~ documentation ~
How MrPaperTrade Works
Everything you need to know about paper trading, our calculator tools, data sources, and how to use the platform.
What is MrPaperTrade?
MrPaperTrade is a free paper trading platform and financial education toolkit designed to help you learn investing without risking real money.
You get $100,000 in virtual cash to trade across 70+ real assets spanning stocks, cryptocurrency, forex, commodities, and indices — all with live market data. Every trade uses realistic execution with simulated order books, slippage, and fees.
Beyond trading, MrPaperTrade includes a suite of investment calculators powered by real historical market data — compound interest, DCA backtesting, FIRE planning, dividend projections, and more. All free, no signup required for the calculator tools.
Zero Risk
Virtual money, real market data. Learn without losing a penny.
Realistic Execution
Simulated order books with slippage, partial fills, and market impact.
Real Data
Live prices from Alpaca, Binance, and Yahoo Finance.
Getting Started
1. Create an account
Sign up with your email at /signup. You'll receive $100,000 in virtual USD immediately.
2. Browse markets
Head to Markets to explore 70+ assets across 5 categories. Each asset shows live prices, 24h change, and links to a full trading page with TradingView charts.
3. Place your first trade
Click any asset to open its trading page. Use the trading panel on the right to buy or sell. Choose between Spot (buy and hold the asset) or Leverage (trade with up to 100x margin). Enter your amount, review the order preview, and confirm.
4. Track your portfolio
Visit Portfolio to see your holdings, open leveraged positions, performance analytics, trade history, and more.
Markets & Assets
MrPaperTrade supports 5 asset classes with 70+ tradeable instruments:
Equities (22)
AAPL, TSLA, NVDA, GOOGL, AMZN, MSFT, META, AMD, SPY, QQQ, KO, JNJ, PG, PEP, XOM, CVX, ABBV, MCD, VZ, T, O, SCHD
Indices (10)
S&P 500, NASDAQ, Dow Jones, Russell 2000, FTSE 100, DAX 40, CAC 40, Nikkei 225, Hang Seng, VIX
Commodities (13)
Gold, Silver, Crude Oil, Natural Gas, Copper, Platinum, Palladium, Wheat, Corn, Soybeans, Coffee, Sugar, Cotton
Crypto (16)
BTC, ETH, SOL, BNB, XRP, AVAX, DOGE, DOT, LINK, MATIC, UNI, LTC, NEAR, ARB, TAO, HYPE
Forex (6)
EUR/USD, GBP/USD, USD/JPY, USD/CHF, AUD/USD, USD/CAD
Each asset has a dedicated trading page with a TradingView advanced chart, live price ticker, simulated order book, and full trading panel.
How Trading Works
Order Types
- Market orders — execute immediately at the best available price from the simulated order book
- Limit orders — set a target price. The order stays pending until the market reaches your price, then fills automatically
- Stop-loss / take-profit — attach an automatic exit to any spot or leveraged position. Stops trigger when price moves against you past your threshold; take-profits trigger when price moves in your favour. Both fill at the prevailing market price at trigger time
Realistic Execution
MrPaperTrade simulates a realistic trading environment. When you place a market order, the system generates a simulated order book based on the asset's real price. Your order is filled against this book, meaning:
- Slippage — large orders move the price, just like on a real exchange
- Partial fills — if liquidity is thin, your order may fill at multiple price levels
- Market impact — the simulated spread widens for less liquid assets
Fees
A flat 0.025% fee is applied to the total value of every trade. This is comparable to major exchanges like Binance (0.1%) and is deducted from your balance at execution.
Spot vs USD Mode
When buying, you can enter the amount in USD (e.g., “buy $500 of Bitcoin”) or in the asset's units(e.g., “buy 0.01 BTC”). The toggle is on the trading panel.
Leverage Trading
MrPaperTrade supports leverage trading up to 100x on all assets. This lets you control a larger position with less capital, amplifying both gains and losses.
How It Works
- Switch to Perp mode on the trading panel
- Choose Long (bet price goes up) or Short (bet price goes down)
- Select your leverage (1x to 100x)
- Enter your margin (collateral). Your notional position = margin x leverage
Margin Modes
Isolated Margin
Each position has its own collateral. Maximum loss is your margin for that position. Other positions and your balance are protected.
Cross Margin
Your available balance acts as collateral across all open positions. Losses can be larger than a single position's margin, but the wallet floors at zero — you'll never go into deficit.
Switch between modes from the profile menu. The setting applies to all new leveraged positions; existing positions keep the mode they were opened with.
