or just use market orders, as Jack advises. If you assume no slippage, this should be close to reality, execution wise. It just can't simulate the psychological aspect of having money at risk.
how is it not easy? why do i need to be in the queue? why do i need to use limit orders? have you tried simply entering when the B/A is at your price instead of using limit orders to enter? i do market sim orders precisely because i can not trust the simulation fills for limit orders. however, market is another story. i'm half way to being done with paper trading. if entry on the right side of the market is essentially all that is needed to make money then any point in the market (with few exceptions due to volume etc.) can be turned into a 'right sided' market entry... why ever use limit orders again?
mainly price hitting 'my price' but the limit order not triggering. but really i just don't want to have to wonder if i ever truly would have gotten the price using the sim limits. i understand about instituting delays for fills to sim. actual limit orders. it's a preference i guess. i know that sim market orders are pretty darn accurate right off.
This is a good point. I wish I had started with paper trading - at least I would have found some bugs in myself before having them "revealed" using money. By papertrading - if you are honest in it - you begin to build up the skills and discipline needed. Like in the military (of which I have some experience) by constantly practicing necessary skills, it helps to prepare you for the real thing. The sports memory and self discipline help to completely blunt the edge of fear when you deal with the real thing. As an alternative to simulating without money, I've been considering simulating with money. In other words, if I lose on the simulator, I have to give my wife that money to spend on whatever she wants. That way it's real money on the line, but at least it stays in the household. I've used the simulator with Ensign, but it doesn't work very realistically. Can anyone suggest a better alternative?
If a list were to be made of the various ways a person can learn to trade from scratch and then ranked in order from "best" to "worst", I would put paper trading on one's own near the bottom, somewhere near trading on one's own with a real account. At the top would be learning from someone who knows how to trade using a real account, being guaranteed against losses, and keeping all of the gains. Of course the top of the list does not take into account what is "realistic", and there are other places along that list as well. In any case, by considering how people learn it's easy to see why most crash and burn before they really get off the starting line. I don't think paper trading changes it that much.