Paper trading

A paper account is a simulated account on one exchange. Its orders fill against that exchange's live market data and never reach the exchange. This page covers opening one, how its orders fill, its fee rates, resetting it, and how it differs from a live account.

What a paper account is

A paper account works like a live account everywhere in the terminal: the same ticket, algos, orders, balances and positions. Only the exchange is simulated.

• It needs no API key.
• It trades the same markets as a live account on its exchange.
• You can have one paper account per exchange, beside any live accounts there.
• The terminal marks it with a Paper badge wherever it names the account. The badge's tooltip reads "Paper account: simulated fills on live market data, no venue orders".
• Portfolio shows paper accounts under Paper, apart from your live accounts. See Portfolio.

Open a paper account

1. Open the Accounts sheet. See Connect an exchange for the ways to open it.
2. Choose Paper on the exchange's row. On an exchange card, choose Start paper trading in the Paper section.
3. Fill in the form.
4. Choose Create paper account.

Starting balance by exchange

After you create it

How orders fill

Paper orders fill against the live best bid and best ask of the exchange's book.

Fills from every paper account on the exchange, not only yours, use up the size shown at the best price. Paper offers that price level again in full once the book shows a different price or size there, or 1 second after the last paper fill against it.

Paper uses only the best price level. A marketable order doesn't move on to the next price, so the unfilled rest of a limit order that isn't IOC rests on the book.

Note: Paper has no queue position and no adverse selection. A resting order fills whenever the market reaches its price, so paper fills are a best case compared with live fills.

What a paper account refuses

A paper account refuses what a real cash account on its exchange refuses. For example:

• A size below the market's minimum, or a size that isn't a whole number of the market's lots.
• A buy whose cost is more than your available balance, or a sell of more than you have. Resting orders hold their amounts, so held funds don't count as available.
• A reduce-only order with no position to reduce.
• An amend below what the order has already filled.

A resting buy holds the quote amount it would spend. On Coinbase it also holds the fee it could pay.

A paper account can have at most 5 open orders. A sixth is refused with a message such as "A paper account can have at most 5 open orders (5 open); cancel one to place another."

Perpetuals and futures

Fee rates

Every paper fill pays the account's own maker or taker rate for that market type. The order ticket's Est. fee row shows the account's rate.

A new account starts at the exchange's published worst tier.

On OKX and Bybit spot, a buy pays its fee in the base asset and a sell in the quote asset. On OKX and Bybit perpetuals the fee is in the settlement asset. On Kraken and Coinbase it is in the quote asset.

Change the fee rates

1. In the Accounts sheet, open the paper account's ⋯ menu and choose Fee rates.
2. The dialog reads "What this paper account pays per fill, maker and taker, in basis points." Change the Maker and Taker rates you want.
3. Choose Save fee rates. The terminal confirms with "Fee rates updated."

Use defaults fills in the exchange's starting rates. Choose Save fee rates to keep them. Rates go from 0 to 1000 bps, with at most two decimals. Paper has no rebates.

New rates apply from the account's next fill. You don't need to restart anything.

Reset a paper account

A reset puts the account back the way you created it.

1. Cancel the account's open orders. Aura refuses a reset while an order is open.
2. In the Accounts sheet, open the account's ⋯ menu and choose Reset paper account.
3. Read the dialog and choose Reset paper account.

A reset:

• Clears the account's order and fill history.
• Returns its balances to the starting balance, in each funding asset.
• Shows every other asset at zero.
• Closes positions without a trade.

This cannot be undone. The terminal confirms with "Paper account reset to its starting balance."

The starting balance is the one you chose when you opened the account. If the account later asks for its starting balance again, through Update API key, a reset uses the amount you entered there. To start from a different amount, remove the account and open a new paper account.

When a paper account can't start

Sometimes Aura can't restore a paper account's simulated exchange. The account's row then shows Connection failed and a Reset paper account button. The order ticket's submit button becomes Reset paper account too.

While the account is in this state, its open orders stay open but are not worked, and Fee rates leaves the menu.

Reset paper account asks you to confirm: "Cancels every open paper order and returns the account's balances to the starting amount. Positions are closed without a trade. This cannot be undone." If the reset fails, the terminal says so; for an account named Kraken Paper, "Couldn't reset Kraken Paper. If this continues, contact support@auraterminal.io."

For other connection states, see Connection status.

How paper differs from live