---
name: Paper results unreliable for low-liquidity assets
description: Don't trust paper PnL for adding assets to live — paper has no phantoms, perfect fills. BNB paper showed +$29 but live lost -$18 with 32% phantoms.
type: feedback
originSessionId: 134b99b4-5786-4626-9f2f-ae9714b5cbaa
---
Paper trading results can be misleading, especially for assets with poor CLOB liquidity. Paper simulates perfect fills (no phantoms, no execution delay, no slippage beyond PAPER_SLIPPAGE constant).

**Why:** BNB was added to live based on paper WR 68.8% and +$29.47 PnL. In live: WR 38.1%, PnL -$18.56, with 32% of trade attempts being phantoms (CLOB says "matched" but no on-chain execution). The CLOB lacked real liquidity.

**How to apply:** Before adding a new asset to live, check if Polymarket's CLOB has real liquidity for that asset's binary markets. High phantom rates (>10%) indicate insufficient liquidity. Run a short live test (12-24h) with small size before committing. Don't rely on paper results alone.