Show notes: http://optionalpha.com/show66 Paper trading has its place in the investing world, but it likely isn't as useful as many brokers and financial gurus make it out to be. In fact, I'd even argue that if you are currently paper trading you're probably not using the virtual platforms to get the optimal experience out of them. Now, I won't deny that paper trading does have some benefits in helping traders learn the mechanics, but the drawbacks, in my opinion, outweigh the perceived usefulness.   In today's newest podcast episode, I'll walk you through all the major pitfalls new investors make when trying to paper trade stocks and options. And if you're still adamant about paper trading, that's fine too because I'll help you get 10x more results from your paper trading activities by accelerating your learning curve with a few simple tweaks.  Ultimately, at some point, you've got to make the jump into real money trading and the sooner you do the better off you'll be. There's no substitute for real-world, real-money experience in this business.