Liquidation
Each leveraged position has a liquidation price — the price at which your margin is wiped out. The formula accounts for your leverage level with a 0.5% maintenance margin buffer. Positions near liquidation show a warning indicator.
P&L Calculation
Long P&L = (currentPrice - entryPrice) / entryPrice x notional
Short P&L = (entryPrice - currentPrice) / entryPrice x notional
ROE = P&L / margin x 100%
Portfolio & Analytics
The portfolio page gives you a complete view of your trading activity:
- Summary cards — total portfolio value, cash balance, margin in use, and unrealized P&L
- Leveraged positions — all open positions with entry price, liquidation price, leverage, and live unrealized P&L. Close positions instantly with one click
- Spot holdings — all assets you own with quantity, average cost, current value, and P&L. Interactive pie chart showing allocation. Dividend-paying stocks display a yield badge (e.g., “2.9%”) next to their name as informational context
- Performance analytics — win rate, profit factor, average win/loss, best/worst trade, current streak, volume breakdown (spot vs leverage), buy/sell ratio, and top/worst performing assets
- Trade history — complete log of every trade with timestamp, side, price, quantity, fee, and P&L
- Compound calculator — also embedded on the portfolio page for quick projections
Community
MrPaperTrade has a Twitter-style social layer for discovering and following other paper traders. No posts or comments — the focus is on real trades and real performance.
Leaderboard & Live Activity
The Community page has two tabs:
- Leaderboard — top traders ranked by portfolio value, with win rates and best/worst trade highlights
- Live Activity — open leveraged positions and recent closed trades from the wider community, updated in real time
Find a trader
The search box at the top of the Community page looks up traders by username (minimum 2 characters, partial match). Use ↑/↓ to navigate suggestions and Enter to open a profile.
Follow other traders
Open any trader's profile (click them on the leaderboard, in a feed, or via search) and tap Follow. Click the Followers or Followingcount to see who's on each side. Follow data is the foundation for upcoming features like copy-trading.
Off-platform chat
MrPaperTrade itself doesn't have DMs or chat rooms — for community discussion we point traders to off-platform spaces (Telegram, Discord) so the on-platform experience stays focused on trading.
Account & Privacy
Profile customization
Open the profile menu (top-right) to set your username, pick from 15 avatar options, write a short bio (160 characters max), and switch between isolated and cross margin defaults. Your username is what others see on the leaderboard, follow lists, and trade feeds.
Private profile
Toggle Private profile in the profile menu and your trades, positions, leaderboard entry, and profile page become hidden from other users. Your account still works normally — you just disappear from public surfaces. Toggle off any time to opt back in.
Delete your account
MrPaperTrade supports full account deletion (GDPR right to erasure). Open the profile menu → Delete account, confirm by typing DELETE, and your profile, trades, holdings, positions, and follows are permanently removed. There is no soft-delete — once gone, the data is gone.
Reset your account
There's no in-place reset button. If you want to start fresh: delete your account from the profile menu, then sign back up with the same email — you'll land on a clean $100K balance.
Terms & Privacy
See our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
Calculator Suite
All calculators are free and require no signup. They use real market data from Yahoo Finance. Access them at /compound-calculator.
Compound Interest Calculator
Project future investment growth with adjustable principal, monthly contributions, compound frequency, and time horizon. Toggle 'Realistic Returns' to use real 5-year CAGR from any of our 70+ assets. Includes inflation adjustment (CPI) and Global M2 money supply comparison, plus milestone markers ($100K, $250K, $500K, $1M).
DCA Backtest
See what dollar-cost averaging would have actually returned using real monthly historical prices. Enter a monthly amount and how many years ago you'd have started. Compares DCA performance against a lump-sum strategy with an interactive chart.
Asset Comparison
Compare projected growth of up to 4 assets side by side. Uses real CAGR for each asset to project forward. Includes a percentage-gain line chart and comparison table ranking assets by future value.
What If Calculator
See exactly what your portfolio would be worth today if you'd invested X years ago. Uses actual historical monthly prices — not projections. Input an initial lump sum plus monthly contributions.
FIRE Calculator
Calculate your Financial Independence, Retire Early (FIRE) number based on your monthly expenses and safe withdrawal rate (default 4%). Shows your FIRE age, years to FIRE, and projected passive income. Uses real asset returns to model portfolio growth.
Dividend Income Projector
Project passive dividend income from 16 dividend-paying stocks (KO, JNJ, PG, XOM, SCHD, etc.). Includes real dividend yields, historical dividend growth rates, and a DRIP (Dividend Reinvestment Plan) toggle. Shows year-by-year dividend income growth.
