Best Virtual Trading Apps for Beginners and Professionals

Virtual trading is a practice on an online (or simulated to be precise) platform known as Virtual Trading Apps.

What is Virtual Trading?

At present time, many people turn themselves into the direction of stocks, markets, trading, and money markets.

The concept of the stock market, trading is not a new concept, yet it is very important for one who is willing to choose this field. On one hand, it requires a deep knowledge of the market and the current status of the economy, and on the other hand, it involves a significant amount of risk.

Virtual trading apps provide one with the knowledge of the stock game and prepare you for the actual market by letting you invest a small amount of money (say $10/-) into the market and let you track all the ups and downs the market undergoes.

The reason these virtual trading apps involve such a small amount of money is to minimize your risk while getting prepared for the actual bull and bear race.

What Are Virtual Trading Apps?

Virtual trading apps are programmed in order to create a simulated world of the market just like the actual Sensex, and let the users invest a risk-free amount of money in order to get the actual taste of the market.

Their main aim is to educate their users about the stocks and prepare them by tracking their progress, profits, and losses.

Virtual trading apps do not involve actual risk and hence are approved by all the legal authorities.

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Benefits of Virtual Trading Apps

1. No need for real trading account.
2. No need for brokers.
3. No real money involved hence no risk involved.
4. Real time data available for experimenting.
5. Learn by “Do It Yourself” feature available in every app.

There are a plethora of virtual trading apps available in the market nowadays, and we are here to finish your search for the best of the ones and compare them head-on.

 So, Let’s Get Started!

How To Start Trading?

1. Download and install a virtual trading app .
2. Register with valid email id on a virtual trading app.
3. Get virtual money credited into your account.
4. Learn the basics by going through rules.
5. Start buying / selling shares like real share market.
6. Track your progress, profits, loss, and other aspects.
7. Experiment and try new strategies and gain as much experience as possible.

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Popular Virtual Trading Applications

1. Zerodha

Zerodha app provides you with services that provide you with the knowledge of retail brokerage, currencies, trading, mutual funds, and bonds.

Zerodha also provides you with the virtual trading platform on your mobile phones in the form of an app known as Kite by Zerodha, so that you have all the knowledge of the humungous BSE and stock market within your pocket.

This virtual trading app has a beginner-friendly interface that also provides you with intuitive keyboard shortcuts, access to level 3 data, analyzing charts, set triggers, baskets and accurate profit and loss statements, and many more.

The maximum Trading Limit set by the app is Rs 1 lakh.

Charges: Equity Delivery Rs 0/-

Intraday and F & O traded Rs 20/- 

Direct Mutual Fund Investments Rs 0/-

FEATURES:

1. Online trading on mobile phones, tablets, iPads.
2. Equity Delivery Trading
3. Equity Intraday Trading
4. Equity Derivatives Trading (F & O)
5. Currency Derivatives Trading (F &O)
6. Commodity Derivatives Trading (F & O)
7. 5 market watchlist available along with 20 scripts for each of them.
8. Years of charts and more than 100 indicators.
9. Live market depths
10. Online Fund Transfers and withdrawal for Equity and Commodity Account.

PROS:

1. The app provides with APIs.
2. Suitable for applying multiple and intraday strategies.

CONS:

1. Each intraday transaction has charges applied i.e., Rs 20/-
2. User, and customer service calls not that efficient.

2. Money Bhai

Money Bhai is a virtual trading simulator game developed by moneycontrol.com.

Currently, it is one of the biggest virtual trading platforms in India. It teaches you the techniques which can directly implement in the real stock market.

You can easily delete and create profiles and trade with virtual money with no risk involved. There are multiple types of orders allowed, along with a plethora of options available in menus and other sections.

The maximum Trading Limit set by Money Bhai is Rs 1 Cr.

Charges:  0.50% for stocks, 0.10% for stocks-intraday, 0.50% for mutual funds, 0.50% for bonds and STT is charged at a government rate of 0.125% for equities.

