Placing simulated trades with real market data and fake money to practise without financial risk.
Last verified 13 September 2026 · written by the DexLadder team
What it means
Placing simulated trades with real market data and fake money to practise without financial risk.
Why it matters when you trade
Paper trading is how you separate two questions that live trading fuses: does the strategy work, and can you execute it. It answers the first honestly if the environment models fees, spread and price impact, and it cannot answer the second at all, because nothing focuses the mind like real loss. Treat it as a flight simulator: indispensable for procedure, silent on nerve.
Worked example
Fifty simulated trades logged with entry, stop, target and reason produce a hit rate and an expectancy — a paper account with no journal produces nothing.
See it on live markets
DexLadder runs paper trading against live market and pool data, with simulated capital, so you can watch it act on an order instead of reading about it — no account, no wallet, nothing installed.