Is Bybit Testnet free?

Yes. Bybit Testnet is free with no card and no time limit. You create a separate testnet account (different from your live Bybit account), receive testnet USDT, and trade against the Bybit testnet matching engine. There is no charge for the demo balance or trading activity.

Yes. Hex37's Free tier is genuinely permanent with no card and no trial period. Every account starts with $10,000 virtual USDT, and the core features (spot and perpetual trading, real execution simulation, position sizer, journal, learn curriculum) are on the Free tier. Pro adds AI critique and unlimited price alerts.

What's the biggest difference between Bybit Testnet and Hex37?

Bybit Testnet uses Bybit's real exchange UI and matching engine on isolated testnet liquidity. Hex37 streams live Binance mainnet prices and applies realistic slippage, partial-fill, and funding/liquidation modelling on top. The Bybit testnet gives you the exact Bybit UI muscle memory; Hex37 gives you a closer practice environment for the realistic costs of trading on any major venue.

Does Bybit Testnet have a trade journal?

No. Bybit Testnet has trade history (the list of past fills), but no R-multiple journal, no per-tag or per-session breakdown, no win-rate analytics. If you want a structured journal, you maintain it externally (spreadsheet, Notion, etc.) or use a tool like Hex37 that auto-logs every trade with the analytics layer included.

Is testnet liquidity the same as live Bybit liquidity?

No. Bybit Testnet's matching engine is real, but the order book is populated by other testnet users and synthetic flow rather than the real spot/perpetual market. That means the slippage, partial-fill behaviour, and depth you practise on may not exactly match what you encounter on Bybit mainnet. The mechanics (funding, liquidation, leverage tiers) do match; the price-action realism does not.

Which is better for absolute beginners?

Hex37 is friendlier for absolute beginners. The signup is email-only with no KYC, the position sizer enforces a sane risk-per-trade plan, and the in-product learn content covers the mechanics. Bybit Testnet assumes you already know what testnet means and can navigate a pro-trader UI. Beginners benefit from Hex37 first, then Bybit Testnet once they have committed to Bybit as a live venue.

Can I run both at the same time?

Yes, and many traders do. The standard pattern: build mechanical discipline on Hex37 (journal-driven, realistic-execution, free), then use Bybit Testnet for a few weeks of Bybit-specific UI practice before going live. The two are complementary: Hex37 teaches trading; Bybit Testnet teaches Bybit.

Bybit Testnet vs Hex37: Which Crypto Paper Trading Platform Is Right For You?

Bybit Testnet and Hex37 are two of the strongest free crypto paper trading platforms in 2026, and they solve different problems. This is a direct comparison of where each one wins, where each loses, and which is the right fit for your trading goal.

The short version: if you have already committed to Bybit as your live venue and want UI muscle memory, Bybit Testnet is the right tool. If you want a realistic-execution lab to learn the mechanics of trading and build a real journal habit, Hex37 is the right tool. Many serious traders run both. The rest of this article explains why.

Quick comparison

Dimension	Bybit Testnet	Hex37
Free	Yes (account-gated)	Yes (no card)
Real exchange UI	Yes (Bybit's UI)	No (purpose-built UI)
Real matching engine	Yes (Bybit testnet engine)	Simulated against live Binance data
Order book liquidity	Testnet liquidity (synthetic)	Modelled against live Binance book
Crypto perpetuals	Yes (Bybit instruments)	Yes (50+ pairs, 20x leverage)
Spot trading	Yes (Bybit instruments)	Yes (same instruments)
Funding simulation	Real (Bybit testnet engine)	Real Binance funding rates applied
Liquidation simulation	Real (Bybit engine)	1% maintenance margin, modelled
Slippage realism	Driven by testnet liquidity	Modelled (0.05 to 0.2%) on every fill
Auto-logged journal	No	Yes (R-multiples + breakdowns)
Educational content in-app	Limited	Free 100+ chapter curriculum
Reset balance	Manual (create new testnet account)	One-click reset
Signup friction	Testnet account creation	Email only, no KYC

What Bybit Testnet does well

Bybit Testnet is the closest thing to "real exchange feel" in the free-tier paper trading market. The UI is the live Bybit UI. The matching engine is the live Bybit engine running on isolated testnet balances. Funding accrues on the real schedule with the real settlement mechanism. Liquidations execute through the real liquidation engine.

For traders who have already decided Bybit is their live exchange, this is the right tool. The muscle memory transfers directly: when you switch to mainnet, every button is in the same place, every order type behaves the same way, every margin calculation looks identical. There is no UI-translation cost when you go live.

It is also genuinely free with no card and no time limit. The only cost is the friction of creating a separate testnet account.

