Stocks & investing
Best Stock Market Simulators (2026): 10 Compared
Ten stock market simulators side by side, with the best fit for nine jobs: starting money, live or delayed prices, markets, lessons, feedback and cost.
Trading Game vs Wall Street Survivor: which fits you
Wall Street Survivor is the free web game from Stock-Trak, the company behind HowTheMarketWorks. Trading Game is a phone app with the lessons inside. Here is which fits whom, with the evidence.
In this article
- The short version
- Round by round: which fits you better
- The facts, side by side
- Try it: Web game or pocket coach?
- Inside Wall Street Survivor: what the brochure skips
- Inside Trading Game: what you actually do in it
- Where Wall Street Survivor is the better choice
- Who should pick which
- A first week that works
- Questions beginners ask
Wall Street Survivor fits a web player who wants options, shorting, free courses and a shot at a prize.
The short version
Wall Street Survivor is the individual's version of a classroom game. It belongs to Stock-Trak, the same company behind HowTheMarketWorks. Free, web-based, $100,000 to play with, good short courses, real prizes, and affiliate adverts for paid newsletters on its pages.
Pick Wall Street Survivor if you want a free web game with options and short selling, a shot at a monthly prize (US and Canadian adults outside Quebec), or an allocation built for you by its AI wizard. Pick Trading Game if you learn on a phone, want prices that move while you decide, lessons in order and a review of each trade. Read WSS's free courses either way; they are good.
The table goes through twelve things a beginner meets in the first week and names the better fit for each, with the reason. Sources are at the bottom.
Round by round: which fits you better
A round is one thing a beginner meets in the first week. The last column names the better fit for that one thing.
| What you need | Trading Game | Wall Street Survivor | Better fit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starting money | You pick on the first screen: $500 to $10,000, and $200 is offered | $100,000 by default; a private contest can set its own amount | Trading Game. Trading Game offers $500 on the first screen. On WSS you must build a contest to get a small budget. A budget you could actually lose teaches more than one you never could. |
| Price data | Real time, several updates a second | The home page says real-time data; the footer and FAQ say quotes are delayed at least 15 minutes | Trading Game. WSS fills orders at the live , but the price you watch is 15 to 20 minutes old; its footer says so. Trading Game shows the live price you trade at. |
| Markets | Stocks from four exchanges, ETFs, indices, commodities, forex, crypto | US stocks, ETFs, options and 300+ cryptocurrencies | Either. WSS has options and a long crypto list. Trading Game has forex, commodities and live non-US stocks; WSS's few foreign exchanges run delayed. Different maps. |
| Order types | Market entry with leverage to 50x, take profit, stop loss | Market, limit and stop; short selling and margin per contest; whole shares only; an order for over half the available volume waits for volume | Wall Street Survivor. A fuller ticket, with the classic constraints of a web game. |
| Lessons | 150+ lessons in a 16-chapter path, with quizzes; basics free, the rest in Pro | 36 free short courses in four groups, plus a 10-chapter getting-started course | Trading Game. WSS's 36 courses are free and sit beside the game. Trading Game's 150-plus lessons are sequenced and tied to the trade you place next. Courses and lessons are different units, so the round turns on integration, not volume. |
| Feedback on your trades | AI reads the chart, explains it, reviews closed trades | An "AI Wealth Wizard" that builds an allocation from a questionnaire; no trade review found | Trading Game. WSS's AI tells you what to buy. Trading Game's tells you what you did. |
| Charts | Core indicators, drawing tools, 10 timeframes down to 15 seconds | Interactive charts in a research centre; details not published | Trading Game. WSS lists charts, screeners and analyst ratings but publishes no timeframes, tools or indicators. Trading Game publishes all three. |
| Mobile | iPhone, iPad and Android apps | Website only, on desktop or a phone browser | Trading Game. WSS has no app, by our reading of every page we could find; its site works in a phone browser. Trading Game is built as an app. |
| Price | Free with ads; Pro $19.99 a month or $54 a year on the current offer | Free simulator and free courses; a paid tier is mentioned in the terms but not priced anywhere we found | Wall Street Survivor. Free is free. |
| Games and contests | 10-minute 1v1 battles, weekly leaderboards | Monthly public contests with real prizes, unlimited private contests, and an AI trading contest with $500 in gift cards | Wall Street Survivor. If a prize motivates you, WSS pays real ones, though only to US and Canadian adults outside Quebec. Trading Game's battles are short and social, with no money at stake. |
| Ads and upsells | Ads in the free app; Pro removes them | Affiliate promotions for paid newsletters on its pages and inside the dashboard | Either. Both show adverts when free. Trading Game's go away with Pro; WSS's are affiliate promotions for newsletters, including one in the dashboard on its own home page. |
| Trading hours | Follows each market; crypto and currencies around the clock | US hours, 9:30 to 16:00 Eastern; after-hours orders wait for the next business day | Trading Game. WSS closes at 4 pm Eastern. Trading Game's crypto and currencies do not. |
The facts, side by side
Every cell comes from WSS's own home page, FAQ, rules, courses page or terms, or from Trading Game's site and support pages, read on 23 October 2026. WSS's terms were last updated in 2015.
