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Should I use HowTheMarketWorks?

Free stock market simulator and class contest tool for students and teachers - howthemarketworks.com

Worth it. A free, classroom-proven stock simulator — ideal for teachers and beginners practicing with virtual cash and real market data. Skip it if you want to trade real money or need serious, official API tooling.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 30+ public sources; some pricing figures truncated in source snippets.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo support evidence found
  • Security postureNo disclosures either way

Pricing

$0

Free (individuals & class contests)

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly fees~800,000 visits
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes
Personal Finance Lab (schools)Quote-based; source truncated at 'Starts at $1…'

Best for

  • Teachers running class trading contests
  • Students learning investing basics
  • Beginners practicing with virtual cash
  • Personal finance and econ courses

Not for

  • Anyone wanting to trade real money
  • Pro traders needing institutional tools
  • Teams needing official API integrations
  • Guess: experienced traders wanting advanced charting

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

School edition pricing truncated in sources ('Starts at $1…') — request an actual quote before budgeting

medium

No official API; unofficial GitHub scrapers may break when the site changes

low

Site sells advertising — expect ads inside the free product

low

Owned by Stock-Trak; upgrades funnel into its paid Personal Finance Lab ecosystem

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Completely free for individuals and class contests
  • Trades use real market data for realistic practice
  • Teachers can create contests for student classes
  • 20,000+ high school classes and 10,000+ teachers use it
  • Covers stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and options practice

Cons

  • Simulation only — no real-money investing
  • No official API; only community-built scrapers exist
  • Free experience is funded by on-site advertising
  • Advanced offerings push schools toward paid StockTrak editions
  • Guess: interface feels dated versus modern brokerage apps

Sources & method

Analyzed 9/30/2026 - 10 sources - No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

official x5review x3security x1news x1

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • $0

    Starting price

  • 10

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Core game is completely free
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Guides, videos, tutorials; used by teens
  • Feature depth: 4/5. Real market data, options, contests, education library
  • Support quality. No support evidence found
  • Security posture. No disclosures either way
  • 10/10 Independent review score Stock-Market-Game.net review
  • Yes Free tier Individuals and class contests
  • 20,000+ Classroom adoption high school classes; 10,000+ teachers
  • ~800,000 visits Monthly traffic per site's advertiser page

Pricing

Free (individuals & class contests)

$0

  • Virtual trading with real market data
  • Create contests for student classes
  • Education center access

Personal Finance Lab (schools)

Quote-based; source truncated at 'Starts at $1…'

  • Stock game only tier available
  • Personal finance gamification for schools

Security

No known vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.

What users say

Students, teachers, and reviewers treat it as the go-to free classroom simulator, with an independent review scoring it 10/10.

“Overall Rating: 10/10. HowTheMarketWorks.com Stock”
Stock-Market-Game.net review
“We're using howthemarketworks.com for it and so far”
Reddit, r/stocks

Companies that could

  • TD Bank Uses Its own TD Bank virtual stock game instead
Full analysis

Based on 30+ public sources; some pricing figures truncated in source snippets.

Free classroom stock simulator with real market data and class contests. Not for real-money trading.

Methodology

Based on 30+ public sources; some pricing figures truncated in source snippets.

Sources

  1. Free Stock Market Game: Create Contest for Student Classeshowthemarketworks.com
    official
  2. Contest Help (free confirmation)howthemarketworks.com
    official
  3. Education Center (20,000+ classes)howthemarketworks.com
    official
  4. Personal Finance Lab pricinghowthemarketworks.com
    official
  5. StockTrak ownership pagehowthemarketworks.com
    official
  6. Review Of HowTheMarketWorks.com Stock Market Simulatorstock-market-game.net
    review
  7. What is the best stocks/trading game out there? (Reddit)reddit.com
    review
  8. Class competition (Reddit, r/Trading)reddit.com
    review
  9. HowTheMarketWorksAPI (unofficial)github.com
    news
  10. Stock-Trak Privacy Policystocktrak.com
    security

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