Best Paper Trading App UK Revealed!

A paper trading app simulates live market conditions, allowing you to trade risk-free. Before the introduction of electronic trading applications, paper trading often had to be done with paper—and traders had to apply strategies and cross off possible profits and losses.

Today, a paper trading app should give you access to technical tools and indicators, live charts, fundamental and technical analysis, and allow you to trade without the fear of losing your income. In this article, we explore paper trading, its nuances, improving your trading skills in a zero-loss environment, and the best paper trading applications to consider today.

Best Paper Trading App UK List

1. eToro– Popular Paper Trading Platform Regulated by The FCA
2. XTB – Best Forex Paper Trading App For Beginners
3. AvaTrade– Great Paper Trading App with Low Spreads
4. Trade Nation – Regulated Paper Trading App with Fixed Spreads in the UK
5. Admiral Markets– Reliable Paper Trading App with MT4
6. Pepperstone – One of the Most Popular Paper Trading Apps Worldwide
7. Plus500 – A Really Good UK Trading App with Paper Trading

A Closer Look At The Best Paper Trading Apps UK

eToro

eToro is a global trading app that facilitates social trading like no other. In March 2022, the trading platform celebrated 28.5 million global users. eToro operates in 140 countries and supports stocks, ETFs, and more than 60 cryptocurrency assets. eToro has held a standard for transparency and speedy execution of orders due to its innovative technology and AI.

eToro’s social trading is the helm of a trading system where beginners can learn from experienced traders and copy successful trading strategies. Professional traders earn up to 2.5% of the profits of any trader that replicates their trading strategies. eToro has a fantastic paper trading app—its copy trading feature. With eToro’s copy trade feature, you can access live market conditions with virtual funds and trade.

eToro’s paper trading app:

eToro’s demo trading account is a virtual trading account that allows would-be investors to experiment with different trading strategies and instruments. With eToro’s demo account, you can trade many commodities without putting yourself at any financial risk.

Key Features

• eToro’s virtual trading interface is seamless and beginner-friendly.
• You can trade stocks, cryptocurrencies, indices, and ETFs. You can also conduct CFD trading.
• You can also copy the trading strategies of other top traders, even with a demo account.
• Get up to $100,000 in virtual currency for the experience.

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk.

XTB

The broker XTB was founded in Warsaw in 2002 and currently has more than 720,000 clients. The company is regulated by the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), and its accounts are openly accessible as X Trade Brokers (9PR.F).

The company is not just a market leader in Poland, where it has its headquarters, but it also has offices in 13 other countries, including Spain, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Portugal.

A Spanish office was opened in 2008, and the group has always stood out for its excellent training services and easy-to-use platform that offers advanced stock searches.

It diversified its offering to clients in 2018 by offering stocks and ETFs for spot trading. In the commissions section, we will see more details about this offering of stocks and ETFs with 0% commissions since October 5, 2020.

With the addition of fractional investment, its investment catalog has been further democratized, enabling investors to invest in fractional shares for as little as 10 euros.

Key Features

• Regulation: Registered with CNMV and KNF (Poland)
• Guarantee Fund: Up to 20,000 euros
• Financial Assets: Financial derivatives such as stocks and ETFs (fractional or not).
• Markets: The ability to trade on 16 global stock exchanges
• Account Types: Standard and Pro versions
• Minimum Deposit: €0
• Platform: Proprietary, xStation 5 and Mobile

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk.

AvaTrade

There are plenty of good reasons why traders should choose AvaTrade as a market maker broker. The broker offers fixed spreads (starting from 0.9 pips in Forex), making it an excellent choice for news and active traders. There are only 200 CFDs available with AvaTrade, so traders who focus on asset selection may not find AvaTrade appealing.

Additionally, AvaTrade offers features like negative balance protection and segregated accounts to protect your funds.

U.S. traders can't access the broker's services despite its presence in numerous locations around the globe.

Despite the slightly higher minimum deposit and limited range of assets, it is an extremely trustworthy broker with many features, such as extensive markets, copy trading, and spread betting.

Furthermore, it has become a partner of the Aston Martin F1 team.

Key Features

• Forex pairs, including exotic currency pairs, can be traded at AvaTrade.
• In Forex trading, there is a unique feature that offers optional products.
• The site offers a variety of educational resources for traders, including both beginner and intermediate materials.
• A unique order type protects against losses on the platform, which is easy to use.
• Provides on-the-go traders with a high-quality mobile trading platform.
• Provides AvaProtect, but with associated costs.

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk.

Trade Nation

Multi-regulated broker Trade Nation has offices in South Africa, the United Kingdom, and Australia. They are regulated in South Africa (FSCA), the United Kingdom (FCA), Australia (ASIC) and the Bahamas (SCB). Globally, they strive to offer the best products, leverage, and customer trading experiences to attract clients worldwide.

