could have improved, so don’t reset your account unless you need to. If needed, click the nut icon from inside your paper trading panel and then click the reset account button and select your initial account balance.
You can also create multiple paper trading accounts. Starting new accounts can be useful for trying different strategies, evaluating yourself based on prop firm rules, testing variations of strategies and more while keeping the data in separate accounts for easier number crunching.
By clicking on the Paper Trading tab, you will open up the trade account dashboard. From the menu, you can select from the following options: Positions, Orders, History, Account History and Trading Journal.
The positions tab will show you data such as position size, profit and loss and more on any open positions. The orders tab will show you all of your orders, including working, historical, canceled, filled, rejected or inactive.
The history tab will show all of your previous orders, whether they were executed or not.
The account history tab will show you all trades that were opened, including positions that are currently open.
The trading journal tab lists all of the actions you took on your account, including moving a stop loss, modifying orders, placing orders, closing trades, etc.
Click on the Trading Panel tab at the bottom of your screen and then select Paper Trading. Click connect on the popup, name the account, set your initial balance and commission and you're ready. To disconnect, click the top left dropdown that says Paper Trading and log out from there or connect to a real broker.
Yes. Since you are using actual data from TradingView, it is real market data. The only time you may need to subscribe to other data feeds is if you want data from sources that only offer real time data via paid subscription. Most data on TradingView is free for real time updates.
Yes. You can paper trade on TradingView without a broker. TradingView acts as your broker when paper trading because no money is actually being exchanged. When you are ready to trade real money with a legitimate broker, you can sign up with them separately.
No, you cannot paper trade options on TradingView. As an alternative, you can set your position size to 100 shares (equivalent of one options contract) and multiply by the number of contracts you would trade. These numbers won't account for time decay and other options pricing factors, but you can at least test whether your directional strategy is winning.
Yes. Paper trading on TradingView is free for anyone. You do not need a paid account to use the paper trading feature.
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