# PaperMarket PaperMarket is a paper trading terminal that connects to live Polymarket markets.\ You trade with virtual dollars while prices, order books and charts come from real Polymarket data. The idea is simple. Before a trader starts placing real USDC bets on Polymarket, they can test the same decisions here and see how their strategy behaves in live market conditions. ### What PaperMarket gives you * Live order books and prices from Polymarket markets * A virtual starting balance that you can trade and reset * Market and limit orders with realistic matching against the live book * A portfolio view with positions, PnL and full trade history * A safe environment to test ideas before moving to real money All progress stays in the user account. A trader can come back at any time, review old trades and compare different approaches over time. ### Role in the Polymarket ecosystem PaperMarket is built on one assumption. The best way to learn a market is to practice on real data without financial risk. We do not replace Polymarket and we do not execute on chain.\ Instead we use public Polymarket APIs to mirror live markets inside a separate simulation environment. Traders use PaperMarket to: * observe how Polymarket markets react to news and events * test position sizing and basic risk rules * build confidence in a strategy before they deploy it with real USDC Once a trader is satisfied with their results in PaperMarket, they can move to Polymarket and apply the same logic with real capital. ### What you can find in this documentation This documentation explains * how PaperMarket connects to Polymarket markets * how orders, positions and PnL are simulated * how to start trading with virtual dollars * how portfolio, history and balance top ups work * how the system is structured from a technical point of view If you are a trader, start with **GET START → About PaperMarket**.\ If you are a builder or reviewer, you may also want to read **TECHNICAL → Architecture Overview**. --- # Agent Instructions: Querying This Documentation If you need additional information that is not directly available in this page, you can query the documentation dynamically by asking a question. Perform an HTTP GET request on the current page URL with the `ask` query parameter: ``` GET https://papermarket.gitbook.io/papermarket/papermarket.md?ask= ``` The question should be specific, self-contained, and written in natural language. The response will contain a direct answer to the question and relevant excerpts and sources from the documentation. Use this mechanism when the answer is not explicitly present in the current page, you need clarification or additional context, or you want to retrieve related documentation sections.