Stocks & investing
Best Stock Market Simulators (2026): 10 Compared
Ten stock market simulators compared on starting money, live or delayed prices, lessons, feedback, broker tickets and class tools, with the best fit for each.
Trading Game vs Investopedia Simulator: which fits you
Investopedia is a free portfolio game for US stocks on a twenty-minute delay. Trading Game is a trading school with live prices, analyst setups and a coach. Here is which one fits you.
In this article
Investopedia fits a teacher or a portfolio builder: 6,000-plus US stocks, limit orders, class games, no paid tier.
The short answer
Investopedia's simulator is a free portfolio game for US stocks. If you want to pick ten companies, hold them for a term and see how you did against your classmates, it is good at that and it costs nothing. It is the one I would hand to a teacher.
Trading Game is for the person who wants to learn to trade, not just to hold. Live prices, a lesson path with the next step always in view, two analyst setups a day you can copy onto your own chart, an AI that reads the chart with you, and a coach that reviews the trade after you close it. It starts you at $500, and that is on purpose.
The deciding fact is the clock. Investopedia's quotes are about twenty minutes old and your order fills about twenty minutes after you place it. Its own help centre says so. You cannot learn to read a moving chart on a screen that is twenty minutes behind.
What the first hour looks like
Investopedia. You sign up on the website; there is no app. You land in the default game with $100,000, per the reviews we read, since Investopedia does not state the figure. The ticket is a proper one: symbol, buy or sell or short, quantity, market, limit or stop, day or good-till-cancelled. Place a market order and nothing happens for about twenty minutes, because the feed is delayed and fills follow it. Then the shares appear, minus a $19.95 pretend commission ($29.95 for a limit or stop), which Investopedia says is deliberately high to show what costs do to returns. Your account value updates after the close. Hover over a term and a tooltip defines it. Nobody tells you what to buy or why.
Trading Game. You install it and choose a balance. The site offers $500 to $10,000, and there is a $200 option as well. Start with a chapter, not the ticket: a short illustrated lesson, a chart question, and then a practice trade on a live price with the stop and the target already on the ticket. Two analyst setups a day sit under Daily Insights, one per market open, drawn and explained; one tap puts either on your own chart. Close the trade and the coach tells you whether it was a good decision or a lucky one.
What Trading Game teaches that a portfolio game cannot
Investopedia is where you look things up. Trading Game is where you are taught, in order, and then tested on a live chart. The difference shows up in the first week.
The lesson decides the next lesson. The Academy is 150-plus illustrated lessons in sixteen chapters, across three tracks: trading, investing and personal finance. The fundamentals are free and so is a 28-day learning plan. Each lesson ends with a quiz, and the chapter view keeps the next lesson in sight. Investopedia's reference library is bigger than anything in the app, but a library is not a course. It cannot tell a beginner what to read on day three. My test of a good lesson is whether you can use it on the way home: why fuel prices move, why gold holds value when people are nervous, why inflation is the first thing your money has to beat.
An analyst draws the trade for you. Every trading day, Trading Game's analysts publish a setup at the European open and another at the US open, with the levels drawn and the reasoning in plain words. Copy to Chart lifts the drawing onto your own chart; from there you nudge the levels and trade the idea. Two copies are free; Pro has no limit. Users vote on the markets they want covered. In Investopedia you choose a stock from six thousand and work out the rest alone.
The chart is read with you, not for you. Chart Intelligence, the AI behind the robot icon, marks the levels, calls the chart a buy, a sell or a wait, and puts a confidence figure on it with its reasons. Draw your own trendlines first and it grades them. It links each pattern to the lesson that explains it. It is in beta and its own help page says it can be wrong; a second opinion, not an instruction.
Someone reviews the trade. Close a position and tap AI Analyse. Max, the coach, replays the trade: what the price did, what you did, and where the two parted company. The review follows a process we refined over years of watching beginners spring the same leaks: hesitation, early exits, revenge trades. Free users get a message allowance that resets every week. Investopedia's only review is the number in the holdings table.
The small balance is the lesson. Trading Game's site puts it plainly: turning $500 into $600 teaches you more than a fake million ever will. Investopedia's $100,000 is normal for a portfolio game, and a game owner can lower it, but you have to run a game to get there.
And it is a game. Ten-minute Trading Battles against a friend, the AI or a stranger, with a sabotage move I am quite proud of. A weekly leaderboard. Pattern Hunter, a daily pattern quiz against the clock with no hints. One Quick Reads book summary a month, free; we drew about 28 illustrations per chapter where the originals average eight. The lessons, the coach and the books are built around one idea I keep coming back to: there is no single strategy that suits everyone, and the point of practice is to find yours.
Missing from Trading Game: limit orders, options, a web version (listed as coming soon), and any way to run a game for a class. It is a classroom for one.
