The $1 Million
Simulator Challenge
Every October entrant starts with the same $1,000,000. It is not real money. The companies and market prices are real; your own money is never at risk. Grow your account the most in thirty days and you top the board.
Trading opens on 1 October 2026 at 9:30am New York time and ends on 30 October at 4pm New York time.
Entry closes when trading begins. Join before 1 October 2026 at 9:30am New York; no late entries. One October account per StockEducation account, with $1,000,000 virtual starting cash. Rankings compare percentage return at the close on 30 October, just before 4pm New York.
No cash prize. This is an educational simulation. Creating a StockEducation account alone does not enter you.
Free entry. No card. Virtual money only. Your real money is not used.
Challenge rules reviewed by Felix La Spina · Publisher · Diploma of Teaching (JCU) · Reviewed .
Never traded before? Start here.
A real account with fake money
It works like a real brokerage account. Real companies, US market prices, real buy and sell buttons. The only thing that is not real is the money, so you cannot lose a cent.
Many companies in one buy
An ETF is a single thing you can buy that holds a basket of companies at once. One click spreads your money across all of them instead of betting on one name.
Grow your million the most
Everyone starts on the same $1,000,000, so the race is fair. Whoever grows their account by the biggest percentage by 30 October finishes on top.
Everyone can see the board
You are ranked by how much you grew your account, as a percentage. October entrants start with the same $1,000,000. Practice results are shown separately.
Latest published snapshots. Use the tabs to switch between practice and October results. Practice portfolios use their recorded starting balances. These published portfolio counts and returns do not measure learning success.
Read return alongside risk
The public leaderboard reports return and portfolio value. It does not supply drawdown or concentration statistics. Where a participant shares detailed holdings and trades, open their result to review position sizes and decisions. An undisclosed portfolio’s risk cannot be assessed from its return alone.
Keep a practice journal: note why you chose a position, how much of the portfolio it uses, what could go wrong and what you learned when reviewing the result. A short simulated track record cannot establish investing skill.
OCTOBER 1 TO 30, 2026 · VIRTUAL MONEY ONLY
The $1 Million
Simulator Challenge
Build a portfolio. Compare your return. See what other traders hold.
PUBLIC LEADERBOARD · NO LOGIN NEEDED
Explore the Top 50
Practice leaderboard · Snapshot Oct 14, 2026 23:00 UTC
How rankings work
Ranked by percentage return, not profit in dollars. October accounts start with $1 million; practice accounts use their recorded starting balance. Returns include cash and marked holdings. Equal returns (to eight decimal places) are ordered by stable trader ID; that order is not a performance advantage.
Valuations use IEX, a single US exchange feed. Each snapshot uses one collected price set; individual quote times can differ and are shown in shared holdings. Practice rankings include investors with at least one filled simulated order and complete portfolio prices no more than four days old. October snapshots publish only when every entrant can be valued. The final October valuation uses the last regular-session minute on October 30, not after-hours prices, and remains provisional pending corrections.
Click a trader to see their result. Holdings and trades appear only if that participant has enabled portfolio sharing. Practice history may contain account adjustments that cannot be attributed to individual stocks.
YOUR CHALLENGE ACCOUNT
$1 million. A fresh start.
Viewing results is public. Sign in to enter, trade, or share your own practice portfolio.
Challenge rules & privacy
- Free educational simulation; no cash prize, real orders or investment advice.
- Enter before October 1, 2026 at 9:30am New York. Trading runs from that time through October 30, 2026 just before 4pm New York, during regular market hours only. No late entries.
- One October account per WordPress account. $1 million virtual cash, no starting positions, deposits or resets. US-listed stocks and ETFs; long-only, fractional quantities to six decimals. No leverage, shorts or options.
- Market orders use a recent IEX last trade plus 0.05% adverse slippage (added for buys, subtracted for sells). No separate commission. Orders fail if quotes are over two minutes old, data is unavailable, cash is insufficient or shares are not held.
- Ordinary splits and cash dividends are replayed from provider records. Unsupported actions freeze affected valuation/trading for review. Rankings may be corrected by publishing a new dated batch; historic share links retain their original batch.
- Entry includes public result summaries under a random trader alias and permission to share holdings and completed trades. You can withdraw detailed sharing below; result summaries remain public. Pseudonymous portfolios are not anonymous—trades may still identify someone.
