How to practice Polymarket without risking money
Updated
You can’t practice on Polymarket itself: it has no demo or paper-trading mode, so every position there is real money. To practice, trade the same markets at the same live prices with play money instead. Papermarkets mirrors Polymarket’s markets and prices, gives every account $10,000 of play money each monthly season, and settles your positions on the real outcomes. It is free, there is nothing to deposit, and it is not affiliated with Polymarket.
How to practice Polymarket, step by step
1. Create a free account
Sign in with Google and Papermarkets puts $10,000 of play money in your account for the current monthly season. There is no deposit, no wallet to connect and nothing to verify, because nothing you do here touches real money.
2. Find the market you would trade on Polymarket
Search for it or browse by category. The markets are Polymarket's own questions at Polymarket's live price, so the trade you are rehearsing is the real one. Where Kalshi lists the same event, its price is shown beside Polymarket's.
3. Read the price as a probability
A Yes share at 32¢ means the market puts the outcome near 32%. Before you buy, write down the number you think is right. If you cannot say why yours differs from the market's, you do not have a trade yet — you have a feeling.
4. Size it the way you would with real money
This is the step most people skip, and the one paper trading is best at. Decide what share of the $10,000 the position is worth before you pick an amount. A practice account where every trade is a max bet teaches you nothing about sizing.
5. Hold, exit early, or let it resolve
Your position moves with the live market. Sell while the market is open at the current price, or hold it: it settles when the real market resolves, on the same outcome the venue settles it on.
6. Review the record, not the result
Your portfolio keeps every fill — entry price, size, exit — and the leaderboard ranks you against everyone trading the same markets. One winning trade proves little. A few dozen settled positions start to show whether you beat the price.
Paper trading vs. trading on Polymarket
| Papermarkets | Polymarket | |
|---|---|---|
| Money at risk | None — play money | Your own funds |
| Starting balance | $10,000 each monthly season | Whatever you deposit |
| Markets and prices | Polymarket's live markets and prices | The same |
| How a trade fills | At the last quoted price | Against the live order book |
| How positions settle | On the real market's outcome | On the market's outcome |
| Private games with friends | Yes | No |
| Cash out winnings | No | Yes |
What paper trading can’t tell you
Your fills are cleaner than real ones
A paper order fills at the last price we hold for that market. On Polymarket a large order walks the order book and pays more the bigger it is, so on thin markets a real fill can be meaningfully worse than the price on screen. If a paper trade only works at the quoted price, size it as if it will not get it.
Nobody is on the other side of your order
Your trade here does not move the price, and no trader takes the other side. On Polymarket, a big enough order in a small market moves the price against you as you trade. That matters most in the markets where paper results look best.
Losing play money does not feel like losing money
The hardest part of trading with real money is doing what you planned while the position is going against you. Paper trading tests your forecasting and your sizing well. It tests your nerve hardly at all, so treat a paper record as a ceiling on how you will trade live, not a prediction of it.
Common questions
Does Polymarket have a demo or paper trading mode?
No. Polymarket has no practice or demo account: every position there is placed with real funds. To practice, you trade the same markets somewhere that uses play money. Papermarkets mirrors Polymarket's live markets and prices, starts every account with $10,000 of play money each monthly season, and settles each position on the real market's outcome, so a paper trade here is the same bet you would have placed on Polymarket, without the money. It is free, there is nothing to deposit or withdraw, and it is not affiliated with Polymarket. The one thing it cannot reproduce is the order book: paper fills happen at the last quoted price, so treat a result that depends on a perfect fill with suspicion.
Can I practice Kalshi the same way?
Yes, for events both venues list. Where Kalshi quotes the same event, Papermarkets shows its price next to Polymarket's and you can take the position at either venue's price with play money. Kalshi-only markets are not carried.
How many practice trades before trading real money?
There is no magic number, but one good month is not a track record. Wait until you have dozens of settled positions across more than one kind of market, and compare your results with what simply buying at the market price would have done. If you are not beating that, real money will not change it.
Can I practice against friends?
Yes. Create a private game, pick which categories it carries, the starting balance and the end date, and share the join link. Everyone trades the same live markets from the same balance, with a leaderboard of your own.
New to prediction markets in general? Start with what paper trading a prediction market means, or see how Papermarkets compares with other free prediction market games and simulators.