Intermediate, 8 min read. Checked with Scalpel 1.12.8 on .
In short
Get flat in SIM, check your caps and daily loss limit, then pick LIVE in the header's MODE picker. The switch is instant, with no restart and no confirmation, so the red LIVE ORDERS badge is your proof: while it shows, every key sends a real order to your Interactive Brokers account. Your stops stay app-monitored in LIVE, so Scalpel must keep running and connected while you hold a position.
Going live changes one thing in Scalpel: where the order goes. The keys, the stops, the caps and the screen stay the same. What changes is you. Real money makes people hesitate, size up after a loss and skip stops. Fast small-cap scalping carries a significant risk of loss, it is very difficult, and many people who try it lose money. Go live when your SIM results come from a process you can repeat, start with the smallest risk you can, and keep the daily loss limit on.
Before you start
A week or more of SIM practice with a repeatable routine (guide 14.5, guide 6.4).
Scalpel connected to your live TWS or IB Gateway login, with the market data you need (guide 1.4, guide 1.6).
Including while your cursor sits in an empty symbol box
Why your stops live in Scalpel, not at IBKR
Scalpel's stops are not orders resting at your broker. Scalpel watches every trade itself, and when price trades through your stop it sends the exit. That is a deliberate choice, made for the pre-market:
Outside regular hours, US exchanges take limit orders only. There are no market orders before 09:30 ET, so a plain stop order (which turns into a market order) cannot protect you there.
A stop-limit can be jumped. In a thin, fast pre-market book, price can gap straight through the limit, and the order sits unfilled while the stock keeps falling.
A mental stop fails when you need it most. Watching Level 2 and the tape while holding a number in your head is exactly when traders freeze.
So when price trades through your stop in LIVE, Scalpel sends a marketable limit sell 5 cents under the last trade, always flagged for extended hours, so it is accepted in the pre-market too. If price keeps falling past that limit, or the exit sits unfilled for a few seconds, Scalpel cancels it and sends a new one under the latest price, crossing about 1% from the first retry, up to 5 times (guide 5.5). A bonus: your stop never shows on the book for anyone to see.
The trade-off is plain: stops only work while Scalpel is running and connected. If your computer sleeps, the app closes or the link to TWS drops, nothing is watching. And no exit is guaranteed: a fast drop can fill below your stop, or leave part of the exit unfilled. Flatten All in LIVE prices its sell about 1% under the bid so that one press clears the position, and it replaces any exit already working rather than stacking a second sell.
Switch to LIVE
01
Get flat in SIM
Close every SIM position and cancel any working SIM order (Ctrl+Q on each desk). You can switch with positions open, and their stops keep being watched (see below), but you will not see them again until you switch back.
02
Choose what the header P&L shows
Open Settings (Ctrl+,), then Trading. Header P&L (LIVE) decides where DAILY P&L and UNREAL P&L come from in LIVE:
Broker (IBKR) (the default): the whole IBKR account, including anything you trade in TWS.
Scalpel only: the realized P&L of Scalpel's own closed trades, plus the unrealized P&L of positions loaded on a desk. NET LIQ stays the broker's figure either way.
Lets entries fill in the pre-market and after hours. Exits (stops, targets, sells and Flatten All) can always fill outside regular hours, so a stop that fires before the open can get you out. Orders go to IBKR SMART routing.
CancelApply
Settings, Trading: Header P&L (LIVE) next to Mode, outlined.
The Mode field on this tab switches SIM and LIVE straight away when you apply, exactly like the header picker. This guide uses the header picker because you can see the result at once.
03
Pick LIVE in the header
Click MODE in the header 1 and choose LIVE. There is no confirmation dialog.
SCALPELIBKR Scalping Cockpit
VIEWTrade
MODESIM SIMLIVE
09:41:07 ETRegular hours
1
The MODE picker open, with LIVE under SIM 1. Demo data.
Scalpel swaps to the live account at once: a red toast says LIVE mode activated and the voice says "Live mode activated."
LIVE mode activated
The toast after switching to LIVE.
