I've done a fair amount of forward testing on Ninja with various strategies on both the ES and the NQ and found their simulation algorithms to be pretty realistic.
Paper trading teaches a person the mechanics of trading a financial instrument. For example, someone who has no experience in futures should try paper trading to learn how margin maintenance work. It will be good to let him experience first-hand on paper how he can lose money quickly in a bad day.
That is what i am saying. On a sim orders get filled when it touches your order (whether that be one touch or three touches). But in real trading most of time it is going to have to trade THRU your order by a tick for your order to get filled. There are exceptions but most of the time it will have to trade thru. Yes, you will get filled at your price you have on your the limit order (generally) but my point is price has to trade that additional tick ..thru ...on the entry and on the exit. So, a 1 point gain is going to require a 6 tick move instead of a 4 tick move but you still will only capture your 1 point. Once you go live you will see what I am talking about. BTW good luck on going live. Perhaps you will be the exception and come out of the gates on the run and win the Triple Crown. But i'd have a backup horse.
Ahh, now I understand what you're saying. Thanks for your patient explanation and warning. Will try to watch out for this.
Yes that is how to use sim trading. However many sim traders boast about high returns and promote their strategy without forward testing. Which is similar to looking at historical charts and reverse engineer trades for record returns. Another is a trader who successfully close out a few trade at high returns but have not thoroughly testing their strategy overtime. Even hot shot hedge fund managers make millions one year and blow up following years.
there is really not much you can do about it. It is what it is. But it will affect your result in sim vs real money trading. You will see when you go live.
Ripping and roaring to go Doug? Getting close. August 1 getting real real close. Is the wife still on board? You gonna post live your trades or just EOD report?