Cool, then you have a way to estimate slippage. Check the numbers from your "paper" system to what your actual trades were.
a34567, I dont know if it's just me being ultra paranoid, but I think a large part of your slipage is actually due to you using FreeTrade as your broker. The reason I say this is sure, your commissions are low ($1) but they make their money off of selling you. This is also probably what Ameritrade does too, but they in no way claim that their "Auto Route" process will give you the best deal. On the contrary they say they recieve fees and that the firms they route to may make money off the slipage. Read this PDF entitled "SEC Rule 11Ac1-6 Order Disclosure" http://www.advancedclearing.com/html/CLR2054.pdf And read Terms and conditions: What does that make you think? I am saying this because I too am using FreeTrade right now (I am a seriously new newbie) and just want a low-impact way of getting my toes wet while I figure out what my strategy is going to be. (I'm still not sure if i'm going to swing trade or micro trade, so that tells a lot) Dont get me wrong, I think FreeTrade has a place for low-impact casual trading where you arnt trading by a tick chart... but I'm getting the feeling more and more that it isnt for what I want to be doing. I think I"m going to start another thread asking what people's opinion on that is.