IBKR Paper Account to Live: What to Know

The search that brings most people here is "how to upgrade my IBKR paper account to live," and the honest answer is that you cannot, because it does not work that way. There is no upgrade button, and there is no conversion. Once you understand why, the actual steps are short.

Why there is no upgrade

At Interactive Brokers the paper account is a companion to a funded live account. You open the live account first, and the paper account is then provisioned alongside it, mirroring your permissions and market data.

The live account already exists, or it does not yet, and either way the paper account is not the path to trading live.

The one case where "upgrade" is the right word is a free trial account, which is a different product from a paper account and does have an upgrade path to a full account.

What to actually do

1. Confirm the live account is open and funded. Log in to Client Portal. If you only ever see a paper login, the live application is not finished.
2. Check trading permissions separately for live. This is the step that catches people. Permissions are granted per account. Futures approval on paper does not mean futures approval live, and the live application asks about experience and net worth in a way the paper account never did.
3. Check market data subscriptions. Paper accounts inherit data from the live account, but live data is a paid subscription per exchange. If your paper testing ran on delayed or shared data, budget for the real feed.
4. Log in with the live credentials. They are a different username from the paper one, which is usually your live username prefixed to mark it as paper.
5. Change the port in your code. See below. This is the single most common failure when moving a systematic trading system across.

The port numbers

If you connect programmatically, the API port is what separates paper from live, and nothing else in your code changes. Getting this wrong is how people accidentally send a test order to a funded account.

	Paper	Live
Trader Workstation (TWS)	7497	7496
IB Gateway	4002	4001

Two habits worth adopting before you ever connect to the live port. First, never hardcode the port; read it from an environment variable or a config file, so switching it is a deliberate step, separate from editing your strategy. Second, have your script print which account it is connected to on startup and refuse to run if that does not match what you expected. A paper account number and a live account number look nothing alike, and a two-line check catches the mistake before an order does.

The systematic trading system guide covers the connection setup and staging orders with transmit disabled so nothing reaches the broker until you approve it.

What changes when the money is real

The mechanical switch is the easy half. The paper account fills you at prices a live account will not, does not model queue position, and has no emotional weight at all. Expect worse fills, expect to hesitate, and expect your own behavior to be the variable that changed.

The paper to live transition guide covers sizing down, grading execution, and a scaling ladder that responds to behavior. That is the part worth the most attention.

FAQ

How do I upgrade my IBKR paper trading account to live?

You do not. The paper account is a companion to an existing live account. If you do not have a live account yet, you open one; the paper account stays as it is.

Do I need a live IBKR account to get a paper account?

Yes. The paper account is provisioned alongside a live account and mirrors its permissions and market data.

Are my paper trading permissions the same as live?

Not necessarily. Permissions are granted per account, and the live application asks about experience and financials in ways the paper account does not. Check each product you intend to trade.

What port does IBKR use for live trading?

7496 for Trader Workstation and 4001 for IB Gateway. Paper uses 7497 and 4002. Read the port from a configuration file so it is never hardcoded.

Will my systematic trading strategy work the same on the live account?

The code will connect and run. The fills will differ, because the paper account does not model slippage or queue position realistically. Start at the smallest size you can and compare live fills against what paper claimed.

What is the difference between a paper account and a free trial account?

A free trial is a separate product with a genuine upgrade path to a full account. A paper account is a simulation attached to an existing live account and has no upgrade path because it does not need one.

Broker procedures, ports, and account types are set by Interactive Brokers and can change. Confirm current details with IBKR. Educational content only. Not investment advice. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Interactive Brokers.