gbu 1 Report post Posted May 9, 2013 Hi. I am newbie here. So I am still paper trading the strategies using IB platform. When I was paper trading for buying/ selling stocks that have huge volume, the paper trading account follows closely with real trades. Nevertheless, I have found several times that when selling a combo option orders, I still did not get filled even though I matched the bid of the combo orders or even set the limit lower than the bids. That is also happening several times when I am buying, even though I put the limit orders higher than the midpoints. But other members got even lower fills (lower than the midpoints). Of course, other members are trading with real money. At one time, I experiment to close using a market order. The market order is filled way below the current bid. I am beginning to wonder if it is due to paper trading. If no real trades occur at a specific limit price, even though at that moment, the prices are at the bid or even lower, it will not get filled in paper trading account. Is my observation correct? In that case, paper trading in a paper trading account to test the strategies are not going to work/ show reliable result. How're other senior members paper trading the strategies before using real money? Just taking down notes on paper for entry prices that you think that is probably going to be filled, then taking down notes again when exiting at exit prices that you think it is going to be filled? Waiting some feedbacks from other senior members regarding paper trading the strategy. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Guest Hal Report post Posted May 9, 2013 I'm fairly newbie but I recently moved from IB's paper to "real money" platforms, and I have to agree: the fills seem different. When I was only paper trading straddles and strangles, my orders would often not get filled even slightly above Kim's "buy" price; seems to be more fluid when trading real money. I still found paper trading useful, and am continuing to only paper-trade the calendars and condors till I understand them better. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cwelsh 1,576 Report post Posted May 9, 2013 I had that same problem with the TOS platform. What I started to do for paper trading purposes was not to use combo orders. If I wanted a straddle, I just bought the put and then bought the call, then backed out the extra commissions each week. This of course doesn't help you learn trade execution, but it does let you learn about the option trades themselves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
gbu 1 Report post Posted May 10, 2013 Thanks for the feedbacks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