FEATURES:

The main interface of this virtual trading app contains various sections which are as follows:

1. Learn Section: The learn section contains various keywords and captions which behold a very significant meaning in the stock market. It educates the users about these keywords, and other information.
2. Leadership Board: Leadership board enables the user to see their performance as well as others performance with the help of rankings and points. The ranking system is available in two forms- 1^st – day -to – day – basis & 2^nd – overall performance basis.
3.  Transact: Transact enables you to trade in between the stocks, mutual funds, bonds and fixed deposits.
4. Forum, Rules & Feedback: These sections make the interface of the applications much easier and beginner friendly.

PROS:

1. Interface is built like a competitive game, which interests users to a greater extent.
2. League formation enables users to compete with each other which directly or indirectly prepares them for the competition in real life.

CONS:

1. Applied charges are a bit unrealistic.
2. App does not provide with some points of information as reported by some of the users.

3. Dalal Street

Dalal street is a virtual trading app available as a DSIG stock market challenge. It is available as a mobile app as well which can be easily downloaded for free.

Dalal street also comes along with an investment journal, which guides the users about stocks, safe investments, markets, mutual funds, and many more.

Along with these the app provides users with 2 types of service:

1^st is portfolio advisory service regarding setting up of an account and 2^nd is the super 60 services.

You can receive up to a maximum amount of Rs 10 lakhs on the Dalal Street Trading app.

Charges: The brokerage fee offered by the app is Rs 0.05 per stock and Rs 0 for intraday trading

FEATURES:

1. Traders Section: Traders section gives a brief description about different types of trades along with their respective tips and knowledge.
2. Frequency of Recommendations: Daily frequency of recommendation is 1, but depending upon the market it may go up to 2 or may be 3. It also educates the users about the risk level in each type of trade.
3.  Screener: With its screener option, it becomes easier for you to get all the stock details of a company.

PROS:

1. Reliable advises by experienced market experts, and stock brokers.
2. Application also provides you with buy and sell recommendations even in the case of intraday trading, which are backed up with the correct and real time market data.

CONS:

1. Notification glitches still prevail.

4. Money Pot

Money Pot is another virtual trading app that stands out from the crowd due to its amazing features and interactive interface.

This app adheres to 3 types of target groups. 1^st is for academic institutions in which it provides a scalable virtual trading platform for the college/university going students then 2nd for the corporate institutions which is actively used by corporates thereby assisting them in employee education and brand building process and 3rd for the investors as it aims to connect investors to this kind of social trading platforms.

Money Pot offers a maximum amount of Rs 20 lakh of virtual cash to its users.

Charges: Money Pot is free to download and use.

FEATURES:

1. Trade Summary: The trading screen will display all the executed and pending orders of the day and the pending ‘Good for the Week’ orders.
2. Portfolio: The Portfolio page provides a summary of your stock holdings for each game.
3. Cash Book: The Cash book provides a summary of cash balances available
4. Rank: The Ranking system provides a summary of the player’s performance in each game.

PROS:

1. User – friendly interface
2. Order execution time is comparatively less.

CONS:

1. The knowledge of stock market provided may lack at some points.

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Comparison between Virtual Trading Apps

All of the above-listed apps have their own exclusive and distinct features. Their way of functionality is very different from one another and each of them appeals to a different set of users as all have different kinds of interfaces and menu options.

After deep research, we have gathered few points on the basis of which they can be more easily explained, yet we would like to highlight the fact that we are not comparing them to one another.

We would also like to reinforce the fact that all the above-listed apps provide users with top-notch service and knowledge that is required in the field of the stock market.

Download and installation:

All of the above-listed apps i.e., Zerodha, Money Bhai, Dalal Street, and Money Pot can be downloaded and installed for free on your systems.

Brokerage fees and other charges:

The brokerage fee charged by Zerodha is Rs 0/- for Equity Delivery, Rs 20/- for Intraday trades, and Rs 0/- for direct Mutual Fund Investments. Money Bhai charges 0.50% for