
## What is a Stock Market Simulator?
Have you ever wanted to trade stocks but don't want to lose money in the stock market? Well, a stock simulator is perfect for you. Stock market simulators, also known as paper trading, give you a fake portfolio amount of virtual cash and delayed stock market data to recreate the feel of actual trading stocks.

The cool part is that you can buy and sell stocks with fake cash, monopoly money, if you will, and still gain real market experience on how the stock market works using the stock market data. All without losing any real money.

Paper trading is great to way to get your feet wet. Test new trading strategies and practice building your fake portfolio. Improve your confidence to apply what you learn in the real life stock market so you can make sound investments.

Let's explore the 7 best stock market simulators so you start to practice and continue your journey to become a successful day trader.

## What is the Best Stock Simulator for Day Trading?
### 1. Thinkorswim PaperMoney
[Thinkorswim](https://www.tdameritrade.com/tools-and-platforms/thinkorswim/desktop.html) is one of the top free day trading platforms, and it's easy to know why. Out of the box, Thinkorswim comes with advanced stock charts, hundreds of technical analysis indicators, and a customizable scanner to find new stock picks.

PaperMoney is the built-in stock simulator that Thinkorswim users can access by switching from Live Trading to Paper Money mode.

Instantly you get a pre-funded demo account and access to all the great features that make Thinkorswim perfect for day traders.

Buy or sell popular ticker symbols, ETFs, options trading, and other financial products.

The best feature of PaperMoney is resetting balances. As you experiment with trading ideas, you will make mistakes, so rather than try to get out of a hole because of an error you made. You can easily reset all balances and positions to get a clean slate and start over.

#### Key Features
- No brokerage account is required.
- Get access to technical trading tools like charts and indicators.
- Reset your balances and positions when you make mistakes.

### 2. Power E*TRADE
Power E*TRADE is an advanced trading platform from the respected broker, [E*TRADE](https://us.etrade.com/platforms/power-etrade#tab_6).

Use the Paper Trading option to sharpen your skills in the capital markets and test strategies using all the included tools like powerful charts, indicators for technical analysis, research tools, and configurable scanners requested by day traders.
Once you are ready to risk your own real money, you don't have to switch to a new platform because Power E*TRADE offers direct brokerage services so you can keep trading on their platform.

#### Key Features
- No brokerage account is required.
- Instant access to technical indicators and advanced charts.
- Switch to LIVE MODE when ready to trade real money.

### 3. Papertrade
[Papertrade]'https://papertrade.gg/) is in its own category as a fantasy stock trading platform.

Think of Robinhood, but you don't lose your entire savings on one trade. Instead, pay $20 to join a stock market game with day traders and get a pre-funded paper trading account to start trading.

Buy and sell with real-time data to grow your portfolio as you react to daily sentiment and news.

All collected entry fees are distributed to the top traders when the markets close, making upwards of $1,000 or more in a daily fantasy stock market game.

#### Key Features
- Limit your losses.
- Win real money.
- Compete against other traders in real-time.
- Access to real-time data.
- Mobile-friendly app.

### 4. Webull Paper Trading
Looking for something more mobile and easy to use? [Webull](https://www.webull.com/), one of the top free mobile trading platforms, offers paper trading directly on their app.

Just download the app, create a Webull account, and select the Paper Trading option.

Instantly they give you a pre-funded demo account with $1,000,000 to start paper trading to test strategies and get familiar with the Webull app.

Like most trading apps, Webull has all the tools you need to start trading. From advanced charts and indicators to scanners and quotes of stock prices.

Webull is an excellent option to start paper trading, get exposure to capital markets, and learn about stock investing. All without risking your own money.

#### Key Features
- Mobile-friendly app.
- Advanced charts and indicators.

### 5. Warrior Trading Simulator
Directed at students to practice trading the US capital markets, [Warrior Trading](https://www.warriortrading.com/paper-trading/) offers a great free paper trading platform to simulate real market conditions. In addition, they have collaborated with NYSE and NASDAQ to provide Level 2 quotes, which is the order book used by many retail traders to understand price action.

