Stock Market Games

Before getting to know the details of different stock market games that can make your mind boggled, let us try to focus on the question, “What is a Stock Market Game?”.

Is it like any other game where the gamer gets to win points, awards, or a princess (Mario!)?

Stock market games or a stock market simulator is a program that helps you to trade in the stock market virtually. They are replicas of original share market trading in India and can give the same feel as that of the actual stock markets.

Interesting, isn’t it?

For instance, Zerodha Virtual trading is an offering provided by the discount broker, however, it still does not qualify as one of the stock market games.

You know what? Let’s start talking about games!

Stock Market Games Benefits

Besides being super fun and entertaining for a stock market enthusiast, the stock market games can be beneficial in the following ways – 

1. Practice Ground: Before starting to invest real hard-earned money, it can prove to be a good idea to implement one’s ideas about trading on a virtual platform. It would be a good test for one’s knowledge and strategies.

Before making mistakes and losing money in the actual stock market, it would be better to make them on the virtual platform and learn a few lessons. Playing in the virtual world would feel almost similar to the actual world but without any risks of capital loss.

Also Read: Top 9 Beginner Trading Mistakes

Also, one can test his / her investment and trading strategies. It could especially prove very helpful in testing options strategies and give a feel of how the options and option pricing works.

2. Understanding of Brokerages: Stock market games will also give an exact idea about the brokerages and fee charged by brokers for making transactions.

It is always a good idea to be aware of these costs.

3. Deeper Understanding of Markets: If a person practices stock market games for a good amount of time, he/she would develop a better understanding of the trends and ways of the market. This, in turn, would help the gamer in earning actual money on the stock exchanges.

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Stock Market Games in India

Enough of the benefits, now, let us take a look at five of the best stock market games in India which can create lots of excitement for a beginner and a gamer!

1. Moneybhai

This is the biggest virtual trading game in India from the house of MoneyControl. The rules to play this stock market game are quite simple:

• ₹1 crore virtual cash is given to everyone with which they are free to make investments in stocks, commodities, fixed deposits or mutual funds.
• Intraday trading is allowed but all such trades must be squared off before the closing of the market or else, automatic square off will be done. The initial limit for the intraday trading limit is ₹1 crore. It keeps on changing according to the individual’s net worth.
• The game has been designed to keep it as close to the actual market as possible in terms of volumes of buying and selling possible, rules of splits, bonuses, etc. and brokerages.

The portfolio can be reset to the initial ₹1 crore at any time.

The game is challenging as there is a lot of competition among the players and winners are declared on a regular basis.

2. Marketwatch virtual stock exchange

This is a very interesting platform where not only one can find the stock market replica platforms, but also a feature to create many a stock market game. The games could be public or private in nature.

This is especially helpful for teachers and students who want to master the concepts and start applying them in the form of these games. Currently, there are around 33,340 games that are being played on the platform.

The procedure to create stock market games is quite simple. After going to the “create a game” tab, one needs to fill in all the details necessary for the commencement of the game like duration of the game, types of securities that are allowed to be traded, etc.

The instructions need to be filled in a step-by-step way.

If one does not want to create a new stock market game, there are many existing games that are open for everyone to join. One can filter all such games and enter the game in which he/she is most interested.

It is extremely interesting and provides numerous options to test our strategies and discipline without the risk of losing real money.

3. DSIJ Stock Market Challenge

The Dalal Street Investment Journal stock market game is quite a popular option for stock market enthusiasts. Currently, around 2.1 lakh participants are a part of this stock market game.

In this challenge, a person can start playing as soon as he/she registers. An initial balance of ₹10,00,000 virtual cash is given to every participant and the aim is to maximize the wealth as much as possible. Any stocks listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) can be traded.

For the purpose of this stock market game, there are different time periods which are annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly and daily. For each period, the comparison of performances of all the challengers is made and winners declared for every time period.

The design of this stock market game has also been created as similar to the stock market as possible. The intricacies like upper or lower circuits, liquidity, dividend income, stock splits, bonuses, etc. have been incorporated into the game as such.

If you heard the term stock split the first time, then let us clear the confusion for you. Let’s take a Stock Split Example:

if the face value of a stock ABC is ₹20 and the number of shares outstanding is 2,00,000, then with a stock split of 2:1, the number of outstanding shares will increase to 4,00,000 and the face value of the stock will decrease to ₹10.

If one decides to be a part of this stock market game, it is recommended to read the trading rules and other details about it.

4. ChartMantra (The Economic Times)

This stock market game focuses mainly on technical analysis and provides basic information about the same in a simple infographic way. One can gain knowledge of various technical indicators and how they work.

This stock market game is very helpful in practicing trading based on technical indicators.

The initial capital given to each participant of this stock market game is ₹1,00,000. Its rules are a little different from the above-mentioned stock market games. In this, a participant can play on only one stock at a time on its historical data.

The name of the stock is not revealed until the end of the game. One can move to another stock after finishing playing on one stock. Technical charts based on the market closing data are available to the participants.

One can either buy and sell or short stocks and then exit the positions.

5. TrakInvest

This website has a stock market game that gives access to data from many global exchanges to trade.

One can do the testing of one’s trading and investment strategies and also take advantage of the analytics and social tools that are a part of their website.

There are many different kinds of challenges and games being organized on this website. Some challenges can be entered into for free and for some, a premium paid membership is needed.

If a participant wins the stock market game here, one can get many rewards, like cash awards and even job offers.

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A Word of Caution

Although playing stock market games seems fun and risk-free, there are a few things that one needs to remember while starting to play in the real stock market after playing virtually.

1. Since a player plays with virtual money, he/she might get into the habit of being emotionally detached with the trading. Also, the game can be reset or quit at any time. However, when one starts to play in the actual stock market, the seemingly small harmless mistakes of virtual trading may prove to be quite dangerous for one’s bank balance.
2. There is always a chance of getting bored with the virtual games too quickly as there are no actual returns on all the hard work and strategies being applied.
3. If a player has been playing successfully in a virtual stock market game, he/she might get overconfident. This overconfidence can prove to be hazardous when there is a transition to real stock market trading.

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Conclusion

Stock market games are a win-win situation for a beginner as well as an already pro trader. Beginners get the hang of real trading on exchanges without the risk of losing real money.

Experienced traders get an opportunity to test their strategies and win many rewards offered by the websites organizing them. Playing stock market games is fun, entertaining and risk-free for stock market lovers.

There are various games available for playing and one should choose the one which meets all the requirements and specifications of a trader. When one quits gaming and starts to play in the actual stock market, one should be more careful because the habit of gaming can induce some overconfidence in the players.

Happy Gaming!

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