Since 2014, they were known as Core Spreads, although they were founded in 2020. Fixed spreads and low trading costs made them one of the most popular brokers. Trade Nation tends to carry this over.

They place a great deal of emphasis on their brand values and business outlook. Their mission and focus are  "client-first approach" and "fresh approach to trading.".

The Trade Nation (T.N.) app and trading platform will also offer MetaTrader 4 (MT4). A large list of tradable assets is available on their proprietary platform, with fixed spreads and guaranteed stops. Particularly if you're used to MetaTrader 4, you'll find it extremely user-friendly. Currently, you cannot add your custom indicators and E.A.s.

Key Features

• As a UK-based company regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA), Trade Nation provides traders with high security.
• In addition to Forex, indices, commodities, shares, and cryptocurrencies, they also offer trading across various asset classes.
• Beginners and experienced traders will find Trade Nation's trading platform easy to use.
• Traders can improve their skills and knowledge with the help of their educational materials and resources.
• To assist traders with inquiries and problems, Trade Nation typically offers customer support services.

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk.

 Admiral Markets

Admiral Markets U.K. was founded in 2001 and offers MetaTrader forex and CFD trading. In addition to its head office in Tallinn, Estonia, Admiral Markets has offices in London and Zagreb, among other cities. With its partnership with MetaQuotes Software Corporation, Admiral Markets Group offers MT4, MT5, MetaTrader Supreme Edition, and MetaTrader Web Trader platforms. Among the other products AdmiralMarket.com offers are a wide variety of cryptocurrencies, shares, currencies, indices, gold, silver, commodities, CFDs for investment, and other trading services.

Despite this, crypto CFDs are not available to U.K. retail traders or residents from any forex broker in the U.K. On competitive terms, traders can trade any popular instrument on the world's financial markets. According to many broker reviews, Admiral Markets is one of the best

Key Features

• A long history as a financial market player since 2001.
• Traders from various regions are served by the broker's offices in the U.K., Cyprus, Estonia, and Australia.
• In most jurisdictions where Admiral Markets operates, it is regulated by financial authorities, providing traders with a level of regulatory oversight.
• In addition to Forex currency pairs, they offer CFDs on stocks and indices, commodities, commodities, and cryptocurrencies.

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk

Pepperstone

Since 2010, Pepperstone has been offering Forex and spread betting services through its Pepperstone Group of companies. Regulations for this brand include FCA, ASIC, CySEC, BaFIN, SCB (Bahamas), CMA (Kenya), and DFSA (Dubai).

Each platform has mobile, desktop, and web versions, and Pepperstone clients can choose from MT4, MT5, and cTrader. Additionally, cTrader integrates TradingView charts as well as the social trading network. For MetaTrader, Pepperstone offers MirorTrader, RoboX, myFxbook, and DupliTrade, while cTrader offers DupliTrade.

Besides scalping and hedging, Pepperstone also supports algorithmic trading and news spike trading. More than 1200 CFDs are listed in the market on Forex, Indices, Stocks, Commodities, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, and Currency Indices. Virtual trading accounts are available for demo purposes.

Pepperstone offers MetaTrader, Autochartist, and Delkos add-ons for Smart Trader Tools. An in-house team provides market research, including technical and fundamental analysis in written and video forms. Traders of all levels can also access pre-recorded educational content on Pepperstone.

Key Features

• The account opening process at Pepperstone is simple and fast.
• Trading with them is cost-effective due to low spreads and competitive commission rates.
• Opening an account does not require a minimum deposit.
• Pepperstone does not charge inactivity fees for dormant accounts.
• A wide range of assets are available for traders, including major currency pairs, CFDs on stocks, bonds, and cryptocurrencies.

75.3% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading spread bets and CFDs with this provider.

Plus500

With Plus500, you can trade CFDs on cryptocurrencies and other assets and securities, including commodities, currencies, indices, stocks, and ETFs. CFDs are popular trading techniques that allow you to speculate on the changes in the value of assets without actually owning them; you can read more about CFDs in our CFD guide. In cryptocurrency trading, leverage is available (although it is much lower than in other options). Maximizing your profits when trading cryptocurrencies with leverage is possible, but it can also result in greater losses if the market moves against you.

As a result, you cannot buy cryptocurrencies on Plus500; if you want to own them, you must use a cryptocurrency exchange or broker. With the platform, you can quickly execute trades related to changes in coin values. As described below, several techniques and tools are available to help you capitalize on the market.

Live chat and email support are available 24/7 at Plus500. You can choose from multiple languages for their email support, so you can find the one that's most convenient for you. It is still possible to contact them via their 'Contact Us' form if live chat is unavailable. Because Plus500 doesn't have phone support, you'll need to use their live chat if you need a faster response than email.