Warrior Trading starts every account with $200,000, so you have enough fake cash to test strategies without restarting your account.

A key feature of Warrior Trading is the platform aggregates data on the trades made and provides metrics to improve your performance.

#### Key Features
- Access to Level 2 quote data.
- Advanced investing performance reports.

### 6. Trade Station Simulator
Like the other stock market simulators in our list, [Trade Station Simulator](https://www.tradestation.com/platforms-and-tools/simulated-trading/) offers the same free features, including real-time data, zero risk, and advanced indicators.

Trade Station stands out with its easy-to-use backtesting feature, which allows you to go back in time and see how well your strategies did.

Overall, Trade Station is a solid stock simulator for paper trading.

#### Key Features
- Backtesting strategies.
- Access to real-time data.
- Advanced indicators

### 7. Investopedia Stock Market Simulator
Looking for something a bit more passive? [Investopedia](https://www.investopedia.com/simulator/) has a free stock market simulator for casual traders. Investopedia doesn't have all the tools you'd expect from the day trading platforms, but that's its simplicity. Of course, you can still trade over 6,000 stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and options.

The best feature in Investopedia is the gamification of trading. You can create or join a stock market game with others and compete for the top rank.

Overall, Investopedia is great for beginners who aren't looking for much to start trading.

#### Key Features
- Simple and easy to use.
- Compete against others.

### 8. Virtual Stock Exchange by MarketWatch
[Virtual Stock Exchange](https://www.marketwatch.com/game) is the simplest free stock simulator available. Get fake money and build your portfolio as you react to market data.
Create watchlists to monitor specific stocks, and execute advanced trades like limit and stop loss orders.
Create or join a public and private stock market game. Each game has different rules, including custom portfolio budgets, margin trading, short sell restrictions, and more.

#### Key Features
- Join games to compete against others.
- Execute advanced order types.

## Bottom Line
From casually selling stocks to intense real-time pay-to-play games, stock market simulators are a great way to get real experience trading. There are many excellent stock market simulator platforms with essential features to help new investors build experience and make better investing decisions to become a successful investor. Our advice to finding a good stock market simulator is to try different platforms and see what suits your trading style the best. Remember, stock market simulators are meant to test your trading strategies but are not indicative of future performance.

Stock simulators are the way to learn how to buy and sell stocks without using real money. Use real-time stock market data and test new trading strategies.

8 Best Stock Market Simulators for Day Trading

Understand the principles of day trading, how it works, the risks involved, and what it takes to become a successful day trader with our in-depth trading guide.

Day Trading: The Complete Guide to Get Started


Are you executing trades too often that your broker is now warning that you will soon be breaking the PDT rule? On the surface, this isn't an issue, but if you break the Pattern Day Trader rule, your account will have to have at least $25,000 in value to keep trading. Otherwise, you can only sell any current positions and wait 90 days for the broker to remove the PDT classification from your account to make new trades.

## PDT Rule
First, the PDT rule was created by FINRA to prevent retail traders from losing too much money. In essence, a trader with less than $25,000 in their account can't make less than three days in a five trading day period. This rule can be a significant roadblock for small traders to do well in the market because they are required to pause their ability to capitalize on new opportunities. While this is a problem, let's explore ways we can go around this and still keep your account in good standing.

## Open Multiple Accounts
The easiest way to fix this problem is to split your funds into multiple brokerage accounts. Each account you open has its own three trades every five trading days counter. Therefore, you can make three days on one account, then move to the next one and execute new trades there.

The downside of this strategy is spreading your funds too thin. You already have less than $25,000, and splitting funds will force you to take on smaller positions, limiting your gains.

This strategy works well for those with accounts close to the $25,000 limit that occasionally might dip under $25,000 and don't want to deal with brokers hassling them about the PDT rule.

