The stock market in India or anywhere is highly volatile. Taking your first steps into the fickle stock environment can be quite overwhelming especially if it involves your hard earned money. So, What’s the way to learn the intricacies of Stock Trading without putting your money at risk? The simple answer is, Virtual Trading Platforms: Sites & Apps! And, that’s what we’ll discuss here!
What is Virtual Trading?
Virtual trading is a method by which beginners can practice trading without putting real money at stake. It is a development from paper trading where investors would write down their investments on paper and follow the market movements to practice trading. Technology improvements have made it possible to trade the real moves of the market in a simulated environment.
Most of such virtual platforms also include educational videos and resources on the stock market, which are helpful to acquire further insights and understanding of how the system functions.
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Top Virtual Trading Platforms in India
There might be a lot to add in this collection! We have highlighted a list of commonly used virtual trading applications and games.
1. MoneyBhai:
Introduced by Moneycontrol, an Indian online a business news portal with over 17 million visitors every month, the web-based simulator program lets players experience trading in real-time with actual data using simulated money. It lets players test their strategies across various asset classes such as shares, commodities, mutual funds, fixed deposits to recognize their risk-taking capacity, and share ideas, among others.
Interestingly, as a user you begin with Rs. 1 crore virtual cash in your portfolio account and Rs. 1 crore as the intraday trading limit. You can receive access to transaction history, block deals update, stock advice, events, profit & loss statement, charts, and competitions through leagues. Simply stating, you can invest in shares, mutual funds, etc. using the virtual money in your account. Moneybhai is one of the highly popular virtual trading games in India.
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2. Dalal Street:
It is operated by India’s leading equity research and capital investment magazine in association with the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). It is an online program that goes by the name “Stock Market Challenge 2” that allows beginners to sell or buy stocks. Users are given a starting simulated capital of Rs. 10 lakhs to create a portfolio based on live feeds from the Bombay stock Exchange (BSE).
Features such as share contract notes, brokerage charges, splits, dividends, and bonuses as per the actual market figures make it more attractive for traders. Users can share strategies in their chitchat application, participate in competition, view rankings, and engage with the “game master” for doubts. It is important to note that stock prices are delayed by 1-2 minutes. It’s available on Google play store, dsij.in website, Facebook, and BSE website.
3. TrakInvest:
TrakInvest claims to be the world’s first virtual social equity trading platform available on desktop and mobile interface. They have worked with top institutions such as IIM, IIT, NIT, and ISB as their official virtual trading partners. The platform provides access to market data from several global exchanges, technical charts, key ratios, share meter, leading performers around the world, ideas exchanges, and opportunities to replicate their investing activity.
They hold regular competitions with prizes such as cash, internships, and even job opportunities. Their basic membership starts at $1/month and is available on google play, app store, and their website.
4. Chart Mantra:
A web-based educational and gaming platform offered by Economic Times, that lets users learn the basics of investing by studying technical charts based on the end of day data and historical data. Economic Times is one of the leading Financial newspapers with an emphasis on international finance, economy, and the stock market. The players start with a capital of Rs. 1 lakh, buy or sell based on the next day’s move, utilize technical indicators, and get to book profits or hold shares in their account as per the price moves.
All transactions involve a brokerage cost of 0.1 percent. You can also share your strategies with friends via social media.
5. MoneyPot:
A virtual trading simulator which was introduced with the purpose to connect the investment community through its platform. Players receive a certain amount of simulated money on registration, with which they can search for a stock from the domestic exchange, place orders, view advice, and manage their portfolio. It takes almost 10 minutes to execute trades because of price feed delay, however, calculations are as per the prices specified by the player at the time of the order.
Other features include a ranking system that provides a summary of the user’s performance and let’s you recommend stocks if you are ranked in the top 25. It’s available on Google app and on web as well.
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Virtual Trading Apps & Platforms: Learn Before You Earn
To conclude, it’s important to note that these stock simulators are essential to a beginner’s growth. You can benefit through practice, absorb the basics, learn to create strategies using technical indicators, build risk management plans and get a realistic idea about the stock markets.
Moreover, it helps to understand your emotional quotient and personality, which makes a huge difference when the price does move in your favour. Furthermore, advanced traders also flock to these sites to sharpen their plans, cut short their over-trading urge, to refrain from revenge trading or get back their confidence after a strings of losses.
Of course, it’s a rehearsal to know the stock investing basics and strategies for the real dynamic stock market. You get an idea and not a complete solution! So, stay cautious and careful while entering the actual stock trading environment. You will discover a wide range of trading and free stock charting software, choose wisely based on your financial goals.
Have you tried any of the above Virtual trading apps or platforms? Any other online virtual trading game or application you wish to add? Feel free to discuss in comments.