Plus500 recommends exploring their demo account first if you consider using their services. This option lets you practice the platform system without risking any real money. Using it allows you to experiment with trading in a simulated environment and become familiar with the CFDs traded on Plus500.

Key Features

• Demo Account: Users of Plus500 can practice trading without risking any real money with a free demo account.
• Risk Management Tools: Traders can manage their positions using the platform's risk management tools, including stop-loss and take-profit orders.
• Mobile Trading: Traders can trade on their smartphones and tablets with Plus500's mobile apps.
• Regulation: Traders can feel secure knowing that Plus500 is regulated by financial authorities worldwide.
• Educational Resources: Users can improve their trading skills with educational resources like tutorials and trading guides on the platform.

78% of accounts lose money when trading CFDs with this provider. Your money is at risk

How To Paper Trade With eToro

eToro paper trading app not only allows you to trade risk-free in live market conditions, but you can also copy trade other trading strategies. eToro is also excellent for paper trading crypto and one of the best day trading apps in the market. However, before using the platform’s demo account, you must sign up and verify your account.

Sign up for an account

Signing up only takes three minutes. Before signing up, make sure you check out all eToro requirements for new members:

1. Make sure you are at least 18 years old and have a valid government-issued ID card that reflects your date of birth.
2. You must live within a country where eToro operates.
3. Provide a valid email address and phone number that can be used for verification.

Now that you have all these, it’s time to open an account.

• Visit eToro’s website and click ‘Create Account.’
• Enter your username, email, and password.
• Use a strong password (preferably a mix of upper and lower case letter, numbers, and symbols.
• Check the terms and condition box.
• Click the Create Account button, and voila, you have created a new eToro account.
• Verify your account by clicking the verification button or link in your email. You should receive an email verification link in a minute. If you do not, check your spam folder.

Once you sign up, you have to complete your eToro profile. You can skip the profile completion step and go back later. If you do not want to skip the step, click ‘Complete Profile’ and then fill in your personal information, including your address, place of birth, city, zip code, and country. All information provided herein must match the information on your ID card.

Start your Investment Knowledge Assessment and verify your phone number.

Verify ID

To verify your ID, submit a government-issued ID card. Please follow these instrcutions when submitting an ID:

1. Do not crop your ID. Make sure all four borders show.
2. Do not edit or distort your ID electronically. eToro reserves the right to suspend your account if they suspect foul play.
3. Only your passport or a government-issued ID is accepted, and you must show the back and front of the ID.
4. For your proof of address, a bank statement, council tax or municipality bill, national ID, state ID, bank statement, electricity/water/gas/telephone/internet bill, or credit card statement would do.

Deposit Funds

To deposit funds into your eToro account, click Deposit Funds once you are on eToro’s dashboard, and select the currency and the amount you want to deposit. Next, choose your most convenient payment method, and click ‘Deposit.’ eToro does not accept all currencies, so if your currency isn’t accepted, you may incur a conversion fee from your bank.

Switch to Demo Account

Before switching to a demo account, you must first create a demo account. Follow these steps:

• Log in and select virtual portfolio. If you do not have an account, sign up.
• The new window will take you to your demo account with $100,000 automatically deposited.
• If you want to switch from a live account to a demo account, click on the Real/Virtual menu below your username.

Note: eToro does not charge trading fees or commissions on any trade you make on your virtual account. Virtual account balances are non-transferable.

CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. 

What Is Paper Trade?

Before the advent of digital brokers and online trading platforms, traders practiced on paper—hence the name paper trade. Investors of old had to record all trades by hand and keep track of the movement of prices of assets or instruments they were trading. Today, we have simulators for stock markets, shares, commodities, forex, and cryptocurrencies. These simulators mirror live markets and offer live charts and technical indicators.

Technically, there is no profit or loss in paper trading; however, an investor must pretend to be under live market conditions.

Paper trading is great—that's why almost all online brokers integrate them; however, it also has its fallbacks.

For paper trading to make sense, investors must trade within similar conditions. If you can only afford $500 to trade shares in company XYZ, don’t paper trade with $5,000.

Paper trading is like video game simulators where you can earn lots of money—only this time, the money isn't yours, and you can buy anything with it.

To paper trade and become a better investor, always follow these three rules:

1. Be realistic with your trade: Yes, you can have $100,000 in your virtual wallet, but come on, you probably don't have those funds in real life. $300 might be more appropriate. Whatever you do, don't overstock your funds or paper trading turns into a game.
2. Stimulate real emotion: You won't cry if you lose $300 worth of virtual money and have an extra $40k in your account. Imagine losing $300 in real life. Imagine losing your life savings. Trading comes with heaps of emotions, and the best traders have often learnt to contain their emotions. You might not be trading in real market conditions, but you should pretend to be.
3. Don't stay too long: Stay too long, and it quickly becomes a game. In fact, you can have a demo trading account and a real account. Use the demo trading to practice strategies as you grow, and then trade with the risks on your real account.

