Backtests flatter you
Tweak an idea enough and it will look perfect on past data. That's curve-fitting, and live markets punish it.
Our fixEvery strategy has to win again on live data it has never seen.
EARLY ACCESS AI strategy tournaments for 15,000+ stocks, ETFs, futures and crypto
Prove your strategy live before you risk real money.
Describe a trading idea in plain English. Our AI writes the strategy, tests it on years of real 1-minute market data, then makes it trade live on paper against your best strategy. Only the ones that earn it get crowned, and every new challenger is built from the winners before it.
- No credit card
- No code to write
- Paper trades only while you test
Reigning champion
EMA Bounce Trend v14
Generation 14 · held the crown 73 days
+18.42%
since promotion
Sharpe
1.84
Profit factor
1.92
Win rate
41%
Trades
412
Challengers60-day proving period
| Strategy | Day | P&L | Status |
|---|
10:42:07VWAP Reclaim v3 opened long 2 MNQ @ 21,184.25
Promotion check passed
Tournament totals
Join the community that finds profitable strategies.
Every trader in the PaperShieldAi community adds to the same search. Thousands of ideas are built, tested and retired side by side, and the winners rise to the top. Your strategies stay private unless you choose to share them. The momentum is shared.
Strategies generated
48,213 strategies generated
Paper profit from winning closed strategies
$1,284,551 paper profit
Bring your own broker or dataConnect your own account or API key for market data and live trading. New connectors are rolling out during early access.
- Interactive Brokers
- Alpaca
- Coinbase
- Kraken
- Binance.US
- Tradovate
- TradeStation
- Charles Schwab
- Webull
- Robinhood
0lines of code
Describe ideas in plain English. The AI writes the strategy.
30days free
The Tester trial, with no credit card.
1min bars
Real historical and live futures data, regular trading hours.
24/7cloud
The tournament runs on our servers. Your computer can stay off.
Why strategies fail
Most strategies look brilliant until real money touches them.
Traders have plenty of ideas. The usual ways of testing them are easy to fool, and most testing tools expect you to write code.
Early luck looks like skill
A strategy that wins its first few trades feels like a discovery. Over a week or two, luck and skill look exactly the same.
Our fixNothing takes the crown on a hot streak. Challengers are judged over a full proving period on risk-adjusted results.
Real money is an expensive teacher
Testing an idea with live contracts means paying for every lesson, in losses and in confidence.
Our fixStrategies trade on paper ledgers until one has earned your trust.
Shield your capital until you've found a strategy that's earned it.Test every idea on paper first. Put real money behind the ones that prove themselves.
PaperShieldAi started as our own strategy tournament. Early on, we watched lucky strategies take the crown after a good week or two, then fall apart. So we added one rule. Nothing gets crowned until it has proven itself live over a full proving period. Now that tournament is open to you.
How a champion is made
Every strategy has to earn its place.
Most backtests tell you what would have worked. PaperShieldAi makes strategies prove it again, live, against the best one you already have.
You
PaperShield AI
Got it. Here's how I read your idea:
MarketMNQ, regular trading hours only, flat before the close
Trend1h and 4h both above their 50 EMA for longs, below for shorts
EntryPullback touches the 50 or 200 EMA on the 5m chart and closes back in trend direction
RiskStop under the bounce candle. Target 2.5× the risk. Max 2 contracts.
Built using lessons from
EMA Bounce Trend v14 · champion
ORB Pullback v9
VWAP Reclaim v3
+ 212 retired strategies
5 indicators3 timeframesRisk 1 : 2.5Plain-English summary kept with the code, so you always know what it does.
Historical replay gate
Real 1-minute bars · oldest to newest · no look-ahead
Jan 2019
Trades
0
Net return
0.0%
Profit factor
0.00
Max drawdown
0.0%
·Must clear profit factor 1.3 and max drawdown under 12% to enter the live arena.
Live arena · paper ledgers · same bars, same momentDay 0 of 60
EMA Bounce Trend v14Champion
+0.0%
Multi-TF EMA Bounce v15Your new challenger
+0.0%
VWAP Reclaim v3Challenger · day 41
+0.0%
Gap Fade v2Challenger · day 58
+0.0%
Every strategy sees the same bar at the same moment. Nobody gets an early peek, and early luck doesn't count until day 60.
