So you’ve chosen a broker and deposited some dough. Ready to take your first trade?

Not so fast. You can’t just blindly jump into the market with both feet. You need practice. Lucky for you, most brokers make it pretty easy to do this through a process called “paper trading.” Paper trading is essentially trading in a demo account using fake money but real-time data (well, roughly “real time” but more on that below). I know this isn’t actually the advice you want to hear, but I am telling you trading in a simulator is hands-down the absolute smartest way to begin your trading journey.

Paper trading is imperative for a variety of reasons: it allows you to gauge an understanding of how stocks move, why they behave the way they do and, above all else, affords you the opportunity to practice discipline. I cannot stress the importance of this part enough. You need to prove profitability to yourself for as long as it takes before putting your own hard-earned capital on the line. And for my money, paper trading isn’t so much about seeing how much you can make per trade. No, you need practice knowing when to cut a losing trade and eliminating the emotion that comes with it.

That’s the real drawdown of paper trading. It’s hard to adopt the mindset that the fake money you are trading with is actually “real” money. Some advice: your broker may set you up with an account that has $100,000 or more in buying power. That obviously elevates the amount of shares you are able to purchase, which in turn elevates the return. I suggest you practice trading using only the amount you intend on using when funding your live account.

As far as the “real-time” data goes, most brokers will give you actual real-time data once you’ve funded your account, but quotes will be delayed 15 minutes in paper trading the same way they are in the “Stocks” app on your iPhone. So stay mindful of that.