# How does paper trading work?

<Loop
steps={[
{ title: 'Paper', detail: 'Fake money, real prices' },
{ title: 'Watch', detail: 'Disable losers' },
{ title: 'Promote', detail: 'One winner to live' },
{ title: 'Live', detail: 'Real money' },
]}
caption="Test first, then promote"
/>

**Start in paper. Promote a winner. Then be stricter with real money.**

Binance paper trading in CryptoBud is the same crypto trading bot you take live, on live Binance Spot prices, with fake money. No API keys. Yolo is on, so the paper book does not go negative from auto-selling losers. You are testing which pairs are worth promoting to live.

### Let the bot enter

Setup already picks a style — Scalper, Builder, or Holder — and can screen which pairs to trade. Those pairs come with tuned strategy and risk: stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop, lot size. The styles ship with Yolo on, so automated stop-loss does not sell. Lots close on take-profit, a trail, a winning signal, or you selling by hand. Long press the server tab → Disable Yolo if you want the stop back. [What Yolo mode does →](/help/what-is-yolo-mode)

Skip manual buys unless you really mean it. A manual buy skips the entry guards the strategy uses. On paper you want to see what the config does.

### Watch lots. Do not babysit exits.

Leave open lots alone on paper. Watch how price hits the take or the trail. The stop stays asleep while Yolo is on.

When a pair keeps losing, disable it so it stops buying. Open lots stay until the take, the trail, a winning signal, or you sell by hand. The Live Activity stays up until they resolve. Read [Forecast and Report](/help/what-do-forecast-and-report-show) before you turn one off. [Calibrate](/help/how-do-i-calibrate-a-pair) an idle pair first if you still want it.

### Promote one winner

Do not dump every paper pair into live. Pick one that is actually working.

Promote copies that pair's strategy, risk, and execution onto Live. Positions do not come along. Live starts a fresh book with those knobs. You can leave the pair disabled on arrival and turn it on when you are ready.

**Go live** on the server copies the whole setup onto Live. Paper keeps running. Use that when you want everything. Use **Promote** when you want one pair.

Live needs your Binance Spot API key — trade-only, withdrawals off. [How to start live trading →](/help/how-do-i-start-live-trading)

### Live is a different job

On live you are betting real money. Paper taught you the config. Live is discipline.

- Watch the winning pairs. Manual exits are for live — take profit or cut a loss when you mean to.
- You can move stop-loss and take-profit on the pair while lots are open. Widen a stop if you want to give it more room. Tighten it if you want the bot to exit. Same for take-profit.
- Yolo is on, so paper does not go negative from auto cuts. Turn Yolo off on paper and fake USDT can go below zero — no worries, that is the point of paper. Live uses real money, so the bot stays inside what you have.

Ask [Bud Intelligence](/help/what-can-bud-intelligence-do) in chat if you want help tightening exits, turning a pair off, or leaving a later check.

### The loop

1. Paper first — fake money, real prices, no keys
2. Let screened pairs trade. Avoid manual entries
3. Watch lots. Disable losers so they stop buying — open lots finish on their own
4. Promote a winner to live
5. On live: watch, exit by hand when you choose, move stops if you are extending or cutting

That is the product: test first, then promote.