OK, so you’ve stumbled across a stock market game (like TradingLeagues), and you’re wondering: what’s in it for me? Why should I take up valuable time out of my day and play stock market games?
It all comes down to your goals. Chances are, you’re looking to get introduced to stocks. Maybe you already have a brokerage account and you’re trading over there, and maybe you don’t! Either way, getting exposure to the stock markets via stock market games can be a wonderful way to experience the financial markets in an immersive manner.
6 benefits of playing stock market games
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- – No Brokerage Account
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- – No Stress
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- – Ability to play free and paid games
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- – Access to more asset classes
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- – No Time Commitments
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- – Introduces a social element centered around building a community
Let’s cover six benefits of playing stock market games in detail, as compared to trading through a normal brokerage account.
No need to open and fund a brokerage account
When you play stock market game, you are dealing with a simulated environment. This means that you don’t need to worry about opening a brokerage account. Perhaps more importantly, you don’t need to worry about having to move tens of thousands, if not lakhs of rupees, to a brokerage account!
The elimination of these steps makes it truly simple to get started playing stock market games. You will likely need to just download an application, and voila, you’re good to go!
No stress associated with intraday and overnight price movements
One major drawback to trading via a brokerage account is that you need to worry about “MTM”, that is, mark-to-market, price movements. Since your hard-earned money is on the line, traders end up watching their MTM like a hawk during the trading day. Not to be outdone, there is the risk of severe overnight price movement which can adversely impact the value of your overnight positions.
In a stock market game, these anxieties do not exist since the concept of “funding” an account doesn’t exist. The result is a more relaxed experience of the stock markets, which is exactly what you’re looking for!
Ability to play free and paid games
One of the powerful benefits of stock market games is that you have the option of playing free and paid games. Free games allow one to experience the thrills of stock price fluctuations without worrying about having to pay any sort of entry fees. However, the obvious drawback to free games is that you can’t earn money by winning!
In contrast, paid games allow users the ability to pay entry fees, with the prospect of generating aggressive, outsized returns. The decision to play free or paid games is entirely a personal choice, depending on what the user is looking for. You can’t really go wrong, either way!
Access to more asset classes
When we think of the stock markets, we usually tend to think of our country’s stock markets. For example, if you reside in India, then you probably follow India’s stock markets. But, did you know that there are more than 20 vibrant stock exchanges around the world? Stock market games allow us the ability to expand our horizons and dabble in international stocks. You can also play games involving other asset classes, like cryptocurrencies, currencies, commodities, etc. Basically, anything which can be traded digitally can be traded in a simulated manner via stock market games. The possibilities are truly endless with stock market games.
No need to worry about time commitments
One of the major issues with trading via a brokerage account is that you need to constantly monitor your positions throughout the day. However, the unfortunate reality is that most of us have jobs and other commitments which prevent us from being able to do this in an active manner. Stock market games provide a great workaround to this problem, since you can find games of various durations. You also don’t have anything to “monitor” or “track”, since you have already paid your entry fee in advance.
Introduces a social element centred around building a community
One of the major issues with trading via a brokerage account is that, unfortunately, life gets lonely! When we trade via a brokerage account, we are not interacting with others. There is virtually zero social interaction with other traders. In stock market games, you are competing against other players – against real human beings – and this creates a great opportunity for social interaction among gamers. Some stock market games even promote building a community of like-minded users. We are after, social creatures, and introducing a social element to trading is a step in the right direction!
The bottom line
Stock market games provide you a gamified, simulated experience of the financial markets. There are a lot of benefits to stock market games, as outlined in this article. The fact that the barriers to entry are so low, you get access to more asset classes, and you can partake in both free and paid games, are just some of these benefits. Hopefully, you give stock market games a shot. It may just be worth it!
