Your practice desk,
explained.

01 / Your first paper trade

1. Open PaperLight. Install it from the link on the official companion page, pin its Chrome toolbar icon and open the popup. After an update, refresh existing trading tabs.
2. Choose a profile. On Wallets, click the profile picture to open the wallet sidebar. Add or select your practice wallet. Use Edit to rename it or change its picture.
3. Choose how to fund trades. In 2.5, open Cash, choose the profile and set Trade using to Shared cash or This wallet's crypto. Before 2.5, use the separate native balances.
4. Prepare practice funds. Set a PIN in Settings → Account safeguards. For cash, use Set cash balance · PIN. For crypto, exchange cash into the selected network, or set a starting native balance from Wallets. A native balance reset erases that network's history; an exchange does not.
5. Open a supported token chart. Check the platform, network, token and PaperLight balance. Use a small paper buy preset or enter a custom amount.
6. Confirm the receipt. A click is not a fill. Wait for a filled status and inspect its receipt. Use Sell 100% to close the position, then review it in Trades.

The extension also has an offline Quick start tab in the updated local package.

02 / Wallets and networks

A profile is a paper account, not a real crypto wallet. Up to five profiles keep separate trades, settings and training safeguards. The compact terminal balance pill lets you choose the active profile; the popup's profile picture opens the wallet sidebar.

Crypto mode keeps four independent native accounts: Solana (SOL), Robinhood Chain (ETH), BNB Smart Chain (BNB), and Base (ETH). Robinhood ETH and Base ETH are not the same balance. Always check the network before exchanging, resetting or trading.

Wallets shows native balances and available position information across networks for the selected profile. Click a position to reopen its recorded source platform when a valid route is available. Positions, Overview and Trades use the selected network; Calendar also offers Combined USD. Cash/crypto history filters appear where supported, and Positions follows the active trading mode.

This describes extension routing, not a guarantee that each platform currently lists every network or token. Availability, sign-in, page changes and price evidence still matter. An address alone does not establish its network.

03 / One cash balance, two ways to trade

2.5 feature · simulated USD, fixed at $1

The large balance on Cash is the only spendable USD balance. It is shared by every profile and supported network. There is no second cash balance to top up inside each profile.

Set starting cash without deleting trades

1. Open Cash and select the profile whose PIN will authorize the change.
2. Choose Set cash balance · PIN and enter the desired total balance—not an amount to add.
3. Preview the change, confirm it and enter the PIN. Wait for the saved receipt.

New cash starts at $0. Funding is recorded as cash activity, not trading profit. Setting a shared balance affects available cash for all profiles, but does not rewrite their fills or P&L.

Fund native crypto or stable it back into cash

1. Choose the source/destination Wallet profile.
2. Choose Exchange cash ↔ crypto.
3. Select Cash → wallet crypto to fund native currency, or Wallet crypto → cash to stable available native funds.
4. Choose the network, amount and exchange fee. The default fee is 0.1%; Preview shows the rate, fee and amount received.
5. Confirm before the quote expires, then check the saved receipt in Cash activity.

In Cash → crypto, enter USD. In Crypto → cash, enter SOL, ETH or BNB. Max uses only the available source balance; it does not sell tokens in open positions. Exchanges work in either mode and preserve trade history. They are local simulations, not bridges or real USDC transfers.

Example: at an illustrative SOL price of $100, exchanging $100 with a 0.1% fee yields approximately 0.999 SOL after a $0.10 fee. Your actual preview uses the current verified rate and applicable rounding.

Switching modes

Close the selected profile's positions on all networks before changing modes. A pending trade or daily safeguard can also block a switch. The balance and mode stay unchanged when blocked; the message explains why. Switching does not convert balances, settle positions, clear locks or delete history.

If an exchange confirmation is interrupted, use its status check to reconcile the original operation. Do not create a duplicate transfer because the first acknowledgement was slow.

04 / Buying and selling

Use PaperLight's controls, not the host platform's real-trading buttons. Verify the wallet, funding mode and token before submitting. The terminal shows USD in cash mode and the network's native unit in crypto mode.

• Buy presets / custom amount: enter how much of the funding currency to spend. The pencil opens preset editing; the switch control changes available input modes.
• Sell percentage: sells that percentage of the remaining tokens. A 100% sell closes the position.
• Sell amount: uses the selected funding currency and current verified price to size the exit.
• Sell Int.: attempts to recover the initial invested funding amount, accounting for the available position and estimated costs. It cannot recover more than the position is worth.
• Receipt: records the actual simulated quantity, fill price, costs and price evidence. Read it when an outcome differs from expectations.

Execution assumptions include network/priority fees, slippage and optional liquidity impact. Disabling modeled liquidity impact is not a guarantee of real liquidity and does not bypass price, balance, route or safeguard checks. Missing trusted prices must not become invented fills.

Optional random delay adds simulated latency and rechecks conditions before a fill. It is not a speed improvement. Keep it low or zero if you do not want this simulation effect.

Padre Trenches quick buys are optional paper buttons. Turn them off or edit their amounts in Settings → Execution assumptions. PaperLight never needs to click a platform's native buy control.

05 / Stop losses and take profits

Auto SL -30% is off by default. When enabled for a new position, the default stop is 30% below the weighted entry and sells 100%. Turning on a default is not a substitute for checking which protective orders are actually armed.

1. Expand SL / TP in the terminal.
2. Set the stop or target percentage and the percentage of the position to sell.
3. Choose Set and check the armed status and chart line.
4. Drag an armed line for an exact price adjustment. Check the saved value after releasing it; edit or cancel the order through its controls.