| Trading Game | Wall Street Survivor | |
|---|---|---|
| Starting money | You choose on the first screen: $500 to $10,000 by the site (default $10,000); $200 is also offered | $100,000 virtual cash by default; the amount is set per contest/league via Contest Parameters |
| What it costs | Free with ads. Pro removes ads and includes everything: $19.99 billed monthly, or a yearly plan shown at $54 on the current offer (list price $89) | Free simulator, no credit card. Terms mention paid course subscriptions but no price is published; /premium/ page errors |
| Sign-up | Download and start; a free account saves progress | Free registration; accounts stay active if you log in at least once every 90 days |
| Where it runs | iPhone and iPad (iOS 15+), Android. Web version listed as coming soon | Web (desktop and mobile browser). No native iOS/Android app found |
| What you can trade | 220+ assets: stocks from NYSE, LSE, NSE and Tokyo, 15 ETFs, indices, commodities, forex pairs and crypto | US stocks, ETFs, options and crypto (300+ cryptocurrencies via separate crypto ); some non-US exchanges with delayed prices |
| Price data | Real time; prices update several times a second | Marketing says real-time, but footer and FAQ state quotes delayed at least 15 minutes (FAQ: 15-20 minutes); US-exchange orders fill at real-time bid/ask per rules |
| Order types | Market entry with trade size and leverage (1x to 50x on the ticket, per the app screenshot), take profit and stop loss set on the ticket | Market, limit, stop; short selling, margin (example up to 50% of portfolio) and day trading per contest settings; whole shares only |
| Simulated fees | None shown; spreads apply | A brokerage commission applies to all trades; amount set per contest, default not published |
| Lessons | 150+ Academy lessons in a 16-chapter path with quizzes (basic lessons free, all in Pro); a 28-day plan; Pattern Hunter daily quiz; 20+ Quick Reads book summaries (one free a month) | 36 free short courses ('Over 30') in four groups; a 10-chapter getting-started course; articles and videos |
| AI and feedback | Chart Intelligence reads the open chart, draws the levels and explains its view with a confidence level (beta; its help page says it can be wrong). A closed-trade review beside the chart. AI Trading Coach: a taste each week free, full conversations in Pro. Copy to Chart: 2 free, unlimited in Pro | 'AI Wealth Wizard' (ChatGPT-powered) builds a diversified allocation from a questionnaire; an 'AI Trading Contest' 2 Nov to 11 Dec 2026 with US$500 in Amazon gift cards |
| Charts | Candlestick and line charts, drawing tools, indicators (moving averages, RSI, volume, Bollinger Bands, VWAP), 10 timeframes from 15 seconds to 1 month | Research Center with interactive charts, screeners and analyst ratings; charting details not specified |
| Games and contests | 10-minute 1v1 Trading Battles against a friend, the AI or anyone; weekly leaderboards; daily pattern hunts | Semi-monthly/monthly public contests with real prizes; unlimited free private contests; one prize per household, claim within 30 days |
| Who can use it | Worldwide; the site says 100+ countries, including the US, Canada, UK and Australia. App Store age rating 4+ | Anyone can open an account; prize contests need age 18+ and US or Canada residency (not Quebec); under-18 students only in prize-free contests. Operated by Stock-Trak Inc., Quebec law |
| Languages | Six in the app (the App Store listing shows English) | English only |
| Trading hours | Follows each market; crypto and currencies around the clock | US market hours 9:30 to 16:00 ET; orders placed when closed process next business day |
| Starting over | Pick a new balance when you start over | Multiple portfolios through unlimited contests, each with its own balance; a reset option not documented |
Try it yourself
Web game or pocket coach?
Sort each goal to the tool that fits it better, by the facts above.
