Paper trading is for snowflakes who need a safe space. Traders need to risk real money and know when the market gives them a good kicking, it was a lesson they needed to learn. The Market teaches you this game and it wants payment for doing so. Trading is all about Discipline, and you cant learn discipline by paper trading.
If If you were just a little bit more disciplined I bet you could benefit from paper trading. I've already been kicked, I don't need more kicking just to prove I'm not a snowflake. I don't really remember what beginners do, but the more experienced I become the more benefits I see in my paper trading. One of my favorites is to put the same trade on in paper backwards. That way I can easily see if both sides are winning then my trading strategy must be good. I don't like to take profits but when I do I use the paper as a rabbit account just to see what would have happened if I didn't get flat. One time I didn't check it for a month and when I did it was up 50% because nobody was around to take a profit. How much did you pay the market to teach you this game?
Trading is not for the faint of heart, or conservative people -- if you're the kind of person who hates Vegas/casinos...because you're 'smart' and rational and logical...then you won't succeed in this game. The market rewards those who are bold and who have foresight. -- But this is not to imply to be stupid ambitious. I'm anti-paper trading too...but I also feel you should study/follow/paper trade in your Mind...for a minimum of a month Before you jump in and pay your so-called dues. There's a fine line between learning to swim/trade and being stupid; Most people only have one life, or one trading acct, to attempt to grow...if they fail, it's game over trading world for them. "Money's tight, nothin' free, Won't somebody come and rescue me?"
Paper trading or sim is like trainer wheels on a bike, some kiddies have them, some don't, but there comes a time, like the dummy, ya gotta get rid of it. Watching 'adults' paper trade is kind of pathetic in my opinion. It tells me a couple of things (1) they have no balls (2) they're searching for the holy grail- something no less than perfection and can't live with losing (3) or they are on the wrong track, that is they are attempting to get their trading act together using false premises, that is, barking up the wrong tree. In this instance they feel they have to paper trade as each time they attempt, they are basically always losing.
So starting with paper trading to find a plan or system is logic. When you have your plan you can get rid of papertrading. It is more important to have brains. The better the brain, the less you need balls as you know before starting already why you get in, where to get in, where to get out, where to put a stop and the probability of winning. Balls are important if you don't know what you are doing. But then in general you end up losing. The necesity to have balls proves you have a bad trading plan. wrong again, first have a plan or system. They can live with losses as they know already before starting to trade in real what their chances are and that winning without losing is impossible. If you want to see the result of having balls but never papertrade (it means knowing what you will do before you do it) you should watch youtube. There are thousands of clips of Russians with balls that try the most stupid things in real. The result is what you can expect if you use your brain. Most get harmed. But they feel themselves heroes, a reflection mostly made by marginal people. It is not about having balls, it is about the result. Making profits or losses.
Paper trading is one of the steps before going live.I usually look at those much successful and one thing they hate is losing money. If 80% of traders end up losing money than paper trading is a must.Today trader added by computers and information that's available to him needs to know what does not work without paying hefty tuition.This is not about guts or being timid. Profit trades,loss trades.....,consistency is a name of the game.It involves managing risk,without developing methods you are going blind. Trading is waiting and watching if you not willing to test your methods by backtesting or using market replay you wasting a lot of time. Disclaimer: I am not trading live,I will when other factors in this project are sorted out.
If you've been in this game for some years and sim trading alongside real money i can understand as you'd be testing new stuff, but if all a 'trader' can achieve in life is sim, then yeah, grow a pair!
The ladder you ask about is account balance,the other is equity line. And i do not know how to program,all manual,lots of calculation. I stopped doing normal tests.I only pick the most adverse signals and test them manually to see the resolve and drawdown.It is a lot of calculations. I would go nuts if continue using calculator and write it all down. Some say to me learn programming.I spend 10 years finding something that fit my personality and I wanted it to be all mechanical and as a result I burned out and became little numb towards learning anything.