Virtual Stock Trading Can Teach Investors How the Market Works

Everyone knows that there is a lot of money to be made in the stock market, but there is also a lot of money to be lost there as well. Wouldn't it be nice if you could practice trading stocks before you ever put your money on the line? That way you could try different trading strategies without being hindered by the fear of losing everything. By the time you started really buying and selling stocks, you would already have a great deal of valuable trading experience.

Thankfully, there are a number of websites that offer "virtual trading accounts" for interested investors to use to teach themselves how the market works. These websites vary widely in terms of their purpose, which affects how they allow you to participate in "virtual trading". Whatever their differences, however, they all offer a safer trading environment for the rookie investor than the "real" market does.

Some websites, like "stocksquest.com" are designed for use by educational institutions. Although individuals may sign up for accounts, the website is really designed to teach investing in college and high school classrooms. Stocksquest allows teachers to set up competitions for their students in which they can control how much "money" the students have to invest as well rules concerning how and when they can trade.

The fact that it is designed for educational purposes works against it too, however. Because day trading is frowned upon by many investment professionals, the website does not allow you to "sell" a stock the same day you "buy" it. This means that sometimes you are forced to hold on to stocks longer than you wish because there is no way to change this rule. Thus, Stocksquest is even less encouraging of active trading than the SEC is. At least the SEC will let you do three day trades in a five day period.

Other websites, like "Yalicoo.com" and "HSX.com" place more emphasis on entertainment. Yalicoo offers trading competitions while HSX (Hollywood Stock Exchange) is not based on the NYSE or "real" markets at all, but on the entertainment industry. On the Hollywood Stock Exchange, you trade shares of movies, not shares of companies. Obviously, this is very different from trading "for real", but the general process is similar, and some people may find it easier to understand.

"Howthemarketworks.com" is representative of another kind of website, geared toward people who want to learn a little bit about investing before they jump headlong into it. It gives the user a lot more control over their trading experience than some of the other sites, and it has a very simple interface. While it does not allow advanced orders like limit orders and trailing stops, it will certainly teach you the basics.

If you are interested in trying your hand at the stock market, you may want to try one of these websites first. Obviously, there is still some difference between trading "virtual stock" and trading "real stock", but these websites can still be very informative and useful. Their main drawback is that they usually do not contain live quotes. For the most part, one can only obtain live quotes on a site that you pay to use. Thus, you are forced to either trade 20 minutes behind everyone else or fork over some cash for the services you are getting. Either way, consider your time and any money you spend a valuable investment in educating yourself to be a better trader. It may prove very worthwhile in the future.