Simulating real world order placement for paper trading

This is at the top of what is important in paper trading. You must go through behavior motions which will mimic as much as posible real-world trading scenarios. This is not difficult to do logistically, it just requires discipline.

After deciding you want to place your paper trading order you will simulate these behaviors:

Trading behavior to simulate 1:

Actually typing in your paper trading order. For this you will use none other then notepad.exe that comes with your operating system. It doesn't need to be complicated. You just want to go through the motions. Open up notepad and resize it to a small rectangle and place somewhere on your screen. I just put it in the bottom left corner.

Note:

When trading for real you can at this point just let the order sit there while you review your decision. This is very common to just type in your order and then just wait for that right moment to send the order. Sometimes there is indecision and while you felt sure you want to place an order 30 seconds ago, now you are being indecisive because it will be real money on the line you could lose. In this case, the discipline to follow through on your execution is vital. Especially when you need to get out of a losing trade.

Trading behavior to simulate 2:

Pressing the "execution" button. Otherwise known as the "send order" button on your real world trading account screen. In paper trading it will be your "return" key.

When you hit the enter button while your text is highlighted in notepad, it will just be deleted. That's fine, we just needed a behavior as a point of reference when the order was sent. Make note of the time you hit the enter key. But this is not the time your order was filled. We are now tasked with mimicking your order being filled. Click on the "Fills" tab.

Trading behavior to simulate 3:

Type in all modifications to the order. If you want to cancel an order, you need to type that out in notepad.
A simple "cancel buy 200 INTC @ 13.00" will do fine. You want to go ahead and get in the habit of typing out what you are canceling. You will also want to follow the same steps for any modifications in terms of highlighting the text then hitting "Enter" to simulate executing the action.

Note:

When a stock is moving fast and price is dropping like a rock or skyrocketing you will realize just how much of an inconvenience actually typing in a trading order can be. For example:

If you are caught in a stock dropping fast, by the time you type in your order and send it the stock may have dropped another dollar. Even if you have a limit sell order in place a stock may burn right through that order and you never get filled. You would then have to cancel that order and then retype a new sell order. All of this takes time and you need to simulate it.