Free Stock Portfolio Simulator — Practice Trading Without the Risk
Build a virtual stock portfolio with $10,000 in paper money. Trade stocks and ETFs at real market prices, track your performance against the S&P 500, and discover whether your research time is actually paying off with our exclusive time-adjusted returns metric.
How to Use the Stock Portfolio Simulator
Getting started takes less than a minute. Here's how the simulator works:
Step 1: Create Your Account Sign up with a username and password. Your username will appear on the public leaderboard if you rank in the top 25, so choose something you're proud of.
Step 2: Start with $10,000 in Virtual Cash Every new portfolio begins with $10,000 in simulated funds — the same starting line for every user. This keeps the leaderboard fair and lets you focus on percentage returns rather than dollar amounts.
Step 3: Search and Trade Stocks or ETFs Enter any stock or ETF ticker symbol (like AAPL, TSLA, SPY, or VOO) and the simulator will pull the current market price. Choose how many shares to buy and execute your trade. You can also sell positions whenever you want.
Step 4: Choose Your Trade Mode Verified trades execute at the current market price and count toward the leaderboard. Manual trades let you enter a custom price and date for personal tracking, but they won't affect your leaderboard ranking.
Step 5: Log Your Research Hours After buying a position, enter the number of hours you spent researching it. The simulator uses this to calculate your time-adjusted returns — a metric that tells you how much you're earning per hour of research compared to simply buying the S&P 500.
Step 6: Track, Compare, and Compete Monitor your portfolio's total return, compare it to the S&P 500 benchmark, and watch where you land on the leaderboard. Export your data to CSV anytime, or share your results on X.
What Are Time-Adjusted Returns? The Metric That Changes How You Think About Stock Picking
Most investors measure success by one number: total return. But total return ignores something critical — your time. If you spend 100 hours researching stocks and only beat the S&P 500 by 1%, was that time well spent?
Time-adjusted returns answer that question by measuring how much you earn per hour of research as a function of your excess return over a benchmark.
Here's the Formula
Time-Adjusted Return ($/hr) = (Your Return % − S&P 500 Return %) × Position Value ÷ Hours Spent Researching
Here's a Real Example
You invest $10,000 in a stock after spending 10 hours on due diligence. After one year, your position returns 10% while the S&P 500 returns 8% over the same period.
Your excess return: 10% − 8% = 2%
Your excess dollar gain: 2% × $10,000 = $200
Your time-adjusted return: $200 ÷ 10 hours = $20/hour
That $20/hour is what your stock-picking skill actually earned you above what you would have made by simply buying an S&P 500 index fund and doing zero research.
Why This Matters
If your time-adjusted return is low or negative, it means your research time would have been better spent elsewhere — or you'd be better off in an index fund. If it's high, your stock-picking process is genuinely adding value. This is especially important for part-time investors who have limited hours to dedicate to research.
Tools like FASTGraphs can dramatically reduce the time you spend on fundamental analysis and stock screening, which directly improves your time-adjusted returns by cutting the denominator in the formula. It's the fastest screening tool I've found, and I use it daily. You can try FASTGraphs here (affiliate link).
Our simulator is the only free paper trading tool that tracks this metric automatically. Just log your research hours for each position, and the calculator does the rest.
Stock Simulator Features
Real-Time Stock & ETF Prices
Trade thousands of stocks and ETFs using live market data. Prices update throughout the trading day so your paper portfolio reflects real market conditions.
S&P 500 Benchmark Comparison
See how your stock picks perform compared to the S&P 500. The simulator calculates your alpha — the percentage by which you outperform or underperform the benchmark — automatically.
Time-Adjusted Returns Calculator
Log the hours you spend researching each position and the simulator calculates your return per hour of work. This exclusive metric helps you determine whether active stock picking is worth your time.
Top 25 Leaderboard
Compete against other users on a public leaderboard ranked by total return percentage. Only verified trades at real-time market prices count, ensuring a level playing field.
Automatic Dividend Tracking
When stocks in your portfolio pay dividends, the cash is automatically credited to your virtual balance — just like a real brokerage account.
Manual Trade Mode
Want to backtest a past idea? Manual mode lets you enter custom prices and dates for personal tracking. These trades are excluded from the leaderboard.
CSV Export & Social Sharing
Download your complete portfolio and transaction history as a CSV file. Share your performance on X with one click.
Portfolio Reset
Want a fresh start? Reset your portfolio back to $10,000 and begin a new strategy from scratch.
