Simulation Disclaimer

Incorporated into Terms of Service

This Simulation Disclaimer forms part of, and is incorporated into, the PaperTrade Academy Terms of Service. By accessing or using the Service, you agree to this Disclaimer in addition to the Terms.

Not a Brokerage

PaperTrade Academy is not a registered broker-dealer, investment advisor, securities exchange, or financial institution. We do not execute real trades, hold real assets on behalf of users, or facilitate real financial transactions of any kind. We are not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), FINRA, or any other financial regulatory authority.

Not Investment Advice

Nothing on PaperTrade Academy constitutes investment advice, a financial recommendation, a solicitation to buy or sell any security, or an offer of any financial product. All educational content, market commentary, and lesson materials are provided for informational and educational purposes only.

Always consult a qualified, licensed financial advisor before making any real investment decisions.

You acknowledge and agree that you are not relying on the Service, any content, or any simulated results as a basis for making any real-world financial or investment decision.

No Fiduciary Relationship

Your use of the Service does not create any fiduciary, advisory, or client relationship between you and PaperTrade Academy. We do not act in any capacity as your financial advisor, broker, or agent.

No Guarantee of Results

Simulated trading results are hypothetical, inherently limited, and do not reflect actual trading. Market conditions in a simulation differ materially from real markets for reasons including, but not limited to:

• Slippage: simulated orders typically fill at the last known quote or a simplified mid-price. Real orders regularly fill at prices worse than the quote shown at the moment of submission due to market movement between request and execution.
• Liquidity constraints: the simulator assumes sufficient liquidity to fill your order at or near the quoted price. Real markets have order-book depth, market-impact effects, and periods of illiquidity (opens, closes, halts, low-float names) that can prevent or worsen fills.
• Transaction costs: the simulation does not fully replicate real-world costs including commissions, spreads, regulatory (SEC/FINRA) fees, exchange fees, borrow costs on short positions, and tax consequences. Realized performance in real brokerage accounts is reduced by all of these.
• Order routing and queuing: simulated orders do not experience exchange queue position, payment-for-order-flow routing, dark-pool behavior, or partial fills at the micro-structure level that real brokers face.
• Data latency and cache staleness: free-tier users receive market data that may be delayed by up to approximately 15 minutes and is frequently served from internal caches to conserve upstream quota. Real-time prices may differ.
• Psychological factors: simulated trading does not replicate the emotional pressures of risking real capital — fear of loss, revenge trading, overconfidence after wins, and position-size panic — which substantially affect decision-making in live trading.
• Corporate actions and edge cases: dividends, splits, spin-offs, delistings, and halts may be approximated or omitted in the simulator.

Hypothetical performance results have inherent limitations and are generally prepared with the benefit of hindsight.

Do Not Rely on Simulated Performance for Real Decisions

Do not rely on simulated balances, returns, leaderboard rankings, achievements, or any other in-platform outcome as a basis for a real-world investment, trading, or financial decision. No feature of PaperTrade Academy — including Premium-tier analytics, competitions, or educator-assigned content — constitutes a forecast, signal, or personalized recommendation.

PaperTrade Academy makes no representation that use of the Service will improve your trading results, increase your returns, reduce your losses, outperform market indices, or produce any particular outcome. If you choose to trade real capital, do so only after consulting a qualified, licensed financial professional and after forming your own independent judgment.

Feature Interpretation

Gamified features, including but not limited to leaderboards, rankings, achievements, streaks, and simulated returns, are designed for engagement and educational reinforcement only and do not reflect skill, likelihood of success, or real-world trading performance.

Market Data Accuracy

Market data displayed on PaperTrade Academy is sourced from third-party data providers. Our current primary providers include Yahoo Finance (via the yahoo-finance2 library) and Finnhub as a fallback. We do not guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or timeliness of any market data. Price data may be delayed, adjusted, cached, or unavailable during market disruptions, provider outages, or outside regular US equities trading hours.

Free-tier users receive data that may be delayed by up to approximately 15 minutes relative to real-time exchange prices and may be served from internal caches to conserve upstream quota.

All market data is provided by third-party providers on an “as is” and “as available” basis. Such providers do not sponsor, endorse, or have any responsibility for the Service.

We make no representations regarding fitness for trading, decision-making, or any particular use.

Platform Availability

We do not guarantee that the Service will be available at all times. The platform may experience downtime for maintenance, upgrades, or due to circumstances beyond our control. We are not liable for any simulated trading opportunities missed or simulated losses incurred due to platform unavailability.

Third-Party Content

The Service may include links to or references from third-party websites, resources, or content. We are not responsible for the accuracy, legality, or content of external sites. References to any companies, securities, or financial instruments are for educational illustration only. No reference to any security, asset, or company constitutes an endorsement, recommendation, or certification of performance.

User Responsibility

You acknowledge that you use PaperTrade Academy for educational and entertainment purposes only. You agree not to make any real financial decisions based solely on simulated results obtained through this platform. You are solely responsible for any real investment decisions you make, and PaperTrade Academy accepts no liability for losses arising from real trading activity inspired by use of the Service.

Geographic Applicability

The Service is intended for use in jurisdictions where such simulated educational platforms are permitted. We make no representation that the Service is appropriate or compliant in all jurisdictions. Users are responsible for ensuring their use complies with local laws. We reserve the right to restrict access in certain jurisdictions.

No Warranties

To the maximum extent permitted by law, all features of the Service are provided without warranties of any kind, whether express or implied, including accuracy, reliability, or fitness for a particular purpose.

Survival

These disclaimers survive termination of your use of the Service.

Contact

If you have questions about this disclaimer, please contact us at support@papertradeacademy.com.