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Paper Trading Simulator — live Schwab data, real fills, real rules

// live schwab data · l2 walk-book fills · shorting with borrow carry · ssr / luld enforcement · brackets · oco · positions persist

Paper trade on real Schwab market data. Orders fill against the actual Level 2 book when cached, slippage model when it’s not, and every regulation you’ll hit live — SSR, LULD, Reg T — is enforced server-side. The point is muscle memory that transfers, not a leaderboard you’ll never reproduce with real money.

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§01 // WHAT_IT_DOES

What it does

Most paper trading lies to you. Fills at mid-price, no SSR, no LULD, infinite liquidity, no borrow cost. Tapeboard runs your paper orders through the actual Schwab Level 2 book when cached, walks the book for size, applies a slippage model when it can’t, and enforces every regulation you’ll hit live. The point is muscle memory that transfers — not a leaderboard you’ll never reproduce with real money.

§02 // REAL_FILLS

Real-data fills, not mid-price fantasy

Tapeboard’s paper trading fills walk the cached Level 2 order book when available — not a static spread model. When no L2 snapshot is cached for the symbol, the simulator falls back to a slippage model parameterized by spread, size, and recent volume. The result: a fill price that approximates what your order would have done live, including the cost of crossing the spread on size and the slippage you take when liquidity is thin.

// Limit order against the displayed book — fills the way it would live.
// Limit order against the displayed book — fills the way it would live.

§03 // ORDER_TYPES

Order types

Market

Crosses the spread immediately, walks the book for size. Fills at the volume-weighted average of consumed liquidity, not the inside ask.

Limit

Resting bid or offer. Fills when the inside market reaches the limit price, partial fills allowed against available size.

Stop

Triggers a market order once the stop price prints. Triggered fills then walk the book, same slippage model as a standalone market order.

Bracket

Entry order plus attached stop-loss and profit-target legs. R-multiple is computed automatically from the bracket distance.

OCO

One-cancels-other: two resting orders, fill on one cancels the other. Used for breakout / breakdown setups.

// Order types supported: market, limit, stop, bracket, OCO. Reg T margin is modeled at 25% maintenance for equities.

§04 // SHORTING

Shorting that actually costs money

Short positions accrue borrow-rate carry computed from the IBKR iborrowdesk feed, refreshed nightly. SSR (Reg SHO Rule 201) triggers when a stock falls more than 10% intraday and locks shorts to the uptick rule the next session. LULD bands halt trading server-side, and orders that would violate either SSR or LULD are rejected with the same error code a live broker returns. Net: short P&L on the simulator approximates short P&L on a real account, including the days you wish you’d covered overnight.

§05 // MARGIN_AND_PERSISTENCE

Reg T margin + persistence

Reg T margin modeled: 4:1 day-trade buying power, 2:1 overnight. Positions, open orders, and resting brackets persist across browser refresh, logout, and device. Walk away, come back tomorrow, your swing is still on. Multiple parallel paper accounts on Pro to test setups in isolation without polluting your headline P&L.

// Positions panel — Reg T buying power, overnight equity, open brackets, all persisted.
// Positions panel — Reg T buying power, overnight equity, open brackets, all persisted.

§06 // COMPARISON

Tapeboard vs TradingView vs Webull vs Thinkorswim

Paper trading simulator comparison: Tapeboard vs TradingView vs Webull Paper vs Thinkorswim PaperMoney.
TapeboardTradingViewWebull PaperThinkorswim PaperMoney
Real-time dataYes (Schwab licensed)Yes (paid tiers)YesDelayed 20m (intraday real-time on live acct only)
L2 walk-book fillsYesNo (mid-price)No (last-trade)No (theoretical)
ShortingYesYesYesYes
Borrow rate carryYesNoNoApproximated
SSR enforcementYesNoPartialNo
LULD haltsYesNoNoNo
Bracket + OCOYesYesYesYes
Persistence on refreshYesYesYesYes
Reset balanceManual resetAnytimeAnytimeAnytime
PriceFree / $29 ProFree / $14.95+FreeFree w/ Schwab acct
Multi-chart workspaceYesYes (best in class)LimitedYes

// TradingView’s charting is better than ours and probably always will be — it’s their core product. Thinkorswim’s options modeling is deeper. Tapeboard wins on fill realism: nobody else walks an actual L2 book or enforces SSR/LULD on paper trades.

§07 // PRICING

Pricing & access

Free tier — full simulator, $100K virtual account, real-time Schwab data. No credit card.

Pro ($29/mo) — multiple simulator accounts, full journal auto-link, longer tick history.

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§08 // FAQ

Paper trading simulator FAQ

Does Tapeboard’s paper trading use real market data?

Yes. Tapeboard uses live Schwab-licensed market data with real-time bids, asks, and the Level 2 book when available. Limit and market orders fill against the actual displayed book, not a synthetic mid-price. This is rare in retail paper trading — most simulators fill at last-trade or mid.

Can you short stocks in paper trading?

Yes, Tapeboard supports shorting with realistic borrow rate carry charged nightly, plus SSR (Short Sale Restriction) enforcement when a stock drops more than 10% intraday. Most paper trading platforms either skip borrow costs entirely or ignore SSR, which gives you wrong P&L on the trades that matter most.

Is paper trading worth it before going live?

Yes, if the simulator is realistic. Paper trading on mid-price fills with infinite liquidity teaches bad habits — you’ll learn to expect fills you’ll never get. A realistic simulator with L2 fills, slippage, SSR, and borrow costs builds the muscle memory that transfers to a live account.

How much virtual money do I get?

$100,000 by default, with manual reset anytime from settings. Pro users can run multiple parallel simulator accounts to test different strategies in isolation. Balance and positions persist across sessions, so you can hold swing trades over days or weeks.

What’s the difference between Tapeboard and TradingView paper trading?

TradingView has the best charts; Tapeboard has the most realistic fills. TradingView fills at mid-price with no SSR, LULD, or borrow costs. Tapeboard walks the actual Schwab L2 book and enforces real-market regulations. Pick TradingView for chart analysis, Tapeboard for execution practice.

§09 // OPEN_SIMULATOR

Practice the way you’ll actually trade.

Free tier, no credit card. Live Schwab data, L2 walk-book fills, real SSR and LULD enforcement.

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