Trading Game for live prices, lessons, feedback and mobile. Wall Street Survivor for options, shorting, prizes and free courses.
What would you expect?
What this shows: WSS is a good free web game with the lessons beside it. Trading Game puts the lessons inside the trade.
Wall Street Survivor offers a fuller ticket, prizes and good short courses on a delayed screen. Trading Game offers live prices, lessons in sequence and feedback on a phone. Pick by what you want to practise this week.
Inside Wall Street Survivor: what the brochure skips
Four things about WSS that you learn from its small print.
The data is real time on the banner and delayed in the footer. The home page promises "Real-Time Market Data." The footer of the same page says quote data is delayed by at least 15 minutes. It comes from Xignite and QuoteMedia. The FAQ says 15 to 20. The rules add that orders on US exchanges fill at the real-time bid or ask. So, as with its sibling HTMW, the fill is honest and the screen is late.
Commission is charged, and the amount is a contest setting. The FAQ says a brokerage commission applies to every transaction. How much depends on who created the contest. Expect your practice to cost more than a zero-commission broker would.
The prizes are for the US and Canada, minus Quebec. Anyone can trade. Only adults resident in the US or Canada can collect, and Quebec is excluded. The same terms say they are governed by Quebec law.
Log in every 90 days or lose the account. The getting-started page says accounts stay active as long as you log in once every 90 days.
The courses are good. Thirty-six short ones in four groups, from basics to personal finance, free, with a ten-chapter starter course. And the AI Wealth Wizard, powered by ChatGPT, will build you a diversified allocation from a few questions. It is a sensible tool for an investor. It is not a coach for a trader.
Inside Trading Game: what you actually do in it
Trading Game starts you in a chapter, with a balance you chose, and $500 is one of the choices. You read a short lesson, answer a chart question, place a trade, get a review. The review is the part WSS does not have. Close a trade and the app shows the result, with an AI Analyse button that explains the move.
Prices update several times a second and the screen shows them. Chart Intelligence reads the chart you have open, marks the levels and explains its view; its help page says it is in beta and can be wrong. Trading Battles are ten-minute 1v1 matches against a friend, the AI or a stranger somewhere in the 100-plus countries the site counts.
What WSS has that Trading Game does not: limit orders, short selling, options, a 300-coin crypto list, and contests that pay. The deep courses, the full AI coach and unlimited Copy to Chart sit behind Pro. Free gives you the simulator, the basic Academy, a weekly taste of the coach and two Copy to Chart uses.
Where Wall Street Survivor is the better choice
You want a prize and you live in the right place. Monthly contests with real rewards, and an AI trading contest this November and December with $500 in gift cards. US and Canada only, not Quebec.
You want to practise options or short selling for free. Both are there, depending on contest rules.
You want a portfolio allocation, not a trade. The AI Wealth Wizard builds one from a questionnaire. For an investor, that is a reasonable place to start.
You want good short courses for nothing. Thirty-six of them, free, no app required.
Who should pick which
Pick Trading Game if you learn on a phone, you want live prices on screen, and you want to be told why a trade went wrong.
Pick Wall Street Survivor if you want a free web game with options and shorting, a shot at a prize, or an allocation built for you.
Use both if you like the WSS courses. Read a WSS course in the evening. Practise the idea in Trading Game the next morning with a $500 balance and a stop.
A first week that works
Day one: install Trading Game, set $500, chapter one. Day two: one trade with a stop. Day three: read its review. Day four: read one WSS course. Day five: place a limit order on WSS and a market order with a stop on Trading Game, on the same stock. Write down what each one taught you.
Questions beginners ask
Is Wall Street Survivor free?
Yes. WSS says the simulator is free with no subscription fee or credit card. Its terms mention paid course subscriptions, but we found no price. Trading Game is free with ads; Pro includes the deeper courses and full AI coach.
Is Wall Street Survivor real time?
The banner says real-time data. The footer says quotes are delayed at least 15 minutes, the FAQ says 15 to 20, and the rules say fills use real-time bid and ask. Trading Game shows real-time prices on screen.
Who can win Wall Street Survivor prizes?
Adults resident in the US or Canada, excluding Quebec, one prize per household, claimed within 30 days. Anyone can trade; students under 18 can join prize-free contests.
Is Wall Street Survivor the same company as HowTheMarketWorks?
Yes. Both belong to Stock-Trak Inc. HTMW is built for classrooms; WSS is the open, individual sign-up version.
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