Of course, paper trading is a good training ground before using real money. There are 2 things that are essential in paper trading. The first one is you can trade and try out different trading styles/systems and find what works for you best. Number two would be assessing yourself whether you're ready or not in trading with real money depending on the result of your paper trade. For instance, if you can consistently win/profit in you paper trade for say several months, it can boost your confidence in real trading arena therefore executing each trade better.