Are there any good free virtual stock exchanges?

January 7, 2004 11:51 AM

Long, long ago, the Virtual Stock Exchange was a great site that offered free "pretend" stock trading. Since then, most of the free virtual stock exchanges have either gone to a subscription system, or are burdened down with popups and banner ads. Does anyone know of any good free virtual stock exchanges that are currently online?
posted by oissubke to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

Not sure exactly what you mean but if you mean a way of tracking an inactive portfolio of real stocks and have the sites track your record, I believe the Motley Fool does this. Not sure about the popups there as I have them turned off.
posted by dobbs at 11:54 AM on January 7, 2004

Response by poster: I'm specifically looking for a way that my friends and myself can have a sort of competition, where we have a certain starting budget, and we see who can make the most on stocks over time.

(I took a look at Motley Fool, but couldn't figure out where they were hiding it. Darn portal sites!)
posted by oissubke at 12:32 PM on January 7, 2004

The Vitual Stock Exchange is still around, only now it is part of CBS MarketWatch. Looks like it still has all the features you are looking for.
posted by mhaw at 12:43 PM on January 7, 2004

Yes, MF can do that. Basically, you create porfolios of stocks and then it will track them in real time. Once you've set up an account there (free), just click My Portfolio on the top nav bar.
posted by dobbs at 12:45 PM on January 7, 2004

dobbs, I think oissubke is actually looking for something along the lines of stock-market fantasy leauge, where you say have $10,000 start out with and then compete with others to see who can make the most out of it...
posted by mhaw at 12:49 PM on January 7, 2004

mhaw, yes, that's what I assumed as well. The portfolios at MF allow you to do that, but it's not the sole purpose of the site (ie, it's not a site where a bunch of people compete against strangers to see who the better investor is). Oissubke can go there with his friends, each with a fictional amount, create a portfolio (or multiple portfolios) and then compare the results in real time (ie, according to current stock quotes). I thought that's what he asked for.
posted by dobbs at 1:06 PM on January 7, 2004

Response by poster: mhaw, you're right on the money, but I think dobbs is saying that we could fudge it with the MFool site. We'll just create portfolios and compare them by e-mail or something.

However, it looks like VSE might be free again after all...
posted by oissubke at 1:11 PM on January 7, 2004

For the sports oriented crowd, Jockstocks is a game where you can buy and sell shares of athletes based on their performance.
posted by mbd1mbd1 at 12:45 PM on January 8, 2004