Paper Trading
Atomik has a built-in simulated broker: the Atomik Paper account. One click gives you $100,000 in virtual funds trading against live market data — no broker signup, no API keys, no risk.
What makes it useful
The paper account isn't a toy chart simulator bolted on the side. Paper orders flow through the same execution pipeline as real accounts: the same webhook ingestion, the same strategy engine, the same position tracking, the same dashboard. When your strategy works on paper, you've tested the actual system you'll trade live with — the only thing that changes later is the account it's pointed at.
Use it to:
- Verify your automation end to end — TradingView alert → webhook → fill, before any real account is involved
- Forward-test a strategy that backtested well, on live data it has never seen
- Trade manually from the chart with the BUY/SELL panel, to learn the platform
- Try marketplace strategies before pointing them at real money
Setting one up
- Dashboard → Accounts panel → + Connect Account
- Choose Atomik Paper
The account appears instantly as ATMK-… with a PAPER badge and a $100,000 balance. Paper accounts count toward your plan's account limit like any other account, and you can create more than one — handy for running two strategy candidates side by side.
Using it
A paper account behaves like any connected account:
- Activate strategies on it — webhook, engine, or marketplace strategies all work (how)
- Trade it manually — set its quantity, arm it, and use the chart's BUY/SELL buttons
- Track it — positions, open P&L, and day P&L update live on its account card and in the Positions tab
Paper vs. live: what's different
Honest list, because the differences matter:
| Paper | Live | |
|---|---|---|
| Market data | Real, live | Real, live |
| Execution pipeline | Identical | Identical |
| Fills | Simulated against live prices | Real fills from your broker |
| Slippage & queue position | Not fully modeled — fills are optimistic | Real |
| Emotions | Absent | Very present |
A strategy that only barely works on paper will likely lose live — real fills and real psychology both cost something. Demand a margin of safety before switching a strategy to a funded or live account, and start at minimum size when you do.
The progression that works
Backtest → Paper → Live at small size → Scale gradually
- Backtest the idea — kill it cheaply if it has no edge
- Run it on paper for a couple of weeks — live data, zero risk
- Move to a live or funded account at 1 contract
- Scale only after live results match paper results
Next steps
- Your First Automated Trade — uses a paper account start to finish
- Broker Connection — when you're ready to connect the real thing
- Prop-Firm Accounts — paper-test before pointing anything at an evaluation