Explainer
How do I place a sell (short) paper trade in a futures replay?
On the Trade tab press Sell to open a short: it gains when price falls. This example runs on ES with the MES micro contract at $5 a point.
Updated
The short answer
A sell opens a short position: it gains when price falls and loses when it rises. The ticket is the same as for a buy; the Sell button is beside it. This example uses an ES run, so the contracts are MES ($5 a point) and ES ($50 a point).
Place a short in four steps
Set the account for the market
Open the Trade tab. On an ES run the contract box offers MES and ES, with the dollars per point printed beside each. Pick MES, set a balance and press Create account.
Press Sell
Keep the type on Market and press Sell. The position line is labelled SHORT, and Open P&L is shown in dollars. Step forward and it moves against the last price.
Close the short
Use the x on the position tag, or Flatten & cancel all. The result goes into the closed trades and the equity curve.
What to know about shorts
A short needs no borrowing and no margin in the Lab: the account shows equity, the starting balance plus closed trades plus the open position. If equity falls to zero or below, new entries are blocked, and you can still close the position.
On a short, the stop sits above the entry and the target below it. The next guides cover stops and targets.
Take one MES as an example. A 4-point fall in ES pays a short $20 and costs a long $20, before commission. The same fall on one ES contract would be $200. The point value, not the price, sets the dollars, which is why the contract list follows the market.
The Lab keeps one net position per run. An opposite order first reduces or closes the position you hold, and any quantity left over opens the other side, so you never hold a long and a short together.
Buy and Sell are mirror images: the dollars per point are the same, and only the direction of the gain changes.
What the Trade Lab does not do
The Trade Lab replays history. It has no live data, and no real order is ever placed. Paper fills are modelled on 1-minute bars, so they approximate real fills.
Each account can read 40 distinct 1-minute sessions and start 5 new runs per UTC day, and it needs a verified email. The Lab itself is free.
Questions and answers
How do I short ES in a replay?
Start an ES run, open the Trade tab, create the account with MES or ES, leave the type on Market and press Sell.
What is MES worth per point?
MES is worth $5 a point and ES $50 a point, so a 4-point move on one MES is $20.
Can I be long and short at once in a replay?
No. The Lab keeps one net position per run. A sell while you are long first reduces or closes the long, and any quantity left over opens a short.
What does Alt+Shift+S do?
It places a market sell at the ticket quantity, the way Alt+Shift+B places a market buy.
Does a short pay more than a long on the same move?
No. A fall of 4 points pays a short exactly what a rise of 4 points pays a long, at the same contract and quantity. Commission is the same on both.
Does the contract list change by market?
Yes. NQ runs offer NQ and MNQ, ES runs offer ES and MES, and GC runs offer GC and MGC, so the point value always matches the prices.