Simulated vs Broker Account

When you start a Live Trading Session, the Broker Credentials step presents a segmented toggle with two execution modes: Simulated and Broker Account. This choice determines where your orders are matched and whether any brokerage is involved at all. Understanding the difference is foundational – it is the decision every other setup step builds on, which is why it comes before per-broker setup.

Simulated mode

Simulated mode runs on Stratifyre’s own built-in simulated exchange. There is no broker connection, no credentials, and no API keys required – you can start trading a strategy immediately.

Orders run through Stratifyre’s in-process Rust matching engine (the same engine family that powers backtesting), fed with live market prices. Orders are matched, filled, and tracked entirely inside Stratifyre against virtual cash – no order ever reaches a real brokerage or exchange.

Simulated mode is always paper. It uses virtual money and can never place a real-money trade.

Configuration

When you start a Simulated session, you can configure how fills are modeled:

Setting	What it controls	Default
Initial Cash	Starting virtual cash balance	$100,000
Slippage: Equities (%)	Modeled slippage as a percentage of price	0.05%
Slippage: Futures (ticks)	Modeled slippage in ticks	4 ticks
Slippage: Crypto (%)	Modeled slippage as a percentage of price	0.1%

Best for: validating a strategy end-to-end in live market conditions, experimenting freely, and getting started with zero setup.

Broker Account mode

Broker Account mode connects to one of Stratifyre’s 9 supported real brokers and exchanges using saved Broker Credentials.

Category	Brokers / Exchanges
Traditional brokers	Alpaca, Interactive Brokers (IBKR), TradeStation, Tradier
Crypto exchanges	Binance, Bybit, Coinbase, OKX, Kraken

Paper vs. Live broker accounts

Each connected credential is either a Paper account or a Live account. This comes from the broker credential itself (its isPaperAccount flag), not from a separate toggle in the session form.

A Paper broker account uses that broker’s own sandbox, testnet, or paper infrastructure – for example, Alpaca’s paper API, Binance testnet, Coinbase sandbox, Bybit testnet, or OKX simulated. These are real network calls to the broker, matched by the broker’s own engine.
A Live account trades with real money.

Best for: trading against a specific broker’s real execution, liquidity, and account – either their paper sandbox for realistic broker-side testing, or a live account for real-money trading.

The key distinction

Simulated and a broker Paper account are both paper trading, but they are not the same thing:

Simulated matches your orders inside Stratifyre’s own engine against virtual cash. No broker is involved at all.
A broker Paper account routes your orders to the real broker’s own sandbox infrastructure, where the broker’s own engine fills them.

Simulated is the fastest way to start because there is no account to set up. A broker Paper account gives you the most realistic preview of how that specific broker will actually fill your orders.

	Simulated	Broker Paper account	Broker Live account
Real money?	No	No	Yes
Broker connection required?	No	Yes	Yes
Where orders are matched	Stratifyre’s in-process Rust engine	Broker’s own sandbox/testnet engine	Broker’s live engine
Credentials / API keys needed	None	Yes (a saved paper credential)	Yes (a saved live credential)
Market data	Live market prices	Live market prices	Live market prices
Best for	Zero-setup validation and experimentation	Realistic preview of a specific broker’s fills	Real-money trading

Next steps

Read Broker Setup for details on connecting each of the 9 supported brokers and exchanges.
Learn about Paper Trading to understand why you should always simulate before going live.
Review Risk Management to configure the safety controls that protect your capital.
Understand Session Management to see how sessions are started, paused, stopped, and recovered.