Demo and test accounts¶

Most exchanges offer a demo, test, paper or sandbox account that trades with simulated money. Tickerly can trade those accounts, which makes them the right way to check a strategy end to end before risking anything.

Enabling it¶

There is no separate setting. Tickerly routes a connection to your exchange's demo environment when the connection's name contains the word test.

When adding the exchange, put test anywhere in EXCHANGE ACCOUNT NAME:

Account name	Routes to
`Bybit test`	Demo
`test - Binance futures`	Demo
`Testing Oanda`	Demo
`Bybit live`	Live
`My Bybit account`	Live

Capitalisation does not matter. Anything containing the letters test as a word or inside a longer word is treated as a demo connection.

Choose the name carefully in both directions

A live connection accidentally named Latest strategy contains test and will be routed to the demo environment — your orders will never reach your live account.

A demo connection without test in the name will be sent to your live account instead. Check the name before you enable a strategy.

Use demo credentials¶

Demo environments issue their own API keys. A key from your live account will not work against the demo environment, and vice versa.

Create the API key while logged into the demo account, then enter those credentials on a connection whose name contains test.

Running both at once¶

Live and demo connections are separate, each with its own pointer. A common pattern is to keep both and switch a strategy between them by changing one value in the alert message:

"pointer" : "your-test-pointer"

Change it back to the live pointer when you are satisfied. Nothing else in the alert needs to change.

What demo accounts will not tell you¶

A demo account proves your alerts are well-formed, your credentials work, and your strategy fires when you expect. It does not reproduce live trading faithfully:

Fills are often simulated at better prices than you would really get
Slippage and partial fills may not occur at all
Demo environments usually list fewer instruments than live accounts
Some exchanges run demo environments on older software, so behaviour can differ from live

Treat demo trading as a test of the plumbing rather than a test of the strategy's profitability.

Supported exchanges¶

Most supported exchanges offer a demo environment, but not all, and some offer one for certain markets only. If orders on a test connection are rejected with credential or availability errors, check whether your exchange runs a demo environment for that market.