Experience US stocks with virtual funds
WAPE paper trading is a service for practicing virtual buying and selling of US stocks without depositing real money. You can check displayed quotes and order conditions, review order processing results and holdings, and reflect on your own records.
Every week, a new weekly league begins with $10,000 in virtual funds. You can check your trading process and results across five screens: Trading, Weekly Profit, My Records, My Titles, and Weekly Rankings. There is no functionality to connect to an actual brokerage account or transmit orders to an exchange.
Step-by-step to your first order
After signing up or logging in, navigate to paper trading. When starting for the first time, set your profile icon and nickname. Nicknames must be 2–8 characters long (Korean, English, or numeric) and cannot be duplicates.
Check your total assets, cash balance in USD, and available buying power on the trading screen. Search for the stock you wish to practice with by name or ticker.
Check the current price, quotes, and market status. Select your order type and quantity, then choose to buy or sell. Enter the quantity in units of 1 share.
After placing an order, check your holdings, pending orders, and transaction history. Since order submission and execution are different, be sure to check the status.
Review the profit and loss from completed sales in Weekly Returns and your performance in the Weekly League under My Records. Check the calculation time and your rank in the Weekly Ranking.
Differences between current price, market price, and limit price
The price used for paper execution and whether an order remains pending depend on the order type. The last price seen on the screen is not necessarily the execution price for all orders.
- Current-price order
- Simulated trades are executed in full based on the most recent price confirmed by the server. This is not an order that waits for a specific quote condition. Orders cannot be placed if the recent price is invalid or the stock is in a restricted state.
- Market Order
- The full quantity is simulated at the best ask for buys or best bid for sells. Results may differ from a current-price order when quotes differ from the latest trade price.
- Limit order
- Orders are executed in the paper trading system once a quote meeting your price criteria is confirmed. If the conditions are not met, the order remains pending and will expire if not executed by the end of the session. Pending orders can be canceled.
When orders are pending or restricted
- Pending/Executed/Cancelled
- Pending means the order remains open, while executed means the simulated trade is complete. Canceled orders are no longer subject to execution. Check your stock holdings and transaction history together.
- Sessions and Expiration
- Orders can be placed when valid market prices and quotes are available during Day Market, Pre-market, Regular Session, and After-market. Limit orders expire at the end of a session and do not automatically carry over to the next session.
- Quantity and balance
- Orders are placed in whole share units and must be within the limits of your available cash and sellable holdings. Short selling, margin trading, and credit trading are not supported. Available funds or quantities may decrease due to pending orders.
- Order Limits
- Orders may be rejected or not processed during market close, trading halts, outdated prices/quotes, or stock restrictions. Check the reason on the screen and your existing order history before repeating the same order.
Reading Total Assets and Realized Profit
- Total equity
- This is the sum of your cash balance and the valuation of your stock holdings. Stock holdings are valued based on the most recently confirmed bid price, so the amount may differ from one calculated using only the last traded price.
- Available USD balance
- Your cash balance is the virtual cash in your account, while available funds represent the amount you can use for new orders, accounting for funds tied up in pending orders. These two figures are not always the same.
- Realized P&L
- This is the cumulative profit or loss from completed trades. It is distinct from the unrealized profit or loss of stocks currently held and is calculated based on completed sales in the Weekly Returns screen.
- Return
- Weekly league returns represent the change in total assets compared to the starting capital. The sales return displayed in weekly earnings is the profit or loss relative to the cost of the quantity sold, so the percentages on the two screens may differ.
Weekly reset and ranking criteria
The weekly league restarts every Monday at 8 AM, based on Korea Standard Time. Holdings and pending orders are cleared, and virtual cash is reset to $10,000. Profits or holdings from the previous league do not carry over to the starting capital of the new league.
Rankings are based on the total asset return, which combines cash and the valuation of stock holdings. The most recently confirmed bid price is used for stock holdings, and identical performance may result in a shared rank. When the league ends, results are finalized based on the final valuation at the closing time.
Weekly rankings are calculated every 10 minutes, so your portfolio and ranking may not update immediately after a trade. Check the current week, calculation time, and data-related information together.
Using Records, Titles, and Experience Points
- Weekly return
- Review the profit and loss of completed simulated trades by day or by stock. Daily categorization is based on Korea Standard Time, and the cost of the sold quantity is compared against the sale results.
- My activity
- This is the space to check the leagues you have participated in and your weekly performance. You can view assets and rankings for ongoing leagues separately from the results of closed leagues.
- My titles
- Check the titles earned based on your paper trading activity and select a representative title. Titles are records of your activity within the service and do not certify actual investment ability.
- Experience Points and Levels
- For trading, you earn 1 XP per $1 of weekly net realized profit; for market prediction, you earn 1 XP per $10 of settled weekly net profit. Each is based on the increase over the previous high, and XP is not awarded twice for loss recovery. For quiz reward challenges, you earn 1 XP per $10 of virtual funds received; no XP is awarded for practice without rewards. Cumulative XP and levels are maintained after the weekly reset.
Differences from actual investing
Simulated trading calculates execution results based on the provided market data according to service-defined methods. It does not replicate actual exchange order queues, market impact, quote volume, or commissions. Supported sessions and order conditions may also differ from those of actual brokerage firms.
If corporate events such as stock splits or reverse splits are identified, orders for that week may be restricted and pending orders may be canceled. Quantities and cost per share are adjusted according to the confirmed ratio, and transaction records, profit/loss, rankings, and XP may be corrected due to late-reflected events. Stocks with unclear conditions may be excluded for that week.
Market data may be subject to delays, omissions, or errors. Do not interpret paper trading results as a guarantee of actual profit; use them to learn about differences in order methods and to reflect on your own decision-making process. Detailed operating guidelines can also be found in the 'User Guide' on the paper trading screen.
Free Access and Personal Records
All features of WAPE, including simulated trading, are free. You can use them without a separate subscription or funding. You must log in to save personal orders, holdings, and records. Login and sign-up are handled on a separate page.
If you want to learn how to find stocks, check out the US Small-Cap Stock Scanner guide. You can compare the situation before and after virtual orders by referring to the status, news, and disclosures seen in the scanner.
FAQ
Do I need real money or a brokerage account?
It is not required. You practice trading with virtual dollars, and there is no actual depositing, withdrawing, or transmission of brokerage orders. You only need a WAPE account to use personal records.
Do experience points and levels disappear when it resets every week?
Stock holdings, pending orders, and virtual cash are reset for each new league, but cumulative experience points and levels are maintained. The previous week's returns are not added to the starting capital of the new week.
Why are the prices for current price orders and market price orders different?
Current-price orders use the latest trade price. Market orders use the ask for buys and the bid for sells. The latest trade and current quotes can differ, resulting in different simulated execution prices.
How long do limit orders stay pending?
Orders are simulated when quotes meet the specified conditions, and unfilled orders expire at the end of the session. You can cancel while pending. Since conditions are checked periodically while using the screen, this differs from the real-time order processing of actual brokerage firms.
Why is my ranking the same even though my profit has increased?
Rankings are updated every 10 minutes. Additionally, because they are based on total asset returns—combining cash and the valuation of stock holdings—rather than just realized profit, the profit and loss shown on the Weekly Returns screen may not align with changes in your rank.
Can I practice during pre-market or after-market hours?
You can trade when valid market prices and quotes are confirmed during supported sessions. Sessions are divided into Day, Pre-market, Regular, and After-market. Orders may be unavailable due to trading halts, data delays, or stock restrictions.
Now, take a look for yourself.