Hi All, I am looking at getting into scalping equities, after trading currency futures for some time. Can somebody please tell me what brokers/services, if any, offer real-time paper trading of equities? I don't mind paying for the service, but would like real-time and/or level II quotes and execution. Thanks.
IB has a good paper trader. Im curious if anybody knows if REDI plus has a paper trader facilty and if so if its any good.
I don't think IB is real time though. I believe it's a simulator, which can be used almost at any time (even after market is closed) and all it allows you to do is learn how to use different functions of the platform.
Yeah thats a common msconception. Theres a demo trader which is what your thinking of. And boy it sucks really badly. Its not real time for one thing. However if you have an account there you can apply for a paper trading account which is real time and works very well. For example Ill get 14 cents of slip trading Apple and then no slip or sometimes negative slip of a couple of cents on something like COF. So its really good for simulating real time market conditions.
Many simulators give you 20-minute delayed data, which is not good enough. You don't get real environment. You don't get to react on news, rumors (CNBC, Bloomberg). I also understand that real money is absolutely required for greed and emotion factor. What about playing with (and against) your friend where $100 trading loss means paying $10 to your friend. This can simulate 'greed and emotion' factor at little scale. What about a tiny app where you can only do market order; and transaction is processed based on the current price pulled from google finance or somewhere. Just an idea.
Find a broker with a small min deposit and a decent paper trading program. Almost all brokers have a live data feed once you deposit funds. You don't have to trade the live account until you're ready.
But you will pay a nominal account maintenance fee for not trading with some brokers like IB, but that is nothing compared to the losses you would otherwise incur.
thinkorswim.com is great and free. Not a bad broker to be with either, not the cheapest, but I hear their customer service is awesome. They have an active trader platform with live news feed, volume/price data, and a nice order entry, and really great charts. I sound like an advertisement, honestly I'm not. They're charts are awesome though.