Have you thought about buying stock in a certain company but just didn’t have the cash to make a trade? Or perhaps you heard news about a company and though to yourself that the stock price was poised to rise? Or maybe have you have always just wanted to know more about picking stocks? Thanks to virtual stock exchange technology, stock market simulators that let you pick securities, make trades and track the results—all without risking a penny—are as close as your keyboard or cell phone.
Sims, Sims Everywhere
There are a host of stock market simulators to choose from, with each offering a variety of features and benefits. Some are easy to use and offer only basic investment choices and trading strategies. Others are more complex, offering more advanced securities such as options and currency trading. Some are simply tutorials that help investors learn to trade, while others sponsor contests that provide an opportunity to test your skills against other users and even win real money. The simulator that’s right for you will depend on your skill level and reasons for trading. You may start out with a basic offering and more on to a more sophisticated platform once your skill level improves. When you are ready to give it try, the following simulators have all received high marks from various reviewers.
How the Market Works
How the Market Works is advertised as “the web’s most popular Free stock market game.” Like most of the simulators, to sign up, you enter your email address and age, opt in or out of third-party contact and are then ready to trade with virtual cash. On this site, investors can buy stocks, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds in the U.S. and Canadian markets. Currency trading and short-selling enable investors to practice more advanced investing strategies. The penny stock area even provides detailed insight into the potential dangers investors face when trading penny stocks.
Several trading modes are available, providing everything from real-time hours that match the stock market (including pre-market and after-market trading for those seeking to replicate the live-market experience) to fun mode that permits trading twenty four hours a day.
The site provides and extensive library of educational articles to help new investors get started and a variety of contests that let pit would-be traders against each other in a test of skills. To facilitate various trading strategies, it also provides data on the most actively traded stocks, the direction the financial markets are moving and the direction of currency markets. For investors who are ready to dig a little deeper and begin researching individual securities, the site’s research area provides the same level of detail available in real brokerage accounts, including company news and analyst recommendations.
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