A 25% take-profit sell exits only one quarter of the available position when triggered. The remainder stays open. Manual edits of an automatic stop make it a manual order so subsequent averaging-in cannot silently relocate it.

The Next trade plan in Settings is different: its thesis, planned stop and target are training references. They do not create stop-loss or take-profit orders.

06 / Chart and terminal controls

A supported token route opens the trade terminal. A supported discovery page instead shows the daily P&L card. The small status dot is a connection indicator, not a promise that every price or order is ready.

• Entry / exit lines: weighted paper-fill references for the relevant trade. Chart price versus market-cap mode changes coordinates, not the original receipt.
• Buy / sell bubbles: use the terminal bubble toggle to show or hide PaperLight markers. Hiding markers does not remove trades. Hover a visible marker for fill details.
• Trade metrics: Invested, Total sold, Remaining and Total P&L stay visible. Lifetime / This trade changes the scope. Remaining value is a mark, not realized profit.
• Trade details and SL / TP: expandable controls keep the main terminal compact. Opening them can require scrolling.
• Resize and position: use the panel controls; saved sizing is intended to stay consistent between sites. Browser zoom can also affect the appearance.
• Notifications: brief toasts report results without expanding the terminal. Inspect the receipt or history for a lasting record.

Price updates and token images depend on available route-bound data. If overlays disappear, first check the bubble/overlay settings, wallet and network. A chart-coordinate problem does not by itself prove that a stored fill price changed; compare the receipt.

07 / Review P&L and share results

• Overview: available funds, marked equity, realized results and retained-sample analytics for the selected account.
• Positions: currently open positions for the selected network and active funding mode. Open one to return to its supported platform route.
• Calendar: choose Combined USD or an individual network. Hover, focus or select a day to inspect available daily details. Missing conversion data should be shown as incomplete, not silently counted as zero.
• Trades: completed trades and individual fills. Partial exits can realize P&L before a whole trade is completed.
• History filter: Active mode, Cash history or Crypto history on the views offering it. A mode switch does not erase the other history.

Native funding values can change in USD as SOL/ETH/BNB rates move. Historical receipt evidence and marked estimates answer different questions. Combined USD totals should not be read as a new spendable balance.

Sharing

Open Share on a trade or daily P&L card. Copy image and Download PNG keep the preview available. Share to X opens a draft and closes the PaperLight preview after a successful handoff; it does not publish a post automatically. Check the draft and image yourself, write the caption and post only when ready. If the browser cannot attach the image, use Copy image/paste or Download PNG and attach it.

History retention

Detailed lists retain the latest 100 completed trades and 500 fills per account. Lifetime aggregates can include older results; analytics use the retained sample. Export regular private snapshots before details roll over. An export cannot recreate already-trimmed data or automatically merge separate histories. Cash activity has a separate 5,000-receipt capacity and reports when that capacity is reached.

08 / Settings, safeguards and PIN

Settings follow the selected profile and relevant network/funding mode. Confirm that context before editing presets, slippage, fee assumptions, daily limits or automatic stops.

• Extension / Overlay: pause the app or hide its on-page surface without intentionally clearing saved history.
• Account safeguards: daily loss/profit buy locks, position limits and optional planning requirements. Exits remain important even when new buys are locked.
• PIN: protects safeguard changes and destructive balance resets. Use the PIN dialog and its digit cells; supported four-digit entry submits automatically when complete. The PIN is a local training safeguard, not encryption or a real-wallet password.
• Loss-lock recovery: a later winning close may move the day's result back above the loss threshold and clear a loss lock. Other daily locks clear at local midnight. Resetting the daily display or changing mode does not bypass safeguards.
• Next trade plan: thesis and planned stop/target document your setup. They are not automated exits; use the terminal's SL / TP controls for those.

Defaults are simulation assumptions, not a quote for what a real platform will charge. Zero is allowed for supported execution fee/delay fields. Cash exchange fees are separate from trade execution costs.

09 / Keep your ledger safe

Records live in the current Chrome profile and extension identity. A normal restart or temporarily hiding the overlay should preserve them. This is not cloud sync: uninstalling, clearing extension storage, losing the profile or a disk failure can remove local data.

Make a private backup

1. Open Settings → Wallet and recovery.
2. Use Export all wallets for the complete available wallet bundle, including supported cash data in 2.5. A selected-account export is narrower.
3. Store the downloaded file securely outside the browser profile. Backups are unencrypted and contain private trading data; PINs are excluded.
4. Before a restore, review the destination, account scope and PIN requirements in the preview. Restore is replacement, not an automatic history merge.

Cash reset/import flows retain a downloadable pre-replacement recovery copy. Only the latest such copy is retained; it is not a substitute for regular private backups. Do not downgrade an extension after a storage migration.

10 / When something blocks you

For help, use PaperLight support. Include the installed version, extension ID, platform, network, exact error and steps. Redact screenshots. Never send a PIN, seed phrase, cookies, Chrome profile or private backup in a public report.

11 / A few useful terms

Available balance

Funding you can spend now; tokens already in positions are not included.

Mark / unrealized P&L

An estimate of the open position at its latest usable price. It is not a completed sell.

Realized P&L

Profit or loss recorded by a sell, including partial exits and modeled costs.

Market cap (MC)

A token valuation measure, not the value of your position. A chart may display MC instead of token price.

Liquidity impact

A model of how order size can move the execution price. Its accuracy depends on available evidence.

Slippage

An execution assumption about price movement during the order. It is distinct from the cash exchange fee.

Receipt

The saved evidence of a simulated operation; use it to distinguish a committed fill from an attempted action.