Promotion checkChallengerChampion
Days in arena60 / 60—✓
Rolling Sharpe1.971.84✓
Profit factor2.101.92✓
Profitable weeks75%67%✓
Max drawdown−4.1%−5.3%✓
Multi-TF EMA Bounce v15 is the new champion.
Gap Fade v2 retired at day 60 (PF 0.81). A new challenger is being generated for its slot.
Try it with your own idea
Free for 30 days. No credit card.
AI that learns from winners
Every generation starts where the last champion left off.
Other tools help you write one strategy. PaperShieldAi runs a tournament that keeps going. Each time the AI builds a challenger, it studies the full record of every strategy you've tested: what won, what lost, and why.
Breeds from proven winners
New challengers inherit the entries, filters and risk rules that held up live, and drop what didn't.
Remembers every failure
Retired strategies aren't wasted. Their losses teach the AI which ideas to stop trying.
AI mode or random mode
Flip one switch to let the AI design challengers, or let the random generator mix indicators and timeframes to explore ideas nobody would think of.
Reigning champion's Sharpe
Challenger tested
Retired
Judged the way pros judge
Win rate isn't the score. Profit is.
A strategy can lose more trades than it wins and still make money, as long as losers stay small and winners run. PaperShieldAi ranks strategies on risk-adjusted results, so a flashy win rate can't fool the tournament.
Scalp Fade v6
Wins often, loses big
Win rate
68%
Profit factor
0.86
Net
−4.2%
EMA Bounce Trend v14
Loses often, wins big
Win rate
39%
Profit factor
1.94
Net
+18.6%
Each bar is one trade, sized by its result. Promotion and retirement weigh rolling Sharpe, profit factor, drawdown, and consistency across weeks, with thresholds you can tune in Settings.
The dashboard
Your whole strategy lab on one screen.
Champion and challenger board
See who holds the crown, who's closing in, and who's about to be retired, with trades, % gain and consistency for each.
Full strategy history
Every strategy ever tested, with its equity curve, trades, lineage and the reason it was promoted or retired.
No look-ahead, ever
Strategies only see a bar after it closes, in replay and live. Your results reflect what was actually knowable.
Settings you control
Proving period, promotion rules, retirement thresholds, number of challengers, AI or random generation. Tune it all.
Alerts that matter
Get notified when a champion changes, a challenger is retired, or a strategy hits a drawdown limit.
Hosted, private and backed up
Your strategies run and live in our cloud with automatic backups and auto-restart. Your ideas stay yours.
Anywhere
Check the arena from your pocket.
The full dashboard works on your phone, on Wi-Fi or cellular. It opens read-only so nothing changes by accident.
- Locked by default. Unlock editing with your PIN, and it re-locks when you're done. Face ID is coming soon.
- Live P&L and positions. Champion, challengers and open trades update as bars close.
- Push alerts. Know the moment a new champion is crowned.
9:41🔒 View only
CHAMPION · GEN 14
EMA Bounce Trend v14
+18.42%
VWAP Reclaim v3+6.1%
ORB Pullback v9+3.4%
Gap Fade v2−2.8%
Multi-TF Bounce v15+1.2%
Alert · 10:42VWAP Reclaim v3 is now eligible for promotion.
Why PaperShieldAi
Built for traders, not just quants.
Traditional algo platforms are powerful workbenches for people who write code. PaperShieldAi is a self-running tournament for people who'd rather describe an idea and let the evidence decide.
