Paper Trade is a feature that allows you to test out trading strategies and trade in your account without risk. This window gives you the ability to view prospective trades and strategies in a test environment in real time. This article will provide an overview of the Account Manager window used for paper trading.
Trade Preferences
To begin, click Trade on the main toolbar and select Preferences. Select eSignal Paper Trading and click the Make Default button then close the window. eSignal Paper Trading should now be the default.
Order Ticket
To open the Order Ticket window to place buy and sell orders, go to Trade, eSignal Paper Trading and click on New Order. In this window you'll be able to change the Order Type (Market, Limit, Stop, Stop Limit) as well as Order Action (Buy, Sell, Sell Short, Buy to Cover).
Account Manager
The Account Manager window allows you to monitor Orders, Positions, as well as Executions, Accounts, and Messages. To Launch the Account Manager click Trade, eSignal Paper Trading, Account Manager.
This will launch the Account Manager. The Account Manager is set up just as a regular Broker’s Order Entry or tracking window would be. It is possible to view the status of your traders and orders by clicking on the corresponding tabs for "Orders", "Positions", and "Executions". eSignal Paper Trades are tracked in real-time and the Account value mimmicks the order as if it were a real trade.
Orders and Executions Tabs
The Orders tab displays all orders (Filled, Working and Cancelled) placed during the trading session (duration in which eSignal is left running). If eSignal is restarted a new session will be created. Unfilled orders can be Canceled or Modified via the right click menu. Right click and select Flatten All if you wish to close all Open positions. Other right click features include Format Window (customize colors and font), Notifications (audio and pop up alerts), Order Defaults (set a template for all new orders), Confirmations (check or uncheck to confirm the order), Connection Settings (adjust Broker Settings if using an integrated broker), and Style Templates (allows you to save custom templates for the Account Manager window). The Executions Tab will display all buy and sell order for the given session.
Positions Tab
The Position Tab will display all open and closed positions. Open positions will continue to update and diplay the Open P/L (profit/loss) in real time. Adding a checkmark to the 'Display open position only' box, allows you to filter out closed position from view. Right clicking within the Positions Tab allows you to close a single position (using close position) or close all open positions using flatten all.
Accounts Tab
The Accounts Tab displays your account information including your Account ID, Balance and Total PL (profit/loss).
Messages Tab
The messages tab displays communications between eSignal and the default broker. In this case our default broker is set to Paper Trading in order to test trading strategies. The columns can be sorted by Number, Time, Category, and Message. The Categories include open orders, positions, and executions along with additional details in the Message field. Entries are color coded by status/category. The colors can be edited by right clicking the window and selecting Format Window.