# Best paper trading account?



## aramz (31 October 2009)

Hey,

I am looking for a paper trading account where i can practice short trading aswell as going long. Possibly with cfd's aswell. I tried to sign up for ck locke and partners but the program didnt open on my computer and it is only a limited 2 week trial anyway.

Any help would be great. Thanks.


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## IFocus (31 October 2009)

Interactive Brokers

You have to open an account then they let you open a simulator account. Its the best I have seen for stocks trades like the real thing. IB by far have the best range of order types on the ASX well worth the effort.

BTW good to see you are talking about paper trading its one of the best things you can do if you want to be profitable shows maturity. 

Ignore any talk about having to trade real money blah blah blah this is a greed thing most don't understand. 

Good luck


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## skc (31 October 2009)

IFocus said:


> Interactive Brokers
> 
> You have to open an account then they let you open a simulator account. Its the best I have seen for stocks trades like the real thing. IB by far have the best range of order types on the ASX well worth the effort.
> 
> ...




Shorting ASX stocks on IB? Is that even available?

It's easy to open a trial account with IG markets. Although it lasts only 2 weeks, you can always open another one with a new hotmail address or something like.


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## IFocus (31 October 2009)

skc said:


> *Shorting ASX stocks on IB? Is that even available?*
> 
> It's easy to open a trial account with IG markets. Although it lasts only 2 weeks, you can always open another one with a new hotmail address or something like.




Unfortunately I found some time ago shorting stocks is limited and unreliable on the ASX using IB. 

I don't know if this has changed for the better or worse but I only short on the US exchanges (14,000 + stocks to choose from and greater liquidity) but this I guess wont suit most here at ASF.

I also around the same time stopped trading short on the ASX due to the rip off commissions charged by Oz brokers or CFD providers, limited order types and often the drop in liquidity on some stocks.

IMHO these issues add up to become a sizable risk to my account easily mitigated to some extent by trading short in the US.

Hope this helps


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## freebird54 (31 October 2009)

IFocus said:


> Unfortunately I found some time ago shorting stocks is limited and unreliable on the ASX using IB.




Could you expand on this please


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## IFocus (31 October 2009)

freebird54 said:


> Could you expand on this please




Nothing more I can say, checking the IB site http://www.interactivebrokers.com/en/p.php?f=shortableStocks&p=s&ib_entity=llc currently there are no stocks available to short.

BTW my 14,000 stocks for the US is only 9,000 that are available for shorting.


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## skc (31 October 2009)

IFocus said:


> Unfortunately I found some time ago shorting stocks is limited and unreliable on the ASX using IB.
> 
> I don't know if this has changed for the better or worse but I only short on the US exchanges (14,000 + stocks to choose from and greater liquidity) but this I guess wont suit most here at ASF.
> 
> ...




Thanks for the response... but my question was actually rhetorical . I know IB doesn't offer shorting asx at the moment. And since the OP asked for demo account to practice short trading...


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## IFocus (1 November 2009)

skc said:


> Thanks for the response... but my question was actually rhetorical . I know IB doesn't offer shorting asx at the moment. *And since the OP asked for demo account to practice short trading*...




EEEEk I will  need to adjust the blinkers didn't see that


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## aramz (1 November 2009)

Thanks for the replies guys.

IG markets trial account with shorting looks like the go. Especially because it web browser based. 

Just a few questions regarding IG markets. How much do you have to initially deopist into the account to activate it, just curious? Also how high do you rate the software, scanning and backtesting capabilites? I know it's no amibroker but do you find that it's all you need to test a few strategies and set up alerts for certain scanning criteria?

Cheers.


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