A fair look at the main ways to practise trading with virtual money, and where each one fits.
The Investopedia Stock Simulator is a well-known way to practise trading with virtual money, and for a lot of people it's the right tool. But it isn't the only one, and depending on what you actually want — a native mobile app, playing with friends, or a broker's own tools — a different option can fit better. Here's a fair comparison of the main ones, at the time of writing (September 2026).
| Platform | Runs on | Play with friends | Seasons or leagues | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Investopedia Simulator | Web browser | Create or join games | No | Free |
| Wall Street Survivor | Web browser | No | No | Free core, paid courses |
| HowTheMarketWorks | Web browser | Contests | No | Free |
| Broker paper trading (thinkorswim paperMoney, Webull, moomoo) | Broker's app | No | No | Free with a broker account |
| Fantasy Finance | Mobile app | Private groups, chat, invite codes | Nine-tier leagues, monthly seasons | Free, optional Pro |
Investopedia Stock Simulator is free, runs entirely in the browser with no native mobile app, and lets you trade stocks, ETFs and options with virtual money while creating or joining games with others. It's genuinely beginner-friendly and sits next to Investopedia's large library of articles, which is a real advantage if you want explanations alongside your trades. Its charts are limited to daily-or-longer timeframes.
Wall Street Survivor is a web-based stock market game paired with structured educational courses — a free core experience with paid premium courses for people who want a more guided curriculum.
HowTheMarketWorks is a free, web-based stock market game built around contests, and it's particularly popular with schools and classrooms running trading challenges as a group.
Broker paper trading — thinkorswim paperMoney from Charles Schwab, Webull, and moomoo all offer this — gives you a realistic practice account inside the broker's own platform. It's the closest thing to trading for real, using the exact tools and order types you'd use with a live account, but it generally requires opening an account with that broker and is built around learning that platform rather than playing casually.
Fantasy Finance is a mobile app — not yet released; the [waitlist](/) is open for launch — built specifically around playing with people you know rather than trading alone. Groups have their own leaderboard and chat, every trade carries a short written reason your group can see, and a season resets everyone to the same $100,000 every month so no one carries a permanent head start. On top of that sits a nine-tier league system with real promotion and relegation, which none of the options above have. It also prices a wider instrument set than most simulators — stocks, ETFs, bond ETFs, FX, commodities, and options with short selling and leverage available to everyone.
If you want the deepest library of explanatory articles alongside your trades, Investopedia Simulator is hard to beat. If your goal is learning a specific broker's actual order flow before using real money, broker paper trading is the closer match. If you're running a classroom contest, HowTheMarketWorks or Wall Street Survivor are built for exactly that. If what you want is a mobile app you can play casually against friends, with seasons and a league to climb, that's the gap Fantasy Finance is built to fill.
Not yet — it's in development for iOS and Android. You can join the waitlist on this site to be emailed when the first season opens.
At the time of writing (September 2026), no — it runs in a web browser rather than as a native app.
Yes. They aren't exclusive, and since all of them use virtual money, there's no real cost to comparing a couple side by side before settling on one.
Investopedia Simulator supports creating or joining games, and Fantasy Finance is built specifically around private groups with friends, complete with a group leaderboard and chat — the others are closer to solo or classroom experiences.
Educational content, not financial advice. Fantasy Finance is a game played with virtual capital — nothing here is a recommendation to trade with real money.