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Share trading can be a great way earn some extra money and invest for the future, but it can also be risky if you're new to the stock market. With so much conflicting information on which stocks to buy, it can be hard to know where to start.
That’s where share trading games can be a great resource. Many of these games stimulate the stock market so that users can practice trading using virtual money.
This way, you can learn how to develop an investment strategy without putting any of your own money on the line. Practice makes perfect!
Active trader brokerage - Australian shares
Competitive broker fees on Australian shares, international shares, forex and CFD trading.
Important: Share trading carries risk of capital loss.
Most share trading games offer a real-time simulation of stock market investing. These games provide you with a set budget, for example $50,000, of pretend money. You can then use these virtual dollars to “buy” your very own portfolio of shares.
Share trading games can teach you how to research companies, place different trade orders, build an investment strategy and minimise losses.
However, it’s important to understand that these can never truly imitate the real deal. Your appetite for risk and willingness to accept losses will always be different when your hard-earned cash is on the line.
It’s also worth pointing out that successful sharemarket strategies often take several years to produce the desired results, which is a far beyond the timeframe of many share trading games.
Back to topThe following games are a selection of online share trading games based on different markets and available to Australians.
This is one of one of Australia's most well-known share trading games. The ASX Sharemarket Game is open to all members of the public including school students.
Players are given a virtual AUD$50,000 to invest in 200 companies listed on the ASX – with company prices mirroring real live market prices and a standard brokerage fee per trade.
The game runs for 15 weeks between August 1 and November 13 and you can set up a league to compete against family and friends. An online portfolio allows you to monitor your stocks and at the end of the competition, cash prizes are available to the three competitors with the most valuable portfolios.
StockWatch Trading gives you a budget of AUD$50,000 which you can use to manage your own fantasy share portfolio. The game is free and aims to offer an experience as similar to real-life trading as possible.
The game allows you to buy and sell shares, keep a record of your trades and your share portfolio, test out trading strategies and see how your performance stacks up against other traders. Instead of determining the leading trader based on the value of their portfolio, StockWatch Trading uses a points system based on good share trading practices.
Although not based on the ASX, the Investopedia Stock Simulator is another free share trading game designed to give you a taste of sharemarket investing. Players are given a virtual budget of US$100,000 to invest and can compete with more than 700,000 other traders from around the world.
You can join or create challenges to test your skills against other investors, such as who can achieve the best investment results each day.
Another game based on the US market rather than the ASX, Wall Street Survivor is nonetheless worth a look for Australian investors. It gives competitors a budget of US$100,000 to invest in whichever stocks they like.
Features include simple-to-understand stock ratings and advice, a huge resource library and tips on company research. It’s a very useful educational tool if you’re looking to find out more about investing in stocks.
This free simulation game run in collaboration with the ASX is for anyone wanting to hone their skills in options trading. Although trading options is an added challenge to regular share trading, the ASX Options Trading Game is suitable for both beginners and advanced traders.
When you sign up, you're given $50,000 of virtual cash to play with and a four-week period to maximise your funds and get your name on the leaderboard. If you're curious about what trading options can get you, the game's last winner made $167,000 in four weeks, compared to $71,222 in the regular ASX sharemarket game (September 2019).
The options game is run four times a year and it's a terrific resource for new and old investors or if you're just interested in taking your trading strategy to the next level.
Back to topImportant: Share trading can be financially risky and the value of your investment can go down as well as up. “Standard brokerage” fee is the cost to trade $1,000 or less of ASX-listed shares and ETFs without any qualifications or special eligibility. If ASX shares aren’t available, the fee shown is for US shares. Where both CHESS sponsored and custodian shares are offered, we display the cheapest option.
If you’re new to investing, share trading games are a useful tool to help you learn the basics of buying and selling shares. Start researching share trading games today to find a game that will help you build your investment knowledge.
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