Where do my orders actually go?

It depends on the platform you choose, and we publish it because it matters.

On Bybit and BloFin, your orders go into your own demo account at that exchange, over the exchange's own API. They are handled by the exchange's demo environment.

On Hyro, our own platform, your orders are filled by our simulation engine. It prices from live Bybit market data and applies realistic trading fees and slippage.

In every case the account is a demo account and no order reaches the live order book. That is true during the challenge and it stays true on a funded account, and it is what our Terms say in section 3.2. The payouts are real; the trading is simulated.