04
Check the badge and the account
Look at the right of the header. ACCOUNT reads IBKR, the stats are your real account, and the red LIVE ORDERS badge 1 sits next to Flatten All. If you do not see the badge, you are not routing live orders.
ACCOUNTIBKR
NET LIQ$31,406.18
MARGIN USED$570.001.8%
DAILY P&L-$12.40
UNREAL P&L$80.00
LIVE ORDERSFlatten All Esc
1
The header in LIVE: your IBKR account's numbers and the LIVE ORDERS badge 1. Demo data.
05
Take your first live trade small
Use your smallest preset, ideally a fixed dollar risk (guide 4.2), and watch the whole cycle once: the fill, the FEE column filling in with IBKR's real commission, the stop on the chart, and the exit. The FEE column shows a dash until IBKR's commission report arrives, usually a moment after the fill.
What happens when you switch
The switch is instant. Both backends stay running, so there is no reconnect and no restart.
Each mode keeps its own world. Positions, working orders, closed trades and the Analytics journal are separate for SIM and LIVE. The market data is the same live feed in both.
A risk lock clears. Switching mode lifts a tripped daily loss lock, which is why switching to SIM is not a way to keep trading LIVE after a bad morning.
The other mode's stops keep firing. If you switch to SIM while holding a LIVE position, its stop and take-profit are still watched and still send a real exit. You hear "Stopped out" and see a red toast, as you do for a warning about that exit, but the order and the closed trade only show when you switch back to LIVE.
Positions Scalpel did not open
Scalpel reads every stock position IBKR reports for the account, when it starts and continuously after. A position you opened in TWS, or one you held overnight, shows up in LIVE as a Scalpel position, and Scalpel puts its default stop under your average cost if it has no saved stop for it. Close a position in TWS and Scalpel closes it too.
That has two effects worth knowing:
If you load that symbol on a desk, its app stop is live and can sell it.
If it is not on any desk, its stop is not watched, and every few minutes you get a warning toast:
ABCD: position held but on no desk, so its stop is not watched. Load it on a desk.
The warning for a held position that no desk is showing. Load the symbol on a desk to watch its stop.
The simplest rule: keep longer-term holdings out of the account you scalp with, and keep every symbol you trade on a desk until you are flat. In SIM, a desk holding only a LIVE position is not locked, so you can change its symbol by accident and leave the LIVE position on no desk.
What can go wrong
No LIVE ORDERS badge. You are still in SIM: the switch only happens when you pick LIVE in the header, or apply LIVE in Settings > Trading (guide 11.2).
A live order is rejected. IBKR refused it, and the red toast carries its reason: trading permissions, a symbol you cannot trade, or buying power. Scalpel's own cash check is off in LIVE, so IBKR decides what you can afford. See guide 13.5.
The exit filled below the stop. The stop sells 5c under the last trade, and in a fast drop the bids can be lower still; each re-price goes lower again. Size so that a stop-out two or three times worse than planned is still survivable.
A toast says the exit is still not filled after 5 re-prices. Scalpel has stopped chasing and left the last sell working. Check the order and the position in TWS.
The app was closed with a position open. Nothing was watching it. Reopen Scalpel and load the symbol, or manage it in TWS.
Questions
Do I need to restart Scalpel to go live?
No. Pick LIVE in the header's MODE picker and orders route to your IBKR account at once. The red LIVE ORDERS badge confirms it.
Is there a confirmation before switching to LIVE?
No dialog. You get a red toast and the voice callout Live mode activated, and the LIVE ORDERS badge stays in the header for as long as you are in LIVE.
Are my stops sent to Interactive Brokers?
No. Stops are watched by Scalpel and fire a marketable limit sell when price trades through them, which also works in the pre-market, where stop orders cannot. They only work while Scalpel is running and connected.
What happens to my SIM positions when I switch to LIVE?
They stay in the SIM ledger, and their stops are still watched. You see them again when you switch back to SIM.
Can I trade the same account in TWS at the same time?
Yes, but Scalpel adopts every position in the account and arms its default stop on any it has no stop for. Set Header P&L (LIVE) to Scalpel only if you want the header to show only Scalpel's trades.