#### Benefits
- Each new account gives you three days per week.

#### Drawbacks
- Will be forced to take smaller positions.
- Managing funds across accounts is a problematic accounting task.

## Use a Broker Outside the United States
Using an offshore broker is helpful when you want to bypass the PDT rule because FINRA doesn't regulate them, which is an excellent way for small traders to utilize their entire capital in one account.

An added benefit is receiving higher leverage ratios than those provided by US-based brokers. The typical leverage ratio provided by offshore brokers is around 6:1.

However, since the broker is outside the jurisdiction of these agencies, you are giving up all protections offered to retail traders. Therefore, you must consult with tax and legal professionals to research and understand the rules you and your broker must follow.

#### Benefits
- Utilize all capital in one account.
- Get access to higher leverage ratios.

#### Drawbacks
- Lose retail trader protections.
- You need to research rules and limitations that apply to yourself and the broker.

## Execute Swing Trades
Quickly, swing trading is executing a trade held over days or weeks instead of minutes or hours. Swing trading might not sound like a direct strategy to circumvent the PDT rule, but it gives you a legit way to find trends in a broader time frame. Also, having more extended time frames allows you to confirm your trading strategy and get more significant returns on capital while arguably mitigating losses.

#### Benefits
- Utilize all capital in one account.
- Test trading strategies.
- Potentially better returns on capital.
- Mitigate losses more easily.

#### Drawbacks
- Not able to day trade.
- Miss out on intraday volatility.

## Use a Cash Account
Cash accounts aren't subject to the PDT rule. Sound great, right? While you can make as many trades as you want, the catch is you can only make trades with settled cash.

Your next question is, what is settled cash? For that, we need to understand the cash settlement rules created by the SEC. Essentially, when you sell a position, the cash needs to settle or finalize, which is two days from the day you sell. This mechanism is known as the T+2 settlement cycle. Once settled you can again access that cash to start new trades. Here's an example, you sell a position on Monday, the transaction would settle on Wednesday, and you can have funds to trade on Thursday.

#### Benefits
- Make unlimited day trades
- PDT rule doesn't apply.

#### Drawbacks
- Wait for trades to settle.
- Can only use settled cash to make new trades.

## Futures Trading
Futures are contract agreements that bind a trader to buy or sell a specific number of units of the underlying asset in the future at a predetermined price and date. Traders speculate on the underlying asset's price movement and make a profit on the delta, the difference between the contract price and the actual asset price.

Futures bypass the PDT rule because they are outside the regulatory scope of FINRA. Instead, futures are regulated by the National Futures Association and Commodities Futures Trading Commission, which means the same requirements do not apply. Essentially, you can make unlimited day trades in futures even if your account has less than $25,000.

#### Benefits
- Make unlimited day trades
- PDT rule doesn't apply.

#### Drawbacks
- You can only trade futures.

## Options Trading
Options are contractual agreements between a buyer and a seller which give the buyer the option to buy or sell a specific asset at a predetermined price and date. For example, when speculating on the price of a stock, traders purchase options to leverage their position, which have the potential to make outsized gains compared to the required invested capital. Since options are very different from traditional stocks, be sure to get an in-depth understanding into how they work before executing any trades.

Unlike stocks, which settle in two days, options get settled overnight. This quick settlement is excellent because now your cash is ready to use the next day for any new trades.

#### Benefits
- Make unlimited day trades
- Cash settles overnight.
- PDT rule doesn't apply.

#### Drawbacks
- You can only trade options.

## Bottom Line
While initially, day trading does require a substantial amount of money to start, there are plenty of great ways to avoid the PDT rule and still potentially make money in the market. Before deciding on any strategy, be sure to [understand the concepts of day trading](/learn/day-trading), and consider your risk tolerance to fully understand every option.

Avoid the PDT rule, and day trade without $25,000 using proven strategies that can help you participate in the markets every day.

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