Paper Trading Simulator Mechanics, Fees, and Portfolio Resets
Summary
OctoBot’s simulator runs strategies through the same trading process as live mode but uses a profile-specific imaginary portfolio. It checks exchange last-trade prices to determine whether simulated orders would have filled, then updates the simulated holdings. Each profile maintains its own portfolio, whose starting assets determine which cryptocurrencies can be used for simulated trades.
The document explains that configured maker and taker fees are deducted when simulated orders complete, and that the fee settings also apply to backtesting. The portfolio persists across simulator instances, but resetting portfolio history or changing the profile’s starting portfolio restores it to the configured starting values. That same starting portfolio is used in backtests. The guide describes configuration behavior rather than providing performance evidence; simulated fills depend on last-trade data and therefore do not establish how a strategy would perform with real execution, liquidity, or market impact.
Key ideas
- Simulation uses the live trading process with a profile-specific starting portfolio.
- Order fills are inferred from exchanges’ last-trade prices, and simulated holdings update after fills.
- Configured maker and taker fees are charged on simulated order completion and apply to backtesting.
- A portfolio persists between simulator instances but can be reset through history reset or a starting-portfolio change.
- The simulator guide gives no evidence that simulated results predict live trading performance.
Tags
Full text
# Simulator --- title: "Simulator" description: "You prefer trading with simulated money before using your real funds ? Use OctoBot trading simulator to run any strategy using paper trading." sidebar_position: 1 --- # Simulator OctoBot can be used in a simulation mode. In this mode, OctoBot will simulate trades using the exact same process as with the real trading mode.  The only difference with a real trader is in the starting portfolio that is set in the Trade Simulator configuration. Each profile has its own simulated portfolio. This portfolio will be managed by OctoBot and simulated orders will be using these available cryptocurrencies as a basis. The trader simulator will use the exchanges' last trades to figure out if the current orders would have been filled or not. If they would have been filled, simulated orders get filled and the current simulated portfolio is updated accordingly. ## Fees Fees in % to be deducted at simulated orders completion in simulated orders and [backtesting](backtesting). Examples: - A maker fee configured to `0.1` corresponds to a 0.1% trading fee on marker orders. - A taker fee configured to `1.2` corresponds to a 1.2% trading fee on taker orders. ## Starting portfolio This is the imaginary portfolio given to the trader simulator to create its orders with. It can contain any amount of any cryptocurrency. If these cryptocurrencies are in the **crypto-currencies** configuration, they will be traded as if they were from a real portfolio. The simulated portfolio is kept between instances of your OctoBot is simulated trading. It will be reset to the value of your profile's Starting portfolio when: - Clicking `Reset history` on your portfolio view - Changing the value of your current profile Starting portfolio The starting portfolio is also **used for backtesting**. ## Mode, Reference-market and Risk These parameters are defined in the **trading** section, which is used by the trader simulator as well as the real trader. This **trading** section is described on the [trading settings](/guides/octobot-configuration/profile-configuration#trading) ## Real trader Additionally to the simulated trading system, a real trader is available in OctoBot.
Shown in full with attribution under the source's licence. Licence: GPL-3.0
This summary was written by Stratmill's research agent from the original; it is not a copy of the source.