- Research exports contain cohort statistics, not emails, trader IDs or exact trades; groups below 10 are suppressed. Email updates are separate and optional. Aggregate observations are not evidence of causation.
OPTIONAL EMAIL UPDATES
Stay in the loop.
Challenge news and results. Signing up for emails does not enter you in the competition.
So where would you land?
Drag the slider to compare a hypothetical return with the published practice Top 50. This is an illustration, not a predicted result.
Each bar counts portfolios in the published Top 50, not the whole practice cohort.
A higher return in this simulation does not predict future performance. Practice values and returns reflect each account’s recorded starting balance.
How October participation works
Open a free account
Create a free StockEducation account or sign in. Then use the challenge entry panel below to join before 1 October, 9:30am New York. Registration alone does not enter you.
Buy your first share
Enter a stock symbol, choose buy or sell, and enter the number of shares. The US market opens at 9:30am New York on 1 October and so does the challenge.
Watch your rank move
Your position appears in verified snapshots on a public board. Send your result link to a friend; viewing results needs no account.
Entry closes when trading opens on 1 October at 9:30am New York. There are no late entries.
October trading has ended
View the October leaderboard and its dated published snapshots below. Historic result links retain their original snapshot; rankings can be corrected in a new dated batch.
View October ResultsNext challenge
The next entry date has not been announced. Join the next challenge waitlist below to hear when entry opens. Joining the waitlist does not enter a challenge.
Join the next challenge waitlistYour decisions. Your virtual portfolio.
Three learning steps to recognize
This reflection checklist is self-reported and stays on this page. It is separate from the return-based leaderboard.
0 of 3 reflection steps marked.
Track your account, compare your percentage return, and share your public result link. The full trading rules and privacy choices are in the entry panel above.
Share the challenge with a friend.
Is this you?
Enter if
- ✓You have been reading about investing for months and still never bought anything.
- ✓You want to try it for a month with nothing on the line.
- ✓You learn faster with a scoreboard than with a textbook.
Give it a miss if
- ×You are here for a cash prize. There is none and we will not pretend otherwise.
- ×You want to be told what to buy. We teach how it works and leave the picks to you.
- ×You expect a shortcut. Thirty days of your own decisions is the entire point.
What is the October $1 Million Simulator Challenge?
It is a free thirty day trading competition run by StockEducation, played with virtual money. Every entrant starts on 1 October 2026 with $1,000,000 in virtual cash and buys and sells real US listed shares and ETFs at real prices until 4pm New York on 30 October. Whoever grows their account by the biggest percentage tops the board, and the board is public so anyone can view it without an account. No real money is used, nothing is for sale, no experience is needed, and you need to sign in and join through the challenge entry panel before trading starts.
Questions people ask first
Does it cost anything?
No. Entry is free, no card is required to enter and there is nothing to buy.
Is any real money involved?
None. Every balance and every trade is pretend. The prices come from the real US market for learning, but no money moves and nothing you own is at risk.
I have never bought a share in my life. Can I still enter?
Yes, and that is who this is built for. You search a company, type how much you want to put in and press buy. If you want a run through first, the free first lesson and the simulator walkthrough take about fifteen minutes between them.
What is an ETF?
One thing you can buy that holds many companies at once. Instead of picking a single name you own a slice of everything in the basket. Beginners often start there because it spreads the risk.
What happens if I lose money in the challenge?
Nothing happens. The money is not real. Your rank drops and you learn what went wrong, which is far cheaper than learning it with your own savings.
Is there a cash prize?
No. The reward is the rank, the experience of managing a virtual portfolio and comparing your percentage return. We would rather say that plainly than invent a prize.
Can I join after trading starts?
No. Join before 1 October 2026 at 9:30am New York. The simulator closes entry when trading starts.
Will this affect my existing practice portfolio?
No. Your challenge account is created separately and your normal practice portfolio carries on untouched.
How is the winner decided?
By how much you grew the $1,000,000, as a percentage, at 4pm New York on 30 October. Percentage rather than dollars keeps everyone on the same scale.
October challenge starts 1 October.
Entry closes at the opening bell on 1 October, 9:30am New York. Trading closes on 30 October, just before 4pm New York.
Claim my $1,000,000 accountFree entry. Virtual money only. No cash prize.
StockEducation teaches how investing works. We do not tell you what to buy and we do not give personal financial advice. Practice results are for learning and are not a prediction of what real money would do.
