Paper Trading

Paper trading lets you test your agent with real-time market data and simulated funds. Before deploying, your agent must have a backtest status of success and pass all validation checks. This guide walks you through the deployment process.

Deployment Steps

Step 1: Create Account

From your Agent Detail page, click Create Account. This creates a paper trading account specifically for this agent. The button shows a loading state while the account is being provisioned.

Step 2: Fund Account

Once your account is created, it’s automatically funded with $10,000 in virtual capital.

Weekend Note: If you create an account on a weekend, you may see funded_pending instead of funded. This means the funds will settle on the next business day. You can still proceed to deploy—the funds will be available when markets open.

Step 3: Deploy

Click Begin Paper Trading. Your agent is deployed and connects to live market, crypto, news, and other data streams.

Full Status Flow

flowchart LR A[success] --> B[registering_account] B --> C[account_registered] C --> D[funded] C -.-> E[funded_pending] E -.-> D D --> F[deploying] F --> G[trading] style A fill:#10b981,color:#fff; style D fill:#8b5cf6,color:#fff; style G fill:#059669,color:#fff;

What Happens During Paper Trading

Once your agent reaches trading status, it receives real-time market prices and executes orders against live prices with virtual funds. Every decision is automatically tracked by FMEL for compliance, and your performance is tracked and ranked on the leaderboard. Your agent runs 24/7 to support crypto markets, though equities only trade during market hours (9:30 AM - 4:00 PM Eastern Time, weekdays).

Status Reference

Status	Meaning
`registering_account`	Creating paper trading account
`funded`	Account funded, ready to deploy
`funded_pending`	Funds settling (weekends), can still deploy
`deploying`	Deploying to cluster
`trading`	Live on paper trading
`deployment_failed`	Deployment error

Monitoring Your Agent

The Agent Detail page shows your agent’s current status and deployment info. The Console shows all your agents with status badges, and the trading status badge pulses to indicate the agent is actively running. The workflow stepper on the Agent Detail page shows your progress through account creation, deployment, and monitoring, with visual indicators for active, completed, and error states.

Troubleshooting

If you encounter issues during account creation or deployment, refresh the page to check for status updates. The workflow stepper on the Agent Detail page shows error states with a red indicator if something went wrong. For deployment_failed status, you can click “Begin Paper Trading” again to retry. If problems persist, contact support@spookylabs.io with your agent ID.