| PaperShieldAi | Typical algo platforms | |
|---|---|---|
| Who it's for | Traders who want to test ideas without learning to code | Quant developers comfortable in Python or C# |
| How strategies get made | Describe it in plain English, or let the AI and random generator invent challengers for you | You write and maintain the code, with AI help available |
| What happens after a backtest | An always-on tournament: challengers trade live against the champion until one earns the crown | You decide what to deploy and compare results yourself |
| Learning from past results | Every new challenger is built from your full history of winners and losers, automatically | Each project starts from your own notes and code |
| Guarding against luck | 60-day live proving period plus a historical replay gate before any promotion | Statistical tools you configure and interpret |
| Weak strategies | Retired automatically after a fair trial, slot refilled with a fresh challenger | Stay running until you stop them |
| AI cost | A monthly AI allowance included in every plan, renewed each month | Often billed separately or brought with your own key |
| Learning curve | Minutes. Sign up, type an idea, watch it compete. | Days to weeks of docs, APIs and code |
Comparison reflects general workflows on code-first algorithmic trading platforms. Those platforms offer far broader asset coverage and deep research tools, and they're an excellent fit for professional quant teams.
From paper to live · Coming soon
When a champion proves itself, let it trade for real.
Connect your own Interactive Brokers account and the reigning champion can execute live trades on your behalf, with hard limits you set. You stay in control: the kill switch is always one tap away.
1
Champion crownedPassed replay gate and 60 live days
READY2
Connect your brokerYour own IBKR login and market data
LINKED3
Set your limitsMax contracts, daily loss cap, trading hours
SET4
Arm live executionKill switch on web and phone
ARMED
Security
Built to protect your account, not just your ideas.
PaperShieldAi is designed so testing can never touch your money by accident, and live trading only happens inside limits you set.
Paper first, always
Every strategy trades on a paper ledger. Nothing reaches a real account unless you turn on live trading yourself.
Read-only data links
Market data connections are read-only. They can see prices but can't place an order or move money.
Trade-only keys
For live trading we ask for broker keys that can trade but never withdraw. Your funds stay with your broker.
Encrypted and private
Keys are stored encrypted, never shown in full and never written to logs. Your strategies are visible only to you.
Your limits, your kill switch
Set max contracts, a daily loss cap and trading hours. One tap on the web or your phone stops everything.
Locked phone view
The mobile dashboard opens view-only. A PIN unlocks editing, and it locks itself again when you're done.
Your first 30 days
See which of your ideas hold up, starting today.
The trial is long enough to put a stack of ideas through years of real history and watch the survivors trade live every session. By day 30 you'll have a live leaderboard showing which ones deserve to keep going.
- Day 1Describe your ideasThe AI builds each one and runs it through years of real 1-minute history the same day. Ideas that fail never reach the arena.
- Week 1Watch them trade liveSurvivors trade every session on paper against your champion and each other, on live simulated data during your trial. Your leaderboard starts to form.
- Weeks 2 to 4The AI builds on what worksNew challengers are bred from the leaders, and the random generator keeps every open slot busy.
- Day 30Keep your leaders runningSubscribe and every strategy keeps its live record. The ones that stay ahead through the proving period take the crown.
Start my free trial today
Every session you wait is live evidence you won't get back.
Members' community · Coming soon
Trade ideas with traders who test everything.
Coming soon for every active subscription: the PaperShieldAi community, where you'll sign in with your account to share ideas, strategies and code with traders who back their opinions with evidence.
Discussions
Start topics on markets, setups and results. Ask questions and get answers from traders who've tested the same ideas.
Strategy and code library
Share strategies and Python or C++ code with their tournament results, and add other members' strategies to your own arena.
Member pages
Write your own posts and pages: trade journals, research notes and lessons learned, open to the whole community.
Pricing
Start with a free 30-day Tester trial.
Every market on simulated and historical data, the AI builder and unlimited backtesting, with no credit card. When your trial ends, choose the plan that fits and your strategies keep their live records. Every plan includes a monthly AI allowance that renews automatically. Each AI strategy build or rebuild uses one credit.
Referral offer
Join the waitlist and refer a friend. When your friend starts a paid subscription, you both get 30% off your monthly subscription for life. Your personal code and share link are on your account page as soon as you confirm your email.
Get my code
Start here
Tester trial
Try every market on simulated and historical data, free for 30 days.
$0for 30 days
No credit card required
AI strategy credits3
Arena slots3
- Stocks, ETFs, indexes, futures and crypto, with options and forex coming soon
- Unlimited live simulated data
- Historical replay gate
- Unlimited backtesting
- Unlimited strategies from the random generator
- Community support
- Your strategies and live records carry over when you subscribe
Nothing is charged when the trial ends.