Where Investopedia is the better choice
You teach, or you run a club. Public and private games, your own rules for cash, commissions and diversification, rankings, no player limit, and no cost. Thirty students under one set of rules beats thirty unrelated practice accounts.
You want a portfolio, not a trade. Six thousand US stocks and ETFs, options to buy, short selling, and a ticket with limit and stop orders that wait. For a holding you review once a week, the twenty-minute delay does not matter.
You want it all free. There is no paid tier. Trading Game keeps the deep courses, the full coach and the book library for Pro.
Two things to know before the first order. The pretend commissions are $19.95 and $29.95 unless a game owner lowers them, and Canadian-dollar games were removed in the newer simulator, so Canadians practise in US dollars.
Round by round
Eleven things a beginner meets in the first week, and which fits each better. No totals; find the row that is about you.
| What you need | Trading Game | Investopedia Simulator | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting money | $500 to $10,000 on the first screen, and a $200 option | $100,000 in the default game, per reviews; a game owner can set less | Trading Game. A pretend $100,000 teaches you to shrug. $500 teaches you to count. |
| Prices | Live, several updates a second | About 20 minutes old; orders fill about 20 minutes after you place them | Trading Game. Investopedia's help centre says so, and says there are no plans to change it. Fine for a portfolio, useless for timing. |
| Markets | 220+ assets: stocks from four exchanges, ETFs, indices, forex, commodities, crypto | 6,000+ NYSE and Nasdaq stocks, ETFs, options and some crypto, in US dollars only | Either. Investopedia for the small US company you read about. Trading Game for gold, a currency pair or a London stock. |
| Learning what to do | 150+ lessons in a 16-chapter path, a free 28-day plan, Pattern Trainer, book summaries | No course; tooltips and an Answers tool link to the reference library | Trading Game. Investopedia defines the word when you meet it. Trading Game decides which word you meet next. |
| Feedback on a trade | AI reads the chart before, the coach reviews the trade after | None; you read your own numbers | Trading Game. This is the biggest gap on the page. One app tells you why the trade lost. |
| Charts | Drawing tools, volume, RSI, VWAP, Bollinger, SuperTrend, Volume Profile, four MAs; 10 timeframes | Not described on its pages; reviews call them basic, with no indicators | Trading Game. Investopedia is a portfolio game. If the chart is what you want to learn, it is the wrong room. |
| The order ticket | Preset size, leverage 1x to 50x, stop and target; no limit orders | Market, limit and stop; day or good-till-cancelled; short selling; options | Investopedia Simulator. If the thing you want to rehearse is a limit order that waits, Investopedia has it and Trading Game does not. |
| Phone | iPhone, iPad and Android apps | No app; the website works in a phone browser | Trading Game. Investopedia's own FAQ says there is no app. |
| Price | Free with ads; Pro $19.99 a month or $54 a year on the current offer | Free, no paid tier | Investopedia Simulator. Everything Investopedia has is free. Trading Game keeps the deep courses and the full coach for Pro. |
| Playing against people | 10-minute 1v1 battles, weekly leaderboard, daily Pattern Hunter | Public and private games with rankings and no player limit | Either. A ten-minute battle and a semester game teach different habits. Pick the one you will keep playing. |
| When you can trade | Each market's own hours; forex most of the week, crypto all weekend; a market-hours screen shows what is open | US market hours; portfolio value updates once a night | Trading Game. If your evening is New York's morning, both work. If it is not, Trading Game has something open. |
The facts, side by side
Investopedia cells come from its simulator page and help centre, read on 23 October 2026; the $100,000 default and the plain charts come from third-party reviews and are marked. Trading Game is ours, so its cells come from the app itself, its Pro page and its help centre.
