Learn the platform in paper mode first

Goal: Log in to the simulated trading environment so that nothing you practise risks real money.

1. Install the desktop platform and sign in with your brokerage credentials.
2. Switch the account selector from Live Trading to paperMoney.
3. Confirm the header shows the simulated account before doing anything else.
4. Reset the paper balance to an amount that matches the account you would realistically trade.

Watch for: Paper fills are optimistic. Real fills are worse, especially on wide spreads.

Practise: Place and cancel one order in paperMoney without submitting anything in the live account.

Goal: Build a simple layout: one chart, one watchlist, one order entry panel.

1. Use the Charts tab for your main chart and dock a watchlist on the left.
2. Keep one gadget visible for order entry; hide everything you do not use.
3. Save the layout so you can restore it after any accidental change.

Watch for: More panels is not more information. Clutter slows decisions.

Practise: Save a layout named 'Simple' with three panels only.

Goal: Read the same ticker across daily, 5-minute and 1-minute charts.

1. Set the aggregation period and the time span separately — they are different controls.
2. Start with the daily chart for context, then drop to 5-minute for the session.
3. Only use the 1-minute chart when you already know the wider context.

Watch for: A 1-minute chart makes everything look urgent. It is the last chart you should open, not the first.

Practise: Screenshot one ticker on all three timeframes and note what changes in your interpretation.

Goal: Display the volume-weighted average price on an intraday chart.

1. Open Studies, then Add Study, and search for VWAP.
2. Apply it to an intraday chart only — it is a session measure.
3. Set the line colour so it is clearly distinct from your moving averages.

Watch for: VWAP resets each session. It means nothing on a daily chart.

Practise: Watch one ticker's first reaction to VWAP after the open and journal what happened.

Goal: See participation, not just price.

1. Enable the volume subgraph beneath price.
2. Add a moving average of volume so today's bars have a reference.
3. Compare current volume to the same time of day historically, not to the whole previous day.

Watch for: A single large volume bar can be one block trade, not sustained interest.

Practise: Identify one ticker where volume rose while price stalled, and write down what that might mean.

Goal: Track a small, deliberate set of tickers rather than everything that moves.

1. Create a personal watchlist and add columns for last price, net change and volume.
2. Keep it under fifteen symbols.
3. Review and prune it weekly.

Watch for: Long watchlists produce attention fatigue and random trades.

Practise: Build a ten-symbol list from your own criteria and keep it for two weeks.

Goal: Filter the market by objective criteria instead of browsing.

1. Open the Scan tab and set a price range and minimum average volume first.
2. Add one behavioural filter at a time so you understand its effect.
3. Save the scan and re-run it at the same time each day for consistency.

Watch for: Scanners find activity, not opportunity. The output is a starting point for research.

Practise: Save one scan and compare its results with the AlphaRadar Radar for three days.

Goal: Place limit, stop and stop-limit orders correctly in paperMoney.

1. Use the trade panel and select the order type explicitly each time.
2. Set the price and quantity, then read the confirmation dialog in full.
3. Choose the time-in-force deliberately — day orders expire, GTC orders do not.

Watch for: A stop-limit can leave you unfilled in exactly the conditions you wanted protection from.

Practise: Place one of each order type in paperMoney and record the fill differences.

Goal: Attach a stop and a target to an entry so your exit exists before your entry does.

1. Right-click the order and choose the bracket or first-triggers-OCO template.
2. Set the stop at your invalidation price and the target at a realistic level.
3. Verify all three legs appear in the order queue before submitting.

Watch for: If you cancel the entry, confirm the child orders cancelled too.

Practise: Build five bracket orders in paperMoney and check every leg each time.

Goal: Translate your risk-per-trade figure into a share count before entering.

1. Calculate shares = risk amount ÷ (entry − stop) using Trading Maths.
2. Enter that exact share count in the quantity field.
3. Never adjust the quantity because the total cost looks small or large.

Watch for: Round-number share counts are a sign the size was chosen emotionally.

Practise: Size ten paper trades purely by formula.

Goal: Understand what actually happened to your orders.

1. Check the Monitor tab for working, filled and cancelled orders.
2. Compare your intended price with the fill price for every trade.
3. Record the slippage in your journal.

Watch for: Paper fills often ignore real queue position. Treat them as optimistic.

Practise: Record slippage across twenty paper trades and calculate the average.

Goal: Let the platform watch levels so you do not have to stare at the screen.

1. Create an alert on a price level that matters to your plan.
2. Choose notification delivery and test that it actually reaches you.
3. Delete alerts that are no longer relevant.

Watch for: Alerts prompt investigation, not action.

Practise: Set three level alerts and journal what you did when each triggered.

Goal: Close the loop between what you observed and what you learned.

1. Export or screenshot the day's orders after the close.
2. Write three lines per trade: reason, outcome, adjustment.
3. Review the week as a whole every Friday, including trades you declined.

Watch for: Reviewing only losing trades teaches you half the lesson.

Practise: Complete five consecutive daily reviews before changing anything in your process.