Daily Expense Impact
See the true opportunity cost of everyday spending. Enter any recurring expense (coffee, streaming, lunch) and see what it would be worth if invested instead, using real asset returns. Includes quick presets for common expenses.
Cost of Waiting
Visualise how much delaying your investment start date costs. Shows side-by-side growth curves for starting now vs waiting 1, 2, 3, 5, or 10 years — with real CAGR from any asset.
Savings Goal Calculator
Reverse compound interest: enter your goal amount and timeframe, and it calculates how much to save monthly. Includes presets (house deposit, car, wedding, university, millionaire) and compares investing vs cash savings.
Retirement Drawdown
How long will your savings last in retirement? Models inflation-adjusted withdrawals with the 4% rule as a benchmark. Shows whether your portfolio is sustainable and when it would deplete.
Debt vs Invest
Should you pay off debt or invest? Compares two strategies over 30 years using real investment returns vs your debt interest rate. Shows net worth trajectories for both approaches.
Wealth Percentile
See where your net worth ranks compared to others in your age group, based on US Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances data. Shows your percentile, benchmarks, and goals to reach the next tier.
Mortgage vs Rent
Is it cheaper to buy or rent? Compares home equity growth (with appreciation, taxes, maintenance) against renting and investing the savings in any asset. Shows 30-year net worth for both strategies.
Data Sources
MrPaperTrade aggregates data from multiple reliable sources:
Alpaca Markets
Data: US equities — real-time IEX price feed
Method: Real-time snapshots for all US stocks and ETFs during market hours.
Binance
Data: Major cryptocurrencies — real-time prices and 24h statistics
Method: Live WebSocket streaming. Sub-second updates.
Yahoo Finance
Data: Forex, commodities, indices — near real-time prices, plus historical monthly data and CAGR calculations used by the calculators
Method: Public chart API. Forex and commodities are near real-time; equity historical data is end-of-day.
TradingView
Data: Advanced charting — candlestick charts, technical indicators (RSI, MACD), drawing tools
Method: Embedded Advanced Chart widget. Supports all asset classes.
Update Frequency
- Crypto — real-time, sub-second updates
- US Equities — real-time during US market hours
- Forex, Commodities, Indices — near real-time
- Historical data — cached and refreshed periodically
Frequently Asked Questions
Is MrPaperTrade free?
Yes, completely free. The platform is ad-supported. The calculator tools don't even require an account.
Is this real money?
No. You trade with $100,000 in virtual USD. There is no real money involved, no deposits, and no withdrawals. This is purely for education and practice.
How accurate are the prices?
Crypto prices are real-time from Binance. US equity prices are real-time from Alpaca (IEX feed). Forex and commodities are near real-time from Yahoo Finance. Index data comes from Yahoo Finance with minimal delay.
How accurate are the calculator returns?
The 'Realistic Returns' toggle fetches actual 5-year compound annual growth rates (CAGR) calculated from adjusted closing prices via Yahoo Finance. The DCA backtest and What-If calculator use real monthly historical prices. These are actual market returns, not estimates.
What is the trading fee?
0.025% of the total trade value, applied to both buys and sells. This is lower than most real exchanges to encourage learning.
Can I lose more than my margin on leverage trades?
In Isolated mode, no — your maximum loss is the margin you posted. In Cross mode, yes — your entire available balance can be at risk.
How does the FIRE calculator work?
It calculates your 'FIRE number' (the investment portfolio needed to cover your annual expenses at a safe withdrawal rate, typically 4%). Then it projects your savings growth using real asset returns to show when you'll reach that number.
What is the M2 money supply comparison?
M2 is the total amount of money in circulation (cash, checking deposits, savings, etc.). It grows at roughly 7% per year historically. The M2 toggle shows whether your investment is growing faster than the money supply — if not, your purchasing power is effectively declining relative to total money printed.
Can I reset my account?
No in-place reset, but you can delete your account from the profile menu (full erasure of trades, holdings, positions, and follows) and sign back up with the same email to start fresh with $100K.
Is my data private?
By default, your username, public trades, leaderboard rank, and follower/following lists are visible to other logged-in users. Toggle 'Private profile' in the profile menu to hide your trades, positions, profile, and leaderboard entry from everyone but yourself. Your email is never shown to other users in any mode. We don't sell or share your trading data.
Can I delete my account?
Yes. Profile menu → Delete account → type DELETE to confirm. This wipes your profile, trades, holdings, positions, and follows — there is no soft-delete or recovery.
Can I follow other traders?
Yes. Open any trader's profile and click Follow. Their trades show up on the Live Activity feed. The follow data is also the foundation for copy-trading features we're building next.