🤔 Why Alpaca, and what is paper trading?
Alpaca is a US-regulated broker
that offers a fully-featured Paper Trading environment — a simulated
account funded with virtual cash that behaves identically to a live account: real-time
quotes, real fills against the live market book, real options chains.
JKM Trade Tracker uses Alpaca's API to place orders the moment a TradingView signal
fires. With Paper mode enabled, every order is virtual — you can
validate the entire signal pipeline end-to-end without putting a single dollar at risk.
💡 Recommended workflow: run paper trading for at least 2 weeks before
considering live keys. Watch the Signal Performance Dashboard to see
win rate, average R, and per-signal P&L on your virtual account.
1
Create a free Alpaca account
Head to alpaca.markets/signup
and sign up with your email. Verification is instant for paper-only access — you
don't need to upload ID or fund the account.
What you'll see
alpaca.markets →
Sign Up → email & password → verify email → logged in
ℹ️ Live trading? Skip it for now. Live accounts require ID
verification, bank linkage, and pattern-day-trader rules ($25K minimum balance).
Paper trading has none of these requirements.
2
Switch to Paper Trading mode
After login you land on the dashboard. In the top-right corner there's an
account-mode dropdown — make sure it shows "Paper" (not "Live").
Where to look
Top right of dashboard → account dropdown → select
Paper →
URL changes to
app.alpaca.markets/paper/dashboard/overview
You should now see a virtual balance of $100,000 in the Equity
card — this is your starting paper cash.
3
Generate your API keys
Still in Paper mode, look at the right-hand sidebar on the
dashboard — there's a panel labelled "Your API Keys".
- Click Generate (or Regenerate if keys already exist)
- A modal pops up showing two values:
API Key ID — looks like PKXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXSecret Key — a long random string
- Copy both immediately — the Secret Key is shown only once.
⚠️ Important: If you close the modal without copying the Secret Key,
you'll have to regenerate (which invalidates the old pair). Paste both into a
temporary notepad before continuing.
You'll have two strings ready to paste into JKM Trade Tracker. Quick sanity check:
- Paper API Key IDs always start with
PK
- Live API Key IDs start with
AK — you do not want these for the initial setup
4
Save the keys in JKM Trade Tracker
Back in JKM Trade Tracker:
- Open the navbar → click your name → Profile
- Scroll to the section titled 🤖 Alpaca Broker API Keys
- Paste the
API Key ID into the first field
- Paste the
Secret Key into the second field
- Confirm the Paper Trading Mode toggle is ON recommended
- Click 🔗 Save & Test Alpaca Connection
🔒 Encryption: JKM Trade Tracker encrypts both keys at-rest before
writing them to the database. Even if you remove the keys later, the encrypted blob
is wiped, not just hidden.
5
Verify the connection
If the keys are valid, the Save button shows a green flash:
"✓ Alpaca connected — Account #XXXXXXXX". Two things confirm
everything is wired correctly:
- The Connected badge appears next to the API Key ID label
- Visit Algo → Dashboard from the navbar — your account number,
equity, buying power, and Paper badge should all appear
Successful connection looks like
✓ Connected | Account #PA31NT57CBHC | Mode:
Paper | Equity: $99,965.42
⚠️ "Invalid credentials" error? See the
Troubleshooting section below — it's almost always a
stray space when pasting, or accidentally using a Live key in Paper mode.
6
Enable Auto-Trading on your Profile
The keys are saved — but Auto-Trading is still OFF by default.
This is intentional: you control when the engine starts firing orders.
On your Profile, scroll to 📡 TradingView Auto-Trading and configure:
- Master toggle: Enable Auto-Trading
- 🎯 Min quality score (default 75) — only signals scoring at or above this fire automatically; lower-score signals show a manual 🎯 Trade button on the TV Signals page
- Stock quantity tiers: shares to buy by price band ≤$10 → 100 / ≤$50 → 10 / <$100 → 1 / ≥$100 → 1
- Options: optionally enable, with budget cap and contract count
💡 First-week recommendation: keep min-score at 80 for
the first week. After a few hundred signals you can tune lower based on what your
paper-trading P&L shows.
🔧 Troubleshooting
Most common errors and how to resolve them.
"Invalid Alpaca credentials"
- You pasted a key with a leading or trailing space — paste again, then trim
- You pasted a Live key but left Paper mode ON — keys must match the mode
- You regenerated keys on Alpaca but kept the old ones in JKM — paste the new pair
"Connection works but auto-trade isn't placing orders"
- Auto-Trade master toggle is OFF — check the TV Auto-Trading section
- Quality score gate is too strict — lower the Min score threshold
- Market is closed — Alpaca rejects orders outside 9:30 AM–4:00 PM ET
- For options: the underlying price is below your options threshold (default $100)
"I want to disconnect Alpaca"
- Profile → Alpaca Broker API Keys → 🗑 Remove Alpaca keys link
- This wipes the encrypted keys instantly. Auto-Trade is automatically disabled.
"Where do I see my paper P&L?"
- Inside JKM: Algo → Dashboard shows live equity and open positions
- Outside JKM: Alpaca Paper Dashboard shows the broker's view
- For per-signal results: Screening → Signal Performance
❓ Quick FAQ
Is paper trading really free? Yes. Alpaca paper accounts are free
forever — no card, no fees, no expiration.
Can JKM see my real bank account? No. Paper accounts are not linked
to any bank. Even on a live account, JKM only ever sends order/cancel requests through
the API — it cannot move money in or out.
Where are my keys stored? Encrypted in JKM's database, scoped to your
user account. Only you can see or use them. Removing them deletes the encrypted blob.
Can I share keys with family? Don't. Each family member should sign up
at Alpaca and generate their own keys — keys are tied to one account's positions.
What happens if a signal fires while Auto-Trade is off? Nothing
automatic — the signal still appears on the TV Signals page with a 🎯 Trade
button you can click to confirm a manual order via the Add Trade form.
Can I switch between paper and live later? Yes. Generate live keys in
Alpaca, paste them in JKM, untick the Paper toggle, save. We strongly recommend at
least 4 weeks of profitable paper trading before flipping the switch.