Trader
Watch your strategies trade on delayed market data.
$29/ month
Billed monthly after your trial
AI strategy credits5 / mo
Arena slots5
- Everything in the Tester trial
- Futures, stock and ETF data via your IBKR account
- Crypto data via your Coinbase account
- Write your own strategies in Python or C++
- Mobile dashboard with PIN lock
- Email and push alerts
Real-time data
Pro
Run a serious tournament on real-time data with your own rules.
$79/ month
Billed monthly
AI strategy credits15 / mo
Arena slots5
- Everything in Trader
- Real-time futures, stock and ETF data via your IBKR account
- Real-time crypto data from Coinbase
- Custom promotion and retirement rules
Coming soon
Live
Let your proven champion trade for real through your broker.
$199/ month
Billed monthly
AI strategy credits30 / mo
Arena slots10
- Everything in Pro
- Live auto-execution through your broker account or API
- Multiple tournaments at once
- Priority support
Markets you can testTrial uses simulated and historical data. Trader adds live data on a 15-minute delay, Pro and Live in real time.
Futures: 50 markets
Stocks and ETFs: 15,000+
Crypto on Coinbase: 200+
Forex: 100+ pairs
Need more AI?Top up anytime. Extra credits roll over for 90 days.100 credits · $15
Out of credits?The tournament keeps running. The random generator keeps refilling empty slots.No interruptions
Teams and clubsShared tournaments for trading groups and classrooms.Contact us
Early access
Get on the waitlist.
Create a free account to hold your spot. We're onboarding traders in small groups and we'll email you when yours opens. Your account page also has your personal referral link: when a friend you refer starts a paid subscription, you both get 30% off your monthly subscription for life.
FAQ
Questions traders ask first.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. You describe a strategy in plain English and the AI writes it. Every strategy comes with a plain-English summary of its rules, so you always know what it's doing.
What's included in the free trial?
30 days of the Tester trial: stocks, ETFs, indexes, futures, options, forex and crypto on simulated and historical data, unlimited backtesting, the historical replay gate, 3 AI strategy credits and 3 arena slots. The random generator keeps filling empty slots for free. You don't need a credit card to start.
What happens when my trial ends?
Nothing is charged, because we never asked for a card. Choose a plan before your trial ends and your strategies, history and live records carry straight over. If you don't choose one, your tournament stops when the trial ends and we keep your strategies and results for 14 more days. Subscribe in that time to pick up right where you left off. After 14 days, your trial account and its data are permanently deleted.
Will PaperShieldAi make me money?
We don't promise that, and you should be wary of anyone who does. PaperShieldAi is a testing platform. It's designed to filter out lucky or fragile strategies before you risk real capital, so the ones left standing have real evidence behind them.
How does the AI get better over time?
When it builds a new challenger, the AI is given the rules and results of your past champions, current challengers and retired strategies. It keeps what worked live, avoids what failed, and tries new variations. The tournament then decides whether the new idea is actually better.
Can a strategy be crowned during my trial?
Not yet, and that's on purpose. A new strategy can look great after a lucky week, so promotion waits for a full proving period of live trading (60 trading days by default). During your trial you'll see which challengers are leading your champion, and they keep that progress when you subscribe. You can adjust the proving period in Settings on Pro and above.
What data do you use?
The Tester trial runs on simulated and historical data. Trader adds live futures, stock and ETF data through your own Interactive Brokers account and live crypto data from Coinbase, both on a 15-minute delay. Pro and Live use the same sources in real time.
What happens when I run out of AI credits?
Nothing stops. Your tournament keeps running, and empty challenger slots are filled by the random strategy generator until your credits renew next month. You can also buy a top-up.
Is my strategy private?
Yes. Your strategies run on our servers and are visible only to you unless you choose to post them in the members' community. We never sell, share or trade them.
Can I cancel anytime?
Yes. Cancel from your account page and keep access until the end of your billing period.
Test live. Trade with confidence.
Your next champion could be one sentence away. Start your free trial, type your first idea, and it can be in the live arena today.
- Every market
- 30 days free
- No credit card