Fantasy Football, but for Stocks
How to learn stock trading without risking a single dollar
Simon Trask
July 02, 2025
All the fun, none of the pain.
It was 2007.
My friends and I were curious about wealth-building, but didn’t know where to start even trying to learn.
We knew a few rich kids growing up, but by this age we’re well into the workforce and all grinding away every day at pretty low-paying jobs. We didn’t have the built-in financial mentorship infrastructure that a rich kid might have in their life, but we did have ambition.
We didn’t actually have money to invest at the time, but we did know this: you gotta start somewhere.
Enter: The Investopedia Stock Simulator
“It’s like fantasy football, but for stocks.”
Fantasy football is fun. You get some of the fun of playing football, without the torn ACL, two-a-days, brain damage, hell weeks… Basically getting to participate in a way that’s more than an observer, but less than a player.
The Stock Simulator is the same idea.
If you have never traded stocks but are curious on how to start, this is such a great way to get the feel for it, learn the lingo, and try it out.
You start with a bankroll, and can buy and sell individual stocks in real time. You get charged brokerage fees per transactions. You can build your portfolio and check in any time.
You can even set up a game with your friends. Everybody starts with the same bankroll, and there’s a fixed amount of time to build a portfolio. You can day trade, set-and-forget, whatever works for you. Biggest pile wins at the end.
We started playing games like this, and it was so fun that as soon as one “season” ended (6 months) we just rolled right into another one and kept playing.
If you want to start learning how to trade (without risking any cash), start with the Stock Simulator: https://www.investopedia.com/simulator/
 | Onward and upward, (I’m a small business owner, advisor, and advocate – learn more here) |
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