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Market Data Considerations for the Paper Trading Account

As a licensed distributor of exchange market data, IBKR is obligated to respect constraints imposed by the exchanges which serve to govern the dissemination and/or retransmission of this data.

As a general rule, within a given account, the real user can activate and maintain its own set of market data subscriptions. The paper user, by design, does not have a set of market data subscription on its own but can be configured in one of the following ways:

  • The paper user can be set to share2 the live market data subscriptions of the real user:

In this scenario, if the real and paper trading sessions are running simultaneously, they must reside on the same device in order for the paper to receive live market data. If this is not the case, the real trading session will be still afforded the real-time market data but the paper trading session will not receive any data3 . Please see the section CASE 1 below for details.

  • The paper user can be set NOT to share2 the live market data subscriptions of the real user:

In this scenario, the real and paper trading sessions are independent, in respect of market data flows. Hence, they can run simultaneously on the same or on different devices and the paper user will receive delayed data, as available. Please see the section CASE 1 below for details.

  • In case the account possess multiple real users, the paper user can be set to share2 the live market data subscriptions of a chosen one.

Clients who wish to run real and paper sessions simultaneously and on different devices (e.g., stand-alone PC, smart phone, tablet), may create an additional real user for their account, as explained here: Adding a second user for an individual account holder. While this approach will result in additional fees for any paid market data subscriptions elected, it will allow maintaining different subscription sets. In this scenario, the client will be able to select2 which real user will share his subscriptions with the paper user, allowing the other real user and the paper trading sessions to run simultaneously on different devices. Please see the section CASE 2 below for details. 

 

Example Cases:

 
CASE 1
Account users:  1 real user + 1 paper user
REAL_USER is subscribed to live market data
Location of real_user session Location of paper_user session Sharing of live market data between real_user and paper_user is active? Type of market data received by real_user Type of market data received by paper_user
DEVICE1 DEVICE2 YES LIVE NO DATA3
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 YES LIVE LIVE
DEVICE1 DEVICE2 NO LIVE DELAYED
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 NO LIVE DELAYED
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 YES N/A LIVE
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 NO N/A DELAYED
CASE 2
Account users:  (after the creation of a secondary real user) : 2 real users + 1 paper user
REAL_USER1 is subscribed to live market data
REAL_USER2 is subscribed to live market data
Location of real_user1 session Location of real_user2 session Location of paper_user session paper_user is mirroring the subscriptions of Type of market data received by real_user1 Type of market data received by real_user2 Type of market data received by paper_user
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 DEVICE2 real_user1 N/A LIVE LIVE
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 DEVICE1 real_user1 N/A LIVE LIVE
DEVICE1 USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE2 real_user1 LIVE N/A NO DATA3
DEVICE1 USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 real_user1 LIVE N/A LIVE
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 DEVICE2 real_user2 N/A LIVE NO DATA3
USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 DEVICE1 real_user2 N/A LIVE LIVE
DEVICE1 USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE2 real_user2 LIVE N/A LIVE
DEVICE1 USER NOT LOGGED IN DEVICE1 real_user2 LIVE N/A LIVE
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 DEVICE2 real_user1 LIVE LIVE NO DATA3
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 DEVICE1 real_user1 LIVE LIVE LIVE
DEVICE1 DEVICE2 DEVICE2 real_user2 LIVE LIVE LIVE
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 DEVICE2 real_user1 LIVE LIVE NO DATA3
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 DEVICE2 Set NOT to mirror LIVE LIVE DELAYED
DEVICE1 DEVICE1 DEVICE1 Set NOT to mirror LIVE LIVE DELAYED
DEVICE1 DEVICE2 DEVICE1 Set NOT to mirror LIVE LIVE DELAYED
DEVICE1 DEVICE2 DEVICE2 Set NOT to mirror LIVE LIVE DELAYED

 

Notes

1. Trading Session:
For trading session, we consider a user session successfully established and actively running on any of the following platforms:
  • Trader Workstation (TWS)
  • IBKR Mobile
  • Web Trader
  • Client Portal
2. Market data mirroring and sharing user selection
On the Client Portal, those functions are present in the section: Settings -> Account Settings -> Configure (gear) icon
 

3. No Data: On the paper session, the trading platform will display a warning message containing: “...production username associated with this paper-trading username is also running on...”

 

How to Open a Paper Trading Account

REQUEST A PAPER TRADING ACCOUNT

All new accounts automatically have a Paper Trading Account created for them.

If you opened your account prior to the automated creation of a Paper Trading Account and do not already have one, use the link above or following procedure to open a Paper Trading Account:

  1. Log in to Portal with your LIVE account
  2. Click the User menu (head and shoulders icon in top right corner) > Settings
  3. Under Account Settings, find the Account Configuration section.
  4. Click Paper Trading Account
  5. You will be prompted to create a User ID and Password. Click Continue and your request will be confirmed for processing.

Requests received by 4:00pm ET on a normal business day will be processed by the next business day under normal circumstances. You will be notified by email when the account is ready for trading.

Additional information is available in our FAQs.

Please note: If you are not yet a client, you can open a Free Trial account.

Can I open a paper trading account for practice purposes before opening a live account?

 

IB does offer a paper trading account which allows one to use the full range of IB trading facilities in a simulated environment using real market conditions.  This account, however, is made available only after the regular trading account has been approved and funded. Until that time, we recommend that you try the online demos made available to prospective customers through our website to get an overview of system functionality.   A demo of both the TraderWorkstation or WebTrader trading platforms may be found by visiting our website at www.interactivebrokers.com and selecting the Individuals page.  There you will be presented with a series of links including one titled 'Demos'.

I received an execution in my Paper Trader account that did not correspond to the market at the time, what happened?

Overview: 

A paper trading account is a simulated account trading in a simulated market.  IBKR programmatically simulates, to the best possible abilities, actual market conditions.  However, it is not a real market and prices cannot exactly match.  IBKR is simulating not only the trader’s functionality and the market, but also the role of the exchange.  In a real, live account, the order would be sent to the exchange, and the exchange would be doing the execution—not IBKR.  The exchange has an anonymous book and orders are matched anonymously.  With the simulated account IBKR is trying to simulate the role that in the real markets is played by the exchange.  While these fills may or may not be within the bounds of the live market at the time, in no way is it indicative of what would happen in the real market.  Again, IBKR is simulating the exchange’s role in the live market, and in that market the onus for order matching/filling is on the exchange.

Background: 

The simulated trader is for clients to acclimate themselves to the software, test various orders and strategies, and to serve other learning functions.  There is no way to exactly replicate live markets.  They are simply too dynamic.  The IBKR simulator does a very good job of it, but no simulator could be perfect.

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