MarketWatch Virtual Stock Exchange

Run with the bulls, without the risk.*

Build your portfolio and react to the markets in real time. Compete against your friends or coworkers to earn your spot at the top of the leaderboards.

Find Game
Virtual Stock Exchange game is intended for individuals ages 16 and older.

* We're talking virtual cash, not real money. This is strictly a simulation.

VSE app on mobile phone

40,000+

games currently in play

With VSE you can

  • Trade stocks in real-time using your virtual portfolio
  • Talk strategies with others in your game
  • Create a customized public games for others to play
  • Choose a custom list of symbols to trade in your game

Fully Responsive

A consistent and elegant experience across any device and screen size.

Advanced Trading

You can enable advanced options like limit and stop loss orders, as well as partial shares.

Create Watchlists

You can build and monitor custom watchlists alongside your holdings.

Custom Gameplay

You set the starting budget and can allow margin trading, short selling and more.

Educational Resources

If you are a teacher, professor or instructor of students over 16 years of age looking to play a free stock market game with your class, you can use these documents to get started.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Yes. You must complete registration and create an account to join and play. It takes less than a minute and is, of course, free. Remember, you also gain access to key features on MarketWatch when you register for the game.

  • Use the email address and password you created when you registered. If you forget your password, there's a link to help you in the login area.

  • Sure. Just click Profile from the navigation of any page. This gives you access to your account information and games.

  • We encourage you to either join a game or create one.

  • No. This is strictly a simulation.

  • Use the expansive collection of news & research tools across MarketWatch to help you decide. For example, quote pages like this one allows you to chart a stock's progress, examine in-depth financials, read its latest announcements and much more to help you make informed decisions.

  • You bet. Please check out these following MarketWatch pages full of valuable information for investors:

    Investing - News and analysis to help investors make crucial decisions

    Tools - The research and tools page provides a countless amount of invaluable investor tools such as stock screeners, market screeners, IPO calendar, Earnings Calendar, and a mutual Fund finder tool

    Market Data - View the latest Index updates, U.S. Stock Movers, ETF Movers, and New 52 week high/lows for the NYSE and NASDAQ

Ranking

  • The players overall game rank is continuously updated while the game is in progress. Access this by jumping to the Ranking section.

Portfolio

  • Yes. You can go to the Trade screen at any time to buy or sell a stock.

  • This depends on your game's settings. If the game administrator made your portfolio public, then other users can see what your holdings are at any time. If the game is set to private, then only you can see your holdings.

Trade

  • Making a trade in VSE is simple, but different on the device you're using. On Desktop, you should see a search box on every page. Enter a ticker symbol or company name and a list of matching results will appear as you type. To the right of each listing is a "Trade" button. Click on that to go to the trade screen and place your order. On phones, we show a "Trade" button at the bottom of the screen. Tap on that and either select a ticker or enter a ticker in the search box. Tap on the "Trade" button that appears.

    Please note: If your game is limited to a custom set of ticker symbols, you will only be able to trade those companies.

  • An order is no guarantee on the final executed price of a transaction. That's because of how quickly stock prices move. The pricing also depends on factors like trade volume and time of day. If your order was placed during off hours, for example, your order will not be executed until the next trading day, which could lead to a significant difference in price.

  • Sorry to hear that. We do our best to successfully honor your orders. If you're experiencing an issue, please contact our Customer Service team at https://customercenter.marketwatch.com/contact.

Discussions

  • Click on the Game Feed tab from any page. You can then join in the conversation by posting a new comment. For more commenting FAQs, go here.

  • If you see an inappropriate comment, click on the "Flag" link for that comment and select one of the options: "Spam", "Offensive", "Disagree", or "Off-Topic". You will have to select one of the options to flag a comment. For more commenting FAQs, go here.