Alpaca’s Paper Trading Platform provides a real-time simulation environment where you can test your algorithm and may help you identify any potential issues in advance.

In paper trading, orders aren’t routed to the real exchanges. Instead, the system simulates the order filling based on the real-time quotes. It calculates the account balance and performance numbers with virtual money.

Please note that while Alpaca’s Paper Trading Platform makes best effort to simulate real market behavior, active markets can cause results to vary.

To learn more about paper trading and creating an account, please refer to the Alpaca’s Paper Trading Document.

Paper Trading Specification - Documentation | Alpaca
Alpaca API lets you build and trade with real-time market data for free.