# Your first 15 minutes in SIM

> Load a symbol, buy with a hotkey, watch the stop arm, scale out and flatten, all in SIM with no money at risk. The whole Scalpel loop in fifteen minutes.

Source: https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/first-session-in-sim
Guide 1.7, Getting started. Beginner, 7 min read.
Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on 2026-10-15. By Scalpel Team.

**In short:**

Scalpel opens in SIM, a paper account that fills your orders against the live Level 2 book, so you can learn it with no money at risk. Load a symbol on a desk, press `Shift`+`1` to buy 100 shares, watch the red stop and green target appear on the chart, press `Ctrl`+`X` to sell half and `Esc` to flatten the rest. That is the whole Scalpel loop; do it ten times before you change anything.

Scalpel is opinionated. It does one job: long-only scalping of US stocks, built first for the pre-market (04:00 to 09:30 New York time) and fine in regular hours too. There is no shorting, no options, futures or crypto. It is also keyboard and audio first: every action has a key and every fill, exit and stop has a spoken callout, so your eyes can stay on the book. This first session teaches you exactly that rhythm. Why it is built this way: [guide 1.9](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/scalpel-philosophy).

**Before you start:**

- Scalpel connected, with the **IBKR** pill green ([guide 1.4](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/connect-interactive-brokers)) and live data ([guide 1.6](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/ibkr-market-data-for-day-trading)). SIM fills against the real book, so it needs the same live data as LIVE.
- A weekday between 04:00 and 20:00 New York time. Outside those hours the market is closed and the order buttons are greyed out.
- Sound on. Half of what Scalpel tells you, it says out loud.

## Your first trade, step by step

### 1. Check that you are in SIM

Look at the header. **MODE** (1) must read **SIM**, and **ACCOUNT**, on the right, says **SIM** too. A new install always starts in SIM with $25,000 of paper cash. Next to MODE, the clock shows New York time and the session (2): **Pre-market**, **Regular hours**, **After-hours** or **Closed**.

*Screenshot: The header: MODE on SIM (1), and the New York clock with the session (2).*

**Careful.**

Switching MODE to **LIVE** takes one click, with no confirmation, and the next key you press sends a real order. Leave MODE alone until you have read [guide 6.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/go-live).

### 2. Load a symbol

Click the symbol box in the header of desk **D1**, type a ticker and press `Enter`. A list of matches drops down as you type; `Up` and `Down` move through it. The desk fills with the quote, the Level 2 ladder, the tape and the chart in a second or two.

For a first session, pick an active stock with plenty of prints on the tape and a spread of a cent or two. A thin, jumpy stock teaches you about slippage before you know the keys.

*Screenshot: Typing ABCD into an empty desk: the matches drop down under the box, Enter loads the highlighted one. Demo data.*

**Tip.**

Typing never places an order: trading keys do nothing while the cursor is in a box. Once you pick a match, with `Enter` or a click, the cursor leaves the box by itself, so the hotkeys work straight away. If the match list is open, `Esc` closes the list first.

### 3. Read the order bar

Under the chart is the order bar. The four green buttons are your buy presets: **100 sh**, **250 sh**, **500 sh** and **1000 sh** out of the box, fired by `Shift`+`1` to `Shift`+`4`. Above each is the dollar size that press would buy right now: 100 shares at a 5.71 ask is **$571**. The red sell row lights up once you hold shares.

*Screenshot: The order bar out of the box: four share presets with their dollar size, the Offset steppers, and the sell row greyed while you are flat. Demo data.*

### 4. Buy with Shift+1

Press `Shift`+`1`. Scalpel sends a buy limit 10 cents above the ask (the buy **Offset**), which fills straight away at the best offers on the book, never above your limit. You hear the fill called out, and the desk changes:

- A **LONG 100 @ 5.71** strip appears in Level 2 (1), green when you are up and red when you are down, with the dollars.
- The chart draws your entry, a red **working stop** (2) and a green **take-profit** (3), each with the P&L and the [R-multiple](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/glossary#r-multiple) you would get there.

*Screenshot: After Shift+1: long 100 at 5.71 (1), the working stop 12 cents under at 5.59 (2), and the take-profit at 2R, 5.95 (3). Demo data.*

### 5. Understand the stop you just got

Scalpel arms the stop for you on every entry, sized to how much the stock has been moving (1.5 times the recent 1-minute range, the [ATR](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/glossary#atr)), with the take-profit at twice that distance (2R). A wider catastrophe net sits further down as a backstop; it is not drawn.

These stops are **watched by Scalpel**, not left at the broker. Before the open, exchanges accept only limit orders, so an ordinary stop order cannot protect you, and a stop-limit can be jumped in a thin book. Scalpel watches every trade instead and, when price trades through your stop, sends a marketable sell. The catch: it only works while Scalpel is running and connected. All of it in [guide 5.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/how-stops-work).