| Trading Game | Investopedia Simulator | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting money | You choose: $500 to $10,000 on the site; $200 is offered as well (default $10,000). Reset in Settings to start over | $100,000 in the default public game, per third-party reviews; the amount is a game setting owners choose when creating a game and cannot change afterwards |
| What it costs | Free with ads. Pro $19.99 billed monthly, or $89 a year shown at $54 on the current offer: full AI coach, advanced courses, the full book library, unlimited Copy to Chart, no ads | Free; no paid tier |
| Sign-up | Download and start; a free account saves progress | Free sign-up; no deposit or financial information |
| Where it runs | iPhone and iPad (iOS 15+), Android. Web version listed as coming soon | Web only; mobile-responsive in a phone browser; no app |
| What you can trade | 220+ assets: stocks from NYSE, LSE, NSE and Tokyo, 15 ETFs, indices, commodities, forex pairs and crypto | Over 6,000 NYSE and Nasdaq equities, ETFs, options (buy calls and puts; writing not supported) and select cryptocurrencies; US dollars only; no forex, futures, commodities, mutual funds or other exchanges |
| Price data | Real time; prices update several times a second | Quotes delayed about 20 minutes and orders filled about 20 minutes after placing; Investopedia says it has no plans to add real-time quotes. The FAQ says to allow 20 to 30 minutes for a fill; nothing fills outside US market hours or on US bank holidays |
| Order types | Market entry with preset trade sizes and leverage from 1x to 50x; take profit and stop loss set on the ticket | Market, limit and stop; buy, sell, sell short, buy to cover; day or good-till-cancelled; margin in the default game |
| Simulated fees | None; buy and sell prices differ like real markets | $19.95 per market order and $29.95 per limit or stop order by default; a game owner can set other rates |
| Lessons | 150+ illustrated Academy lessons with quizzes in a 16-chapter path (fundamental courses free, advanced in Pro); a 28-day plan; Pattern Trainer and a timed daily pattern game; Quick Reads book summaries (one free a month) | No lessons inside the simulator; tooltips for key terms. Investopedia's articles, tutorials and glossary are a separate site |
| AI and feedback | Chart Intelligence reads the open chart, draws the levels, gives a buy, sell or wait scenario with a confidence level and checks your own drawings (beta; its help page says it can be wrong). Max, the AI coach, reviews a closed trade and answers questions (limited free, full in Pro). Daily analyst setups at the EU and US open; Copy to Chart puts them on your chart (2 free, unlimited in Pro) | No trade review or chart reader on the simulator pages or help centre; the Sept 2026 simulator guide lists an Answers feature (ask a question, get article links and an AI summary) |
| Charts | Candlestick and line charts, 5 drawing tools, indicators including volume, RSI, Bollinger Bands, VWAP, SuperTrend, Volume Profile and four moving averages, 10 timeframes from 15 seconds to 1 month | Not described; third-party reviews call the charts basic with no indicators |
| Games and contests | 10-minute 1v1 Trading Battles against a friend, the AI or anyone; weekly, battles and friends leaderboards (no prizes); daily timed pattern game | Public and private games with rankings; no limit on players; owners set start and end dates, starting cash, margin, short selling, options, commissions, a market delay and diversification rules |
| Who can use it | Worldwide; the site says 100+ countries, including the US, Canada, UK and Australia. App Store age rating 4+ | Not stated; usable from Canada but in USD on US exchanges only; Canadian-dollar games were removed in the move to the new simulator |
| Languages | Six in the app (the App Store listing shows English) | English |
| Trading hours | Follows each market; forex generally 24/5 and crypto 24/7; a market-hours screen shows what is open in your time zone | US market hours 9:30 to 16:00 ET; trades placed outside are processed after the next open; account value updates nightly after the close |
| Starting over | Pick a new balance when you start over (statistics and history are deleted) | One portfolio per game; reset only if the game owner allows it; you can join several games; owners cannot delete a game |
Try it yourself
Which tool answers which question?
Sort each goal to the simulator that fits it better, by the facts above.
Trading Game for live charts, lessons, analyst setups and feedback. Investopedia for thousands of US stocks, a fuller order ticket and class games.
What would you expect?
What this shows: Investopedia is a portfolio game. Trading Game is a trading school. They answer different questions.
Investopedia gives you a brokerage-style ticket, a long list of US stocks and a delayed feed. Trading Game gives you lessons in order, analyst setups, an AI read of the chart and a coach after the trade. Match the tool to what you want to learn this week.
Who should pick which
Pick Investopedia if you are a teacher, you want a free long-term portfolio of US stocks, or you need a limit order and a short sale to rehearse.
Pick Trading Game if you are learning alone, you learn on a phone, you want the trade demonstrated first and reviewed afterwards, or you want to learn charts at all.
Use both if you like. Keep a slow Investopedia portfolio with a written reason for each holding. Do your chart practice in Trading Game, where the price moves while you decide. You will learn more from one coach review than from refreshing the balance twenty times.
Questions beginners ask
Is the Investopedia Simulator really free?
Yes. Investopedia says it is free to join and use, with no deposit or financial information. There is no paid tier. Trading Game is free with ads; Pro includes the deeper courses and the full AI coach.
Why does my Investopedia order take so long?
Investopedia uses a delayed exchange feed, so quotes are about 20 minutes old and orders fill about 20 minutes after you place them. Its FAQ says to allow 20 to 30 minutes, and nothing fills outside US market hours or on US bank holidays.
Does Investopedia have an app?
No. Investopedia says there is no simulator app; the website is mobile-responsive and works in an iPhone or Android browser. Trading Game is an iPhone, iPad and Android app, with a web version listed as coming soon.
Does a good simulator result mean I will make money?
No. Investopedia has an FAQ with that exact question. Trading Game's Chart Intelligence help page says past results in a simulator do not predict anything about real markets. Use the simulator to learn what you would do, not to prove you are good.
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