Where Bybit Testnet falls short

Three real limitations matter for most traders:

Testnet liquidity is not mainnet liquidity. The Bybit testnet order book is populated by other testnet users and synthetic flow, not by the real mainnet market. This means the slippage you experience, the partial-fill behaviour, and the depth available at any given price level are not the same as on live Bybit. The mechanics (funding, liquidation, leverage tiers) transfer perfectly; the realism of price action and execution friction does not.

No journal. Bybit Testnet shows you trade history (a list of past fills) but does not compute R-multiples, win rate, or per-session breakdowns. If you want the data that tells you whether your strategy has edge, you maintain it externally. For most beginners, that means it does not get maintained at all.

Bybit-only instruments. You can only practise on what Bybit lists. That is most majors and high-volume alts, but it excludes some specific assets that other simulators or other exchanges cover.

What Hex37 does well

Hex37 is built around realistic execution modelling and a journal habit. Prices, candles, marks, and funding rates stream from live Binance mainnet (the largest crypto venue), so the price action you practise on is the real market, not synthetic testnet flow.

The execution model adds the friction layer most simulators omit: slippage of 0.05 to 0.2% on every fill, partial fills on size that would actually need chunking, probabilistic fills near the top of the book, funding payments every 8 hours using the actual Binance perpetual rates, and liquidation at 1% maintenance margin with the forced-close fee and adverse slippage a real exchange would charge.

The journal auto-logs every trade with R-multiples (the dollar PnL normalised to your planned risk) and groups results by tag, day, hour, and session. After 30 to 50 trades, the breakdown view tells you whether your edge is real or whether you got lucky. That data is the single most useful thing a paper-trade platform can deliver, and most testnets and simulators skip it.

Signup is email only, no KYC, no card. The Free tier is permanent.

Where Hex37 falls short

Two honest limitations:

It is not the Bybit UI. If your goal is to learn Bybit's specific interface and order-entry chrome, Hex37 does not teach that. The mechanics transfer; the muscle memory for which button is where does not.

It models execution rather than running on a real testnet engine. The slippage and partial-fill behaviour is modelled probabilistically rather than computed against a real order book of other users. The model is tuned to mirror live-venue execution costs, but it is a model, not the real engine.

For most traders the model is closer to live-execution reality than testnet-engine-with-synthetic-liquidity is, but it is a different architecture and worth being explicit about.

Which is right for you

The decision tree:

Are you already committed to Bybit as your live exchange?

Yes: Use Bybit Testnet for UI muscle memory. Optionally also use Hex37 for journal-driven mechanics work.
No: Use Hex37 as your primary lab.

Are you a beginner who has never paper-traded before?

Yes: Use Hex37. The friction is lower, the journal teaches faster, and the mechanics you learn transfer to any live venue.
No: Pick based on the venue question above.

Do you care about a built-in trade journal with R-multiple analytics?

Yes: Hex37. Bybit Testnet does not have this.
No (you will maintain a journal externally): either works.

Do you want to practise UI-specific muscle memory for a venue?

Yes, Bybit: Bybit Testnet.
Yes, Binance: Binance Futures Mock Trading.
Yes, OKX: OKX Demo Trading.
No, just trading mechanics: Hex37.

Running both, the recommended path

Most serious traders going live on Bybit follow some version of this sequence:

Weeks 1 to 4: build mechanical discipline on Hex37. Place 50 to 100 practice trades using the position sizer, with 1% risk per trade and 2x to 5x leverage. Let the journal compound. Read the risk-management curriculum. The goal: prove to yourself that the mechanics work, that your average R is positive over a meaningful sample, and that you can hold stop discipline.
Weeks 5 to 6: switch to Bybit Testnet for UI familiarity. Replay the same patterns you practised on Hex37, on Bybit's actual interface. Get comfortable with their specific order types, margin display, and quirks. Maintain notes (spreadsheet or external journal) because the testnet does not.
Week 7+: go live on Bybit with a position size so small the loss is meaningless. The mechanical discipline transfers from Hex37, the UI muscle memory transfers from Bybit Testnet, and the emotional discipline only starts building when real money is at risk. Scale up as the journal confirms discipline holds.

What to do next

If you have not paper-traded before: sign up for Hex37 (free, no card) and place your first practice order on the Bitcoin paper-trade page. Use the position sizer with 1% risk and 5x leverage. The walkthrough shows what the full flow looks like.

If you are already paper-trading on Bybit Testnet and missing the journal: add Hex37 alongside. The execution modelling is different but the journal is what most traders are actually missing, and running both for a few weeks shows you where each platform helps.

If you have not committed to any live venue yet: stay on Hex37 until you have. The mechanics you learn there transfer to Bybit, Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, OKX, or any other major. UI-specific testnets are worth using only after you know which exchange you will use live.