Who Is This Stock Simulator For?
This paper-trading simulator is designed for anyone who wants to practice investing without financial risk.
Beginner investors who want to learn how the stock market works before committing real money. Start here, build confidence, and when you're ready to invest for real, visit our Stock Portfolio Builder.
Experienced investors who want to test a new strategy, screen a new sector, or prove that their stock-picking process adds value above the benchmark. The time-adjusted returns metric gives you an honest assessment.
Students and educators who need a realistic, free tool for classroom exercises or personal finance courses. Every user starts with the same $10,000, making it ideal for competitions.
Busy professionals who have limited hours for research and want to know whether their stock-picking time is genuinely paying off — or whether an index fund would serve them better.
If you're serious about improving your analysis workflow, I recommend TradingView for charting and technical analysis. It's the platform I use for my own trading — the breadth of tools, indicators, and ease of use is unmatched. You can get started with TradingView here (affiliate link).
Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Is this stock portfolio simulator completely free?
A: Yes. There are no hidden fees, no premium tiers, and no credit card required. You get full access to all features, including the leaderboard, time-adjusted returns, dividend tracking, and CSV export.
Q: Does the simulator use real stock prices?
A: Yes. The simulator pulls near-real-time market data for stocks and ETFs. Prices may be delayed by approximately 15 minutes, which is standard for free market data. This is a simulation tool; no real money is involved.
Q: Can I trade ETFs like SPY, QQQ, or VOO?
A: Absolutely. You can trade any stock or ETF that has a valid ticker symbol on major U.S. exchanges.
Q: How does the leaderboard ranking work?
A: The leaderboard displays the top 25 users ranked by total return percentage. Only verified trades, those executed at the current real-time market price, count toward the leaderboard. Manual trades (where you enter a custom price) are tracked in your portfolio but excluded from rankings to keep competition fair.
Q: What are "verified" vs. "manual" trades?
A: A verified trade executes at whatever the stock's current market price is at the moment you click "Buy" or "Sell." This ensures leaderboard integrity. A manual trade lets you enter any price and date, useful for tracking hypothetical or past trades, but it doesn't count for the leaderboard.
Q: How are dividends handled?
A: When a stock or ETF in your portfolio pays a dividend, the cash is automatically added to your virtual cash balance based on the number of shares. Dividend payments are logged in your transaction history.
Q: What is the time-adjusted returns metric?
A: Time-adjusted returns measure how much money you earn per hour of stock research, calculated as your excess return over the S&P 500 multiplied by your position value, divided by research hours. It answers whether your time spent picking stocks is worth more than simply buying an index fund. See the full explanation above.
Q: Can I reset my portfolio and start over?
A: Yes. The reset button clears all positions and transactions and restores your cash balance to $10,000. This action is permanent and cannot be undone.
Q: Can I export my data?
A: Yes. Click "Export CSV" to download your complete portfolio positions and transaction history as a spreadsheet file.
Q: Is my data saved between visits?
A: Yes. Your portfolio, transaction history, and research hours are all saved to your account. Log back in anytime to check your performance.
Q: Is this financial advice?
A: No. This simulator is for educational and entertainment purposes only. It does not constitute financial advice. Simulated results are hypothetical and do not guarantee future performance. Always do your own research before investing real money.
Ready to Start Investing for Real?
Once you've tested your strategy in the simulator and built confidence in your process, the next step is building a real portfolio. Our Stock Portfolio Builder guide walks you through everything, from choosing your first stocks to building a diversified portfolio designed for long-term wealth. Start building your real portfolio → Stock Portfolio Builder.
Follow Along
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See you on the leaderboard! ✌
Disclaimers & Affiliate Disclosure
Educational and Entertainment Purposes Only
This portfolio simulator, and all content on this page, is provided strictly for educational and entertainment purposes. Nothing here is financial, investment, tax, legal, or accounting advice, and nothing is a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold any security, strategy, or product.
No Personalized Advice
I’m not acting as your financial advisor. This tool does not take into account your personal objectives, financial situation, or needs. Always do your own research and consider speaking with a qualified professional before making any real investment decisions.
Simulation Only
Results shown in this free trading simulator are hypothetical and do not represent actual trading or real performance. Past simulated performance is not indicative of future results in any real account.
Affiliate Links
Some links on this page are affiliate links. That means if you click a link and later sign up or make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. I only highlight tools I genuinely find useful, but you should always evaluate whether any service fits your own situation.
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