Simulated futures, real market experience with Paper Trading
With Paper Trading, you can practice trading futures risk-free and develop your strategy. Whether you're a novice or a seasoned trader, it can help you deeper understand how expiration works, what settlement prices are, and how these mechanisms function.
CONTENTS:
Why practice trading futures
Futures rank among the most liquid tradable assets in the market. They combine versatility with standardization, allowing you to speculate on price changes across commodities, bonds, indices, forex pairs, cryptocurrencies, and virtually any other asset that can serve as an underlying for a futures contract. Whether you're trading bond, commodity, or index futures, they all operate on similar principles.
This similarity means that if you rely on technical analysis and understand futures fundamentals, you can work across a wide range of assets effectively.
However, fundamental factors also play a crucial role in pricing. Even though derivatives trading volumes often exceed spot trading, futures prices depend heavily on the spot prices of their underlying assets. This relationship means that price movements can be influenced by factors beyond pure trading activity.
For example, commodity futures may be affected by weather patterns like droughts causing wheat shortages, while Bitcoin futures respond to both halvings and regulatory changes. Each industry has specific variables that traders must consider. The most effective approach involves understanding your underlying asset thoroughly, staying familiar with sector-specific constraints, and following current financial news to remain updated on market shifts.
Starting trading futures
First, connect to your Paper Trading account. From Supercharts, locate the Trading Panel and select Paper Trading.
Next, choose the futures you want to practice with. In the upper toolbar's left side, find Symbol Search. Navigate to the "Futures" tab to access the complete list of available futures. You can sort them by country or category and explore different options by clicking the arrow to the left of each symbol's logo.
Alternatively, you can change your chart's symbols by simply typing the name — the symbol search window will appear automatically.
Must-know aspects of paper trading futures
Although Paper Trading closely simulates real market conditions, some of its features differ from actual exchange trading. These modifications are designed specifically to streamline your trading experience.
If you already know how to trade on TradingView, have chosen your symbol, configured your demo account, and placed trades, consider the following futures characteristics that impact your final trading results.
Settlement and expiration handling
- Your realized profit/loss is reflected at the moment of settlement
- Your positions close after expiration using the final settlement price
- All expiring futures settle at the final settlement price
- The final settlement price comes from the exchange
- If unavailable, we use the closing price from the last daily bar (typically close to the final settlement price)
Contract types and account support
- Classical and crypto futures are supported across all Paper Trading accounts, including contest accounts on The Leap
- All futures are treated as cash-settled regardless of their actual type, enabling you to test strategies without limitations
- Perpetual and continuous futures do not have settlement
Automatic position and order handling
- The system automatically closes expired positions
- The platform cancels active orders for expired contracts
- If you specify a commission per contract, it will be deducted at settlement
Account manager
- All executions are reflected in the "Account History" and "Trading Journal" tabs
- You can track your positions, orders, and expiration dates in the "Expiration Date" column
The bottom line
By trading paper futures, you can develop strategies, understand settlement mechanics, and become familiar with different asset classes before committing capital. It provides you with market exposure that eliminates the operational aspects of real futures trading.
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