### 6. Sell half with Ctrl+X

Press `Ctrl`+`X` (`Cmd`+`X` on a Mac). Scalpel sells 50 shares at the bid and calls it out. The position strip now reads **LONG 50**, and the stop and target stay where they were for the rest. `Ctrl`+`C` sells a quarter, `Ctrl`+`Z` the lot.

### 7. Move the stop to breakeven, if you like

Press `B`. The red stop jumps up to your entry, so the rest of the trade can no longer lose (before slippage and fees). A stop only ever moves up: if it is already above your entry, `B` leaves it there. `Shift`+`T` makes it trail behind new highs instead ([guide 5.3](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/breakeven-and-trailing-stops)).

### 8. Flatten with Esc

Press `Esc`. Scalpel closes every open position on every desk, the same as the red **Flatten All** button in the header, and says so. It cancels any buy still working first, so nothing keeps filling after you are out. This is your panic key: learn where it is today.

### 9. Look at the result

The **ORDERS & POSITIONS** panel under the chart has a **Positions** tab (now flat) and an **Orders** tab with your fills; **NET P&L** at the top includes commissions. The header's **DAILY P&L** shows the day so far. Switch **VIEW** to **Analytics** for your SIM statistics ([guide 6.4](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/analytics)).

## Use the rest of the 15 minutes

| Minutes | Do this | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 3 | Steps 1 to 3 above | Know where SIM, the clock and the order bar are |
| 3 to 6 | One full trade: `Shift`+`1`, `Ctrl`+`X`, `Esc` | The loop, start to finish |
| 6 to 10 | Three more, eyes on the ladder, not the keyboard | Your fingers learn the keys; the voice confirms each one |
| 10 to 12 | Let one trade run into its stop | Hear what a stop-out sounds like and see where it fills |
| 12 to 15 | Press `?` and read the cheatsheet | Every key on one screen |

*Screenshot: The cheatsheet (press ? to open, Esc to close): every key with what it does. The buy rows show your current preset sizes.*

## How SIM fills, honestly

SIM is a cash account that books every fill against what the live book actually showed. A buy takes the offers on the ladder up to your limit; if they run out, the rest keeps working at your limit, like a real order, until it fills from new prints or you cancel it (`Ctrl`+`Q`, or `Shift`+`Q` on a Mac). A sell priced above the bid, such as half at the ask, rests at its price until trades reach it. A stop-out fills where the market is: at the price that crossed your stop or the bid, whichever is worse, less your **SIM slippage**. A gap through the stop costs you the gap, as it would live. Commissions are charged at IBKR's rates. What SIM cannot show is other traders reacting to your order, or hidden size taking your place in line, so live fills on thin stocks will be a little worse. More in [guide 6.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/paper-trading-sim).

**This can cost you money.**

Fast small-cap scalping is very difficult and carries a significant risk of loss; many people who try it lose money. Scalpel makes the mechanics quick, not the decisions easy. Stay in SIM until the keys are automatic and your SIM results hold up over weeks, then go live with a small fixed risk per trade and a daily loss limit ([guide 7.1](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/daily-loss-limit)). Expect a long learning curve.

## What can go wrong

- **Nothing happens when you press a key.** Another desk is focused, or you clicked back into a symbol box. Click inside the desk (it gets a blue outline) and try again. The hotkeys act on the focused desk only.
- **The buttons are grey and a toast says "Market closed - orders disabled".** It is outside 04:00 to 20:00 New York time, a weekend or a market holiday ([guide 13.13](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/fix-order-bar-greyed-out)).
- **SIM refuses the order.** SIM is a cash account: a buy bigger than your free cash is refused with **Insufficient buying power**. The fat-finger and max position caps ($250,000 each by default) apply in SIM too ([guide 7.2](https://scalpeltrade.com/guides/fat-finger-and-position-caps)).
- **The desk will not change symbol.** It holds a position. Flatten it, or load the new symbol on another desk.

## Questions

**Is SIM paper trading with real Level 2?**

Yes. SIM fills your orders against the live Level 2 book and tape from your IBKR data, with IBKR-style commissions, and keeps its own balance, positions and history apart from LIVE.

**How much money does SIM start with?**

$25,000 of paper cash. Change the starting balance in Settings, Risk, SIM start, and reset the SIM account there whenever you like.

**Can I short in SIM?**

No. Scalpel is long only, in SIM and LIVE: every sell is capped to the shares you hold, so a sell can never open a short.

**Why can I not trade at night?**

SIM fills against the live book, and there is no book outside 04:00 to 20:00 New York time on weekdays. Scalpel greys out the order buttons when the market is closed.

**What does Esc do in Scalpel?**

It closes whatever is open first: the cheatsheet, Settings or the symbol match list. With nothing open, it flattens every position on every desk, like the Flatten All button.