The Investopedia Simulator

In the beginning of April, after WNY was slammed with snow, I discovered that Investopedia has a simulator that teaches those who are willing to learn, how to trade in the stock market. Usually I use MarketWatch or TD Ameritrade to look at stock performances. Excited about finding a game for stock trading, I was happy I didn't have to download the App to my already over-filled phone in order to play the Investopedia simulator!

When you make an account on Investopedia.com, you'll want to go into the simulator. They give you $10,000 to start the game. You start as a Beginner, but as you earn and learn, you can climb up their ladder. I see without logging in on my laptop, Investopedia is offering $100,000 today! You can't invest more than half of their gifted "money" to a trade at a time. This way, you learn how to spread your investments across the different markets for your portfolios.

You can choose which trades to make as a Beginner, which also has a few tutorials. There are two different portfolios for either Options Trading or Short Stocks, and tutorials for each to help you get comfortable buying & selling in the stock market.

The simulator shows your Account Value, Buying Power, Cash, and Annual Return. Your Stock Portfolio shows all your current simulated investments in the market, and real time values of each stock. When your stock pick falls or rises in the real world, the simulator reflects your gains (and loss) of your portfolio as a whole. It's a pretty neat little simulator!

I was checking my performance every day, at least once. Then I added 20 shares of Exxon (XOM), and now I only check once or so a week. I'm a little disappointed in AK Steel (AKS), which fell. I originally bought 50 shares at $4.53. They already have a history of bad EPS, but I have been watching them for years. What I really had been looking for, which any good investor is looking for, is higher dividends. Or at least a decent pattern of them!

I wanted to get something that had good EPS. Even though I know they are ending US manufacturing (unbelievable!) and have been investing in selling abroad for a number of years, I got 100 shares of Ford (F). I don't particularly like Fords anyway (Chevy anyone?), BUT, this is a simulator. I can do whatever I want! I will see how that performs over the summer.

Then on to a tech stock. I couldn't help but use the simulator to buy ten shares of Microsoft (MSFT). But then I just HAD to add renewable energy, too. Closer to who I am, I decided on SunPower (SPWR) and invested in 200 shares of it, so now I'm done. I THINK! I still have $6,705 in buying power. My account value is $9,537. I have $5,446 in stock investments. The annual return goes up, or down, depending on daily stock performances.

I rate the Investopedia Simulator at five stars! It's easy to understand, offers learning incentives, and it keeps me entertained! Plus, it takes up ZERO memory on my phone because they didn't require me to download their APP. Just this week, I had to download and delete two different apps just to make a single purchase!

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