thanks for the response. so the bid is at 53.87 and the ask is at 53.88 , but if you notice the fill was a t 53.75. It was not a volatile market, but the market price and the fill price were way off which by default gave me a loss. I think this may be due to the fact that I was paper trading on TOS, or because i was trading CLH7 instead of CLG7. usually the market orders fill at the bid/ask with futures the way they do with stocks. I've not started trading futures yet, because I want to work out a discretionary system before I do anything with real money, and I'm gathering as much info as possible. Thanks
Paper trading is not meant for accuracy, but for learning the software. You will never get real results with paper trading. IF you want to track expected P/L from that process, use a spread sheet and assume you have to take offers and hit bids. This will give conservative results. Also, although TD is an excellent firm, I'm not sure they have the best solution for futures, unless you have a very small account and don't need excess leverage for DT.