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Paper Trading

Overview​

Paper Trading lets you run the full MesoLive workflow using a virtual account, while still using real-time market data from your connected provider (IBKR and/or TastyTrade).

It’s the safest way to:

  • validate your Agent setup
  • practice the deploy → build → execute → monitor → adjust/exit lifecycle
  • benchmark a new Strategy Definition before using a live account
  • use MesoLive with a broker that doesn’t have a direct integration yet (manual order entry)

Paper vs live trading​

  • Paper Trading uses the same build and monitoring pipeline as live trading.
  • The key difference is execution:
    • Live: orders are routed to the broker integration and fills are tracked from the broker.
    • Paper: you enter fill prices manually during the Paper Trade step.
  • Commissions for paper trades are taken from the paper account settings.

Create and manage Paper Accounts​

Paper accounts are created and managed in the Paper Trading page.

Standard plan users can have 1 paper account, Pro users can create up to 3 paper trading accounts.

Prerequisites​

  • A connected Agent with at least one market-data provider (IBKR and/or TastyTrade)

Paper accounts source quotes from the selected provider. If no providers are connected, paper accounts can’t be created.

Create a paper account​

  1. Open More → Paper Trading.
  2. Click Create Paper Account.
  3. Configure:
    • Starting Balance
    • Commission per contract
    • Data Provider (only providers with an active Agent connection are offered)
Create paper account dialog

Manage existing paper accounts​

Each paper account appears as a card with balance/NAV and the selected data provider.

Click Settings on an account to:

  • update commission and data provider
  • reset account: closes all open paper positions and resets the cash balance (cannot be undone)
  • delete account: permanently removes the paper account and its history (cannot be undone)
Paper account settings

Run the paper workflow​

The workflow is identical to live trading except for account selection and fill entry:

  1. Deploy/import your strategy: Deploy Strategy
  2. Start the entry flow: Create and Adjust Positions
  3. Select your paper account instead of a live brokerage account
  4. Build → submit as usual
  5. In the final step, enter fill prices for each leg and commit the paper execution
Paper account selection
Paper fill entry

See also: Order Execution

ThinkorSwim (Schwab) order strings​

If you place orders manually in ThinkorSwim, use the ToS Order action in the Paper Trade execution step to copy a ThinkorSwim-formatted order string.

See: Schwab / Thinkorswim.

Monitoring and management​

Paper positions appear alongside live positions with clear account identification. Monitoring, adjustments, and liquidation are the same:

  • real-time PnL + greeks tracking
  • adjustments (add/remove/move legs)
  • liquidation workflows

Troubleshooting​

  • No paper accounts / can’t create one: confirm at least one data provider is connected in the Agent (IBKR and/or TastyTrade): Troubleshooting → Agent
  • Prices/greeks look stale: validate quote freshness: Data Explorer