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Paper tradingPaper trading I know I have mentioned the term paper trading a few times already and I am sure you understand the concept well already but let me discuss it a little further: It means to actually write down trades on paper instead of buying actual shares and risking money. It can be very effective when done correctly. You have to be very honest with every trade you write down and complete it as if it was real with the same rules applied. Most platforms actually offer you the "demo" option so you can actually do the "paper trades" on the platform itself which makes it a lot more realistic in terms of the actual steps you need to do to enter a trade and it will help you familiarize yourself with the platform because you don't want to push the wrong button when entering or exiting a trade... (been there done that and bought the T-shirt...) Remember that this kind of trading is way easier than the real deal so it is important to make sure that you would have actually been able to execute the paper trade in reality. Trading on paper is much easier than real trading, since there are very few emotions involved. It will be much easier for you, to just execute according to your plan, whereas in real trading you would have probably thought twice about your decision or you would not have reacted at all. If you take paper trading seriously enough you should feel some level of excitement, almost nervousness. This is the state of mind you should be in. Tell yourself that paper trading is real; it will determine how much money you are able to make later on. You want good results in order to be successful. For “realistic” entry and exit points I apply the following rules: The (paper) order can only be executed thru ECN’s since this is the only way I can be sure to get an execution with, if there are offers available and no one steps in front of me. I can only buy and sell actively (buy from ask, sell to bid). I wait a few seconds after my entry point is hit until I look at ECN’s that could have executed my order. Here is an example: I am getting a long signal in XYZ. Now I look at the level 2 offer side and try too find ECN’s I can buy shares from. Obviously, they have to be somewhere near my setup price because I don’t want to chase the stock. If there are ECN’s available, I will wait a few more seconds to make sure no one would have stepped in front of me. If the ECN’(s) are still there I will write down the price that I would have gotten. I do the exact opposite for the exit. It is very important to be honest with yourself here and even difficult because it is very easy to cheat here and paper trade after the fact! You look at the set up quickly than the price per share starts moving and you decide then to write your entry point around the price you first saw it… In reality you would never have gotten that price so be vigilant, you`ll be your worst enemy in the beginning. Say to yourself, I am going to be very diligent and only write down what I would actually have done. In other words, trade the same way you would trade with real money. As much as possible anyways… You`ll see, trading with real money is a whole new ball game! When working on MY trading plan I actually made the conditions even more difficult so that when I managed to be successful on a regular basis on paper using extra difficult rules ( I always entered much higher than what was available and got out lower than what was available. You can imagine that once I started trading with real money, it was much easier thus my results were even better! Now come and see how MY trading plan can help you save a lot of time and money 
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