Much like skydiving, playing the stock market
is not an activity you want to learn through your mistakes. Fortunes are made
and lost all the time by people who think (or thought) they had a handle on
stock trading. If you have a few million you can afford to lose, or you're
investing with someone else's money (you're a bank, in other words), by all
means, jump right in. But for the other 99%, we recommend simulating the
experience of stock market investing first, to learn what to do and not do with
your hard-earned cash. Here are the 10 best games to help you do that.
While some of the
games on this list may be more concerned with purveying entertainment than
education, WeSeed's No. 1 goal is to teach people about the stock market and
take the fear out of investing. From the home page, click the "Learn"
tab and you're taken to three levels of instruction, with Level 1's basic
lessons like "What is a company?" and "What is a stock?" up
to Level 3's advanced lessons on diversification and P/E ratio. Once you're
ready to invest the $10,000 of WeSeed cash the game gives you, search for
companies by topics that interest you and create a virtual portfolio. The idea
is to make you think like an investor on the lookout for the next big thing.
This innovative game
can best be described as "Wall Street meets Facebook." Publicly
traded companies are replaced by people who sell shares of themselves and buy
shares of other people and websites. A player's share goes up based on the
number of investors they attract and the Achievements they accomplish for
social media activity. While the focus is on building users' social media
presences, many of the concepts that
apply to playing the stock market apply here, like estimating risk versus
reward, and the importance of thoroughly researching a company before
investing.
Here's a free
investing tip: making cash without spending any is a good deal. With Wall
Street Survivor, top scorers can win real-life cash and prizes by investing
$100,000 of play money in real companies. What's more, the game offers the
tools to help you craft a winning portfolio. There are videos, articles, and
tutorials to help you learn the basics, discussion boards where you can ask
questions and get answers from more experienced players, and an online support
team ready and waiting to help you. And if you crave more competition, the beta version of the site is
offering missions for both fun and informative purposes.
From the makers of
Wall Street Survivor and How the Market Works comes StockTrak. The game is
geared toward college students, and the registration prompts users to pick
whether they are a student, professor, or member of the general public. Players
have access to real-time stock updates to track their NASDAQ stocks, but the
game also features 25 international exchanges like Euronext and TSX. Students
have $500,000 to work with that can be used on stocks, bonds, options, futures,
mutual funds, and more. It's a great game to supplement a college course or
even substitute as one for anyone who wants to learn about investing.
The name could have
been a bit more creative, but this is one of the best games for teaching kids
about the stock market. The Stock Market Game, created by the Securities
Industry and Financial Markets Association, has been used by teachers around
the country since 1977 to give grade-school kids a hands-on lesson in
investing. As the kids work in teams to create $100,000 portfolios, they learn
teamwork and decision-making skills. They also learn about topics like bonds,
dividends, investments strategies, and more. If you have kids, ask their
teacher about signing their class up for this game.
This game generously
puts $1 million of fake money at your disposal to spend and try to invest your
way up the member rankings and win prizes. The makers of the game suggest
beginners start by searching some companies, which will be called up with a
graph on their performance. For inspiration, click on the handy
"Stocks" tab to see what stocks are being most frequently bought and
sold, plus stocks recommended by other members, with their explanations of why
you should buy. If you're still unclear on something, check the A-Z glossary of
terms in the Investment Education Center.
Started way back in
2004, How the Market Works is more popular than ever, bringing in huge numbers of
visitors to its site this year. Fans must appreciate its ease of use
and shallow learning curve. The game offers investment options like penny
stocks and short selling, which many other games do not allow. Beginners can
start in "fun mode" without the restrictions like maximum number of
trades per day. There is also a small collection of helpful articles and FAQs,
plus a bookstore with links to recommended reading for learning more about
investing.
Don't worry, iPhone
owners; we haven't forgotten about you. For stock market simulation on the go,
we say your best bet is iTrade. It's got a slick design and up-to-date info on
stocks (and your competition's progress). Put your hundred grand to its best
use by checking out the Hot Stocks section, or discuss the markets with fellow
players on the forums. The graphs, stock info, and news are easy to read and
access to keep yourself in the loop. Set up a league with your friends and see
who can create the best portfolio before the month's end, when all scores are
erased and reset.
Android users are
not out of luck either. For your Droids and Galaxies there's Stock Market
Simulator, which loads you up with a paltry $25,000 and prompts you to
"work your way to the top." The game lets you tailor the graphs
showing a stock's history from one day up to a year, lets you view your trades
by current, pending, or executed, and allows you to easily see your return on
investment. You can't buy penny stocks and the interface is nothing to write
home about, but the game's free and one of the best stock market games for the
Google operating system.
SmartStocks.com is
similar to sites like Wall Street Survivor, but if you want to be a
"certified" stock market investor, this site's for you. Under the
"Learn" tab, newbies can progress through a series of certification
videos, from beginning to intermediate to advanced, to learn about ETFs,
options, the Dow, the whole nine yards. The Market View section is loaded with
news and press releases from companies across all industries, very helpful for
training beginners in market research. All the expected features are there too,
with a community section, stock charts, leaderboards for seeing who has the
best portfolio, and an individual profile section for tracking your own trade
history.
Contacts and sources:
Rosa Ray
http://www.onlinecollegecourses.com/2012/07/23/the-10-best-games-for-learning-about-the-stock-market/
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