Paper before live: why the 48-hour rule exists

Every AgentiCrypto account starts in paper trading — simulated orders, no real money — and live trading only unlocks 48 hours after your first paper session. People sometimes ask why we put a delay between someone and their own money. Here is the thinking.

Paper trading is a rehearsal, not a formality

Running a strategy in paper shows you how it actually behaves: how often it trades, how it sizes positions, how it reacts when the market moves against it. Reading a description of a strategy and watching it run are very different experiences, and the gap is where expensive surprises live.

Why 48 hours

The delay is a deliberate speed bump. It gives you time to see at least one real cycle of behaviour before live orders are possible, and it discourages the worst pattern in trading — funding an account and flipping straight to live on impulse. It is a small amount of friction in exchange for a much better-informed decision.

Going live deliberately

When you do go live, the advice is always the same: start small, watch the first real fills, and scale up only once the live behaviour matches what you saw in paper. Live trading places real orders with your own funds, and you can lose money — so the goal is to make the switch on evidence, not enthusiasm.