The words get used for the same thing, but they describe three different tools. Paper trading is a practice mode inside a broker or charting platform. A trading simulator is a standalone app whose whole purpose is pretend trading on real prices. A trading game adds structure on top: lessons, goals, a story, scores. All three use fake money. They teach different things.
Paper trading (TradingView, Webull, thinkorswim)
What it is: the real tool with the money switched off. You get the same order ticket, the same charts and usually the same data you would trade with later.
What it teaches: the mechanics of the platform you will use, order types, how fills work, how the chart tools behave.
What it hides: everything about you. There are no lessons, no rules unless you bring them, and no one tells you that you just risked 30% of the account on a hunch. Most paper accounts also start at $100,000, which teaches nothing about sizing a $300 account.
Best for: people who already know the method and want to learn a specific platform before funding it.
A trading simulator (Gocrypto, MarketSim, Trading Game)
What it is: an app built around pretend trading, often with leaderboards, competitions and a lesson library bolted on.
What it teaches: reps. You can place many more trades than on a broker’s paper account, and the better ones add lessons and quizzes.
What it hides: the leaderboard rewards the wrong thing. The way to top a weekly ranking with fake money is to bet everything on one coin; the way to survive with real money is the opposite. Few simulators replay history blind, so “practice” on past charts is often memory.
Best for: people who want volume and competition, and who can ignore the ranking.
A trading game (Climb From Zero)
What it is: a simulator with a course, a mentor, rules and a reason. In Climb From Zero you start at 21 with $100 of game money, learn from Robin in 37 lessons, practise on blind history, then trade live Bitcoin and Ethereum with a plan before every buy. The chapters are goals with no deadlines; the score is discipline, not profit.
What it teaches: the method and the habits: fixed risk, a stop every time, a journal, patience, and the psychology the lessons warn about, because the game watches for the mistakes.
What it hides: it is crypto only, two coins, and it is deliberately slow. If you want to day-trade forty stocks on a professional platform, it will not get you there by itself.
Best for: beginners who have never traded, and anyone who has lost money once and wants to understand why.
How to choose
- Never traded: a trading game first, to learn the method with guard rails.
- Know the method, picking a platform: paper trading on the platform you will fund.
- Want reps and competition: a simulator, with your own written rules and the leaderboard ignored.
- Whichever you pick: a plan before every trade, a stop every time, a journal, and no real money until keeping the rules is boring.
Climb From Zero is free to start on iPhone and Android, with the same game on a computer once your character buys a laptop. Real prices, fake money, no tips, and no way to buy your way up.
A simulation. No real money. Not financial advice. Nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything.