Paper-to-Live 90-Day Plan¶
OVERVIEW¶
A structured four-phase transition framework for moving from paper trading to live trading on Tapeboard. The plan surfaces failure modes early and enforces discipline gates before each phase advance. Completion is not guaranteed in 90 days — most traders require 120–150 days for a rigorous pass-through.
Note
An unstructured paper-to-live transition is dominated by the trader's emotional state at the moment of the switch. This plan replaces emotional timing with measurable gates.
FEATURES¶
| Phase | Weeks | Core Activity | Gate Metric |
|---|---|---|---|
| Setup Discovery | 1–2 | Exploratory paper trading | 30+ trades; 3–5 named setups |
| Tag System | 3–4 | Three-layer taxonomy in journal | 50+ tagged trades; 2–3 identified combos |
| Discipline Practice | 5–8 | Committed tag combinations only | Positive rolling P&L over last 50 trades |
| Live Transition | 9–12 | Reduced live size; continued journaling | Matches paper discipline benchmarks |
Tip
The Tapeboard journal auto-captures trade fields from the simulator. You add the three tags — pattern, trigger, context — at entry, not at exit.
HOW TO USE¶
Phase 1 — Setup Discovery (Weeks 1–2)¶
Use the Tapeboard paper-trading simulator with no sizing constraints and minimal journaling. The objective is qualitative self-assessment, not profitability.
Trade everything that looks interesting. By the end of Week 2, identify three to five setup patterns that feel natural to your eye. Document a rough description of the entry trigger, exit, and stop for each.
Note
The goal is to discover which setups feel natural to your eye and which don't. Some traders discover they hate fade trades and love breakouts. Some discover the opposite. Some discover they only function in the first hour of the trading day. The data here is qualitative. You're not trying to build a system yet — fit is now, profitability is later.
Discipline gate to advance:
- At least 30 paper trades taken
- Three to five setup patterns named
- Each pattern has a rough entry trigger, exit, and stop described
Note
If you cannot pass the gate, repeat Weeks 1–2 for another two weeks. Most traders require four to six weeks in this phase because they've never thought about their preferences explicitly before.
Phase 2 — Tag System in the Journal (Weeks 3–4)¶
Formalize loose pattern descriptions into a three-layer tag taxonomy inside the Tapeboard journal.
| Layer | Examples | Max Tags |
|---|---|---|
| Pattern | Breakout, Fade, Range | 3–5 |
| Trigger | Volume spike, Level retest, Momentum | 3–5 |
| Context | Pre-market gap, First hour, Post-news | 3–5 |
Tag every trade at entry. Use the analytics tab after 50+ trades to identify directional performance by tag combination.
Note
80 trades is too few for statistical significance on any single tag. Use the analytics tab for directional signals only at this stage.
Discipline gate to advance:
- 50+ tagged trades on record
- Two to three tag combinations identified as promising
- Two to three tag combinations identified as unworkable
- Each combination's entry, exit, and stop rules written out
Tip
This is the most-skipped phase in the retail paper-to-live transition. Skipping it is the primary reason live phases fail.
Phase 3 — Discipline Gates on the Simulator (Weeks 5–8)¶
Trade only the two to three tag combinations identified as promising in Phase 2. All other setups are skipped regardless of chart appearance.
Off-system trades must be logged with the markdown note field in the journal. After 20 off-system trades, review whether the off-system setup has genuine edge or reflects impatience.
Discipline gate to advance:
- 50+ trades on committed tag combinations only
- Rolling P&L positive over the last 50 trades
- Average loser at or below the planned stop level
Note
Plan for six to eight weeks in this phase, not four. Traders who advance on fewer than 50 trades are filtering on luck, not edge.
Phase 4 — Live Transition (Weeks 9–12)¶
Begin live trading at reduced size — one-quarter to one-half of intended full size. Continue tagging every trade identically to the paper phase. Compare live tag-combination performance against the paper baseline established in Phase 3.
Discipline gate to continue scaling:
- Live rolling P&L on committed tag combinations tracks within acceptable variance of paper results
- No tag combination that was negative on paper has been added to the live playbook
- Journal discipline maintained at the same standard as Phases 2–3
Tip
If live performance diverges materially from paper performance, return to the simulator before increasing size. Divergence is data, not failure.
KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS¶
| Action | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Open journal entry for current trade | J |
| Add tag to open journal entry | T |
| Toggle analytics tab | A |
| Mark trade as off-system | Shift + O |
| Open paper-trading simulator | Shift + P |
| View rolling P&L summary | Ctrl + R |