Fantasy Stock Software
March 4, 2014 12:54 PM Subscribe
Help me create a fantasy stock account - offline solutions preferred.
A few years ago I had an online fantasy stock account. Unfortunately, the site I was using is no longer in operation, so I can't bask in the glory of seeing my fictive millions piled up in a digital lockbox. Given that I feel that I can no longer trust my fake money to a website, I was hoping that there might be some software I could download which would enable me to do the same thing. Granted I could probably just make an excel spreadsheet, but a sleek interface would be nice. Bonus points for Forex and Commodities options.
A few years ago I had an online fantasy stock account. Unfortunately, the site I was using is no longer in operation, so I can't bask in the glory of seeing my fictive millions piled up in a digital lockbox. Given that I feel that I can no longer trust my fake money to a website, I was hoping that there might be some software I could download which would enable me to do the same thing. Granted I could probably just make an excel spreadsheet, but a sleek interface would be nice. Bonus points for Forex and Commodities options.
Best answer: It's not software, but I use google finance for my real portfolio, but you could just as easily use it for your fictitious one. Actually, it's sort of designed that way--I've added things to my portfolio (without transaction information) just to keep track of ideas.
It's free, has good data, decent but basic tools, and is stable (for as long as you believe Google will be around as a company).
posted by danny the boy at 4:19 PM on March 4, 2014
It's free, has good data, decent but basic tools, and is stable (for as long as you believe Google will be around as a company).
posted by danny the boy at 4:19 PM on March 4, 2014
You don't mention PC/Mac/Linux, so if you want a local program with your trading history (as opposed to a website that would offer a "paper account"), it would be OS-dependent.
On Mac, iBank is viewed by many as the top financial software package. It can optionally download quotes from Yahoo, so you don't have to use the online access part (you'd simply record the buy/sell prices manually). I've heard good things about Money Dance as well.
On Windows, Quicken is an option, though I'm not sure if all levels of their product offer this feature.
For Linux, there's gnucash and there's some information about getting quotes with perl scripts: http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Stocks/get_prices
Your plan to use Excel isn't a crazy one, you can even use smart tags to automate stock quotes: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/get-a-stock-quote-HP010216958.aspx
I've also seen neat things done with a Google Docs spreadsheet with not just stock quotes, but also tons of other financial data (P/E, etc). And while you're back to depending on some company to store your data, at least with Google Docs spreadsheets, you can save them locally if they do decide to close down the service.
If you are willing to trust a company, I've heard fantastic things about TD's ThinkorSwim paper accounts.
posted by Brian Puccio at 12:50 PM on March 6, 2014
On Mac, iBank is viewed by many as the top financial software package. It can optionally download quotes from Yahoo, so you don't have to use the online access part (you'd simply record the buy/sell prices manually). I've heard good things about Money Dance as well.
On Windows, Quicken is an option, though I'm not sure if all levels of their product offer this feature.
For Linux, there's gnucash and there's some information about getting quotes with perl scripts: http://wiki.gnucash.org/wiki/Stocks/get_prices
Your plan to use Excel isn't a crazy one, you can even use smart tags to automate stock quotes: http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/excel-help/get-a-stock-quote-HP010216958.aspx
I've also seen neat things done with a Google Docs spreadsheet with not just stock quotes, but also tons of other financial data (P/E, etc). And while you're back to depending on some company to store your data, at least with Google Docs spreadsheets, you can save them locally if they do decide to close down the service.
If you are willing to trust a company, I've heard fantastic things about TD's ThinkorSwim paper accounts.
posted by Brian Puccio at 12:50 PM on March 6, 2014
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posted by variella at 4:17 PM on March 4, 2014