Paper vs. live execution
Stretus has two completely independent execution paths. They share the same strategy definition and run in parallel, isolated environments, paper never affects live and vice versa.
Both run the nine risk gates identically. That is what makes a paper run a real test of your configuration rather than only of the strategy.
Paper
Paper trades are filled by the in-platform simulator. The simulator uses real-time price data but does not touch your broker or exchange. No real money moves.
Use paper to:
- Confirm a backtested strategy works in current market conditions before committing capital
- Test parameter adjustments without risk
- Run multiple strategy variations simultaneously to compare performance
Paper deployments do not require a connected broker account. You can deploy to paper immediately after a backtest.
Live
Live trades route to your actual broker or exchange:
| Market | Routes to |
|---|---|
| Indian equity | Your connected Indian equity broker, the platform carries adapters for fourteen |
| US equity | Alpaca (pending market activation) |
| Crypto spot | Your connected exchange, the platform carries adapters for eleven |
| Futures & options | Nowhere. Live entry is refused, see Derivatives |
Which brokers you can actually connect is resolved from reference data and filtered to what your tenant has enabled. It is not a fixed list. Earlier documentation named a two-broker fallback as though it were the whole set. See Connect a broker
Routing follows the strategy's venue, not its asset class, a US and an Indian cash equity are the same asset class and reach different brokers. See Markets & brokers.
Indian equity live requires broker approval. When you request live deployment for an Indian equity strategy, your broker reviews the strategy parameters before it can place real orders (see Requesting broker approval below). The review typically takes one business day. Until approved, the strategy runs in paper only even if live is selected.
Crypto live is immediate. Once your exchange API keys are connected under your profile, a crypto strategy goes live the moment you deploy it.
There is no approval gate for crypto. If you click live deploy and your API keys are valid, the strategy starts placing real orders on the next candle close.
Requesting broker approval
For asset classes that gate live algo trading (equity today), deploying live opens an approval request you submit to your broker. The request summarizes how the strategy will trade so the broker can authorize it:
| In the request | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Instruments | The symbols the strategy will trade |
| Order rate | How frequently it places orders |
| Capital | The capital you intend to allocate |
| Max drawdown | The worst-case loss the strategy is expected to tolerate |
| Risk score | An overall risk rating for the strategy |
While the request is pending, the strategy detail page shows a broker approval banner and the strategy keeps running in paper. Once the broker approves it, you can run it live; if it's rejected, adjust the strategy or allocation and request again.
Crypto has no approval gate - connected API keys are all that's required. This section applies to equity and any other approval-gated asset class.
How to deploy
- Open a strategy that has been backtested (status: draft with a completed backtest)
- Click Deploy on the strategy card or detail page
- Choose Paper or Live - or both
- Set the capital allocation for this deployment
- Confirm
The strategy immediately moves to the selected status. You'll see it update on the My Strategies dashboard within one candle close.
Pausing and stopping
Every running strategy has a More actions menu with pause and stop options.
| Action | Effect |
|---|---|
| Pause | No new positions open. Existing positions run to their exit conditions. |
| Resume | New entries re-open. |
| Stop | No new positions. Existing positions are NOT automatically closed - they run to their exit conditions. To close immediately, use your broker's own interface. |
Switching between paper and live
You don't have to redeploy from scratch to change execution mode. A deployed strategy can be switched paper -> live or live -> paper from its detail page, with a confirmation step. A few things to keep in mind:
- Capital is per mode. Paper uses a simulated balance; live uses real allocated capital. Switching to live prompts you to allocate real capital if you haven't.
- Approval still applies. Switching an approval-gated strategy to live may require broker approval before real orders are placed.
- Open positions don't carry over. The paper and live paths are isolated, so positions opened in one mode are not migrated to the other - they run to their exit conditions in the mode that opened them.
Switching to paper is a low-risk way to observe a change in current conditions before you flip a strategy back to live.
Next
- Paper trading, what it tests that a backtest cannot
- Live trading, the pre-flight checklist
- Order lifecycle, for debugging
- Monitoring
- How risk is enforced, read before any live capital