Your capital is at risk.

Paper Trading Best Practices

Set a realistic balance

As said earlier, set a realistic balance. Set a balance that reflects your present financial situation. When you set a balance, set a goal. Why do you want to trade? Do you want to use the last $200 with you to make $1000 to cover a debt? Do you want stock trading or trade ETFs, indices, currencies, or cryptocurrencies? When you ask these questions, you set yourself into a pattern that looks like the real thing. Greed and fear come to play, and then you can trade on the demo account.

Conduct research and analysis

This is perhaps the most important part of paper trading. Again, paper trading isn’t a game . It’s a program meant to aid your journey through investment. Research and analysis are dependent on many factors:

1. The instrument you are trading
2. Your trading goals and ambitions

Let’s explore both factors.

Trading stocks and ETFs is different from trading automated crypto trading. Certainly, there are similarities, but trading strategies and risks differ. Every instrument has a unique market, and a market is determined by past factors like performance, liquidity, and present factors. You also need to consider technical and fundamental analysis, as they pertain to the instrument. For the sake of this guide, let's use cryptocurrencies. Your research must answer the ‘what and why.’

Before you pick crypto or token, you must answer two questions.

What crypto asset do you want to trade right now, and why?

Let’s say you picked MANA: Why did you pick this token? Do you think its current price is a discount because of the 2022 crypto winter? Are you investing for the long term or short term and think the price of SAND will climb back to its 2021 all-time high? When you select an asset, you must run an intensive fundamental analysis on it to determine if it's the right asset for your trading needs. If you are a day trader with very few funds, you might pick an asset with high volatility, open and close positions quickly, and set order types that will limit your loss.

Your capital is at risk.

Test out a variety of strategies

The purpose of a paper trading app is to help you test out trading strategies. If one works, check out why replicate it under the same conditions, and learn. If you lose, learn, and find out what happened. When testing strategies, you must take detailed notes of your trading, spot patterns, and understand why you take certain risks.

Create a risk management strategy

Most online trading platforms are required to reveal their gain/loss ratio. It’s no news that most people who trade CFDs lose their money. The loss value can be as high as 80%. The 80:20 rule also applies in investment. Around 20% of investors make 80% of the profit. It’s important to create a risk-management strategy from the get-go.

But people may ask, 'Isn't the essence of investing to make a profit?' Yes, you invest for a positive ROI; however, stock, forex, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and other instruments are generally unpredictable. Even if you conduct a thorough fundamental and technical analysis of an instrument, it might surprise you and go in the opposite direction of your bet. That's why it's important to set a risk-management strategy even if you are just demo trading. The habits you grow in your paper trading period often follow you into real trading.

When creating a risk-management strategy, follow up with these:

Set your entry and exit point:

Entry and exit points guide you against the two biggest emotions that fuel most investment-losing trading strategies: fear and greed. There is only so much you can make. Close your position when you have reached your target. Even if you push, check your previous strategy. If you foresaw a price reaching $8 and it reached $15, there has to be a reason it happened. Don't just assume you are great at predicting the prices of assets. Who tweeted? Perhaps Elon Musk said something? Does the instrument have new features? Is there a sudden rise in demand? What's the liquidity of the asset? When you ask the right questions, you get the right answers and know when to get out. Stop loss orders also protect you when your predictions are wrong. The good news is that you can automate stop loss orders, limits, and market orders even on your practice trading account.

Risk/reward ratio:

Determine what you stand to lose and gain if you invest in an instrument. What's the risk of Bitcoin trading? Check the price patterns. More importantly, what's your risk appetite?

Take your time

Again, take your time when paper trading. Read as many resources as you can. However, it's also important not to spend too much time on paper trading.

Pretend that it’s your real money at risk!

And again, you must pretend that it’s your money at risk. When you trade with your money, it’s a lot of emotions. Try and mirror those emotions when paper trading.

Best Paper Trading App UK- Our Conclusion

The best paper trading app UK, certainly is eToro. When choosing a paper trading app, you must look beyond the demo account and find the best features of the app. eToro is the world's largest social trading platform, and offers competitive leverage of up to x30, excellent spreads, and provides secure asset saving mechanism. eToro also has a minimum $20 deposit, and an endless resource of data, market analysis, technical indicators, training materials, and allows copy trading for both live and demo accounts.

Your capital is at risk.

FAQs