Show me a pro baseball player who doesn't do it. That's your homework for the weekend! Figure it out and you'll be a better trader come Monday!
Making money in sim is not a guarantee that you'll make money in real. Losing money in sim is a guarantee that you'll losing money in real. But like already said, try it and you'll see if it worths something for you. For me, I wouldn't go live with a new model/strategy without at least 3 months of real-time sim.
Different people learn different ways I never officially, technically, paper traded, per se. But rather just simply watched the market every day in my mind for like four years Making loose mental notes, to buy here...and sell here, in real-time. And review those mental notes in hindsight as well after the market closes. At the very least, you have to obviously make sure your method and skill semi-works....before jumping in live. Either through official paper trading, or just monitoring and studying the market and your method in your mind. It's not enough to trade just based on simple past and present technicals on the surface; You have to understand or semi-understand, based on what you think, are the triggering potential variables...on why it moves, the way it chooses to move. Trading is truly a magical feeling...when you're able to essentially...predict and/or trade and manage the future correctly, You feel like Neo, or Morpheus, or even God.
that saying means that the "great trader" never traded his own money for living and never developed a single working strategy
All I can say is make sure your sim is realistic like the IB one, it gouges you on everything like the real market. Thinkorswim has a paper trader and it's definitely not the same
I will wait to see you very soon. I was astronomical more successful in simulation than then when I I put real money at stake. I’m sure every single trader has experienced the same time. There’s nothing that can replace real life experience of having real money at stake