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.
§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.
§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.
§06 // COMPARISON
Tapeboard vs TradingView vs Webull vs Thinkorswim
| Tapeboard | TradingView | Webull Paper | Thinkorswim PaperMoney | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Real-time data | Yes (Schwab licensed) | Yes (paid tiers) | Yes | Delayed 20m (intraday real-time on live acct only) |
| L2 walk-book fills | Yes | No (mid-price) | No (last-trade) | No (theoretical) |
| Shorting | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Borrow rate carry | Yes | No | No | Approximated |
| SSR enforcement | Yes | No | Partial | No |
| LULD halts | Yes | No | No | No |
| Bracket + OCO | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Persistence on refresh | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Reset balance | Manual reset | Anytime | Anytime | Anytime |
| Price | Free / $29 Pro | Free / $14.95+ | Free | Free w/ Schwab acct |
| Multi-chart workspace | Yes | Yes (best in class) | Limited | Yes |
// 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.
§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.
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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