Does Schwab support paper trading?
Short answer: not through the API. The Schwab Trader API, the same one Autoview's own Schwab connection uses, only places orders on a real, funded account. There's no sandbox mode that simulates a fill, and no separate paper-trading endpoint to point a connection at. Schwab does have a paper-trading feature, just not one this API, or any third-party automation tool, can reach.
What the Schwab Trader API actually does
Autoview's Charles Schwab connection signs in through Schwab's own OAuth2 flow and places orders against api.schwabapi.com/trader/v1. Both the standard subscription and the "Test" subscription tier Autoview offers hit that exact same endpoint. That "Test" label refers to Autoview's own subscription pricing, not a separate Schwab environment; the two subscriptions point at the identical live API. There is no sim-api or sandbox variant of that trading endpoint, unlike TradeStation or Tradovate.
Schwab does run a developer sandbox, but it's scoped to testing the mechanics of authentication and token refresh against synthetic data, not to simulating order execution. It answers "does my OAuth flow work," not "what would this trade have done."
Where Schwab's actual paper trading lives
Schwab does offer paper trading, through thinkorswim, its own trading platform, under a feature called paperMoney. It gives $100,000 in simulated buying power against real-time market data, and it's a genuinely popular way to practice a strategy. The catch, for automation purposes, is that paperMoney is a platform feature you use directly inside thinkorswim's own interface. It isn't exposed through the Trader API, so there's no way for Autoview, or any third-party tool, to send a command to it the way a webhook or extension alert normally places a trade.
That gap isn't unique to Autoview. It's a property of Schwab's own API surface: the same live-only restriction applies no matter what's sending the order.
What to use instead if you want to paper trade with Autoview
If the goal is testing an alert risk-free before it touches real money, Autoview has free connections built for exactly that, just not on Schwab:
- TradeStation Simulator, a $0 connection running the identical order-placement code as live TradeStation. TradeStation's own site states it's only available once you've funded a real TradeStation brokerage account, so it isn't an open signup, but it's a genuine simulated environment reachable through the API. Full setup: TradeStation Simulator.
- Tradovate Simulation, open to anyone with no funded account required first. See the Tradovate Sim guide.
- Crypto exchange testnets. Bybit, Binance, Kraken, Deribit, Gate.io, OKX, and others each have a free, no-funding-required testnet connection on Autoview.
None of these is Schwab. If your strategy is specifically stock or options trading and you want the closest fit, TradeStation Simulator is the nearest match on Autoview today: same asset class, same order mechanics, funded-account gate aside.
The honest bottom line
Schwab's Trader API places real orders on real accounts, full stop. thinkorswim's paperMoney is Schwab's real paper-trading feature, but it lives inside thinkorswim's own platform, not the API Autoview or any other automation tool connects to. If you're set on Schwab specifically, the Schwab getting-started guide covers connecting the live account carefully, starting small. If you just want to prove your alert and command syntax work before risking money, TradeStation Simulator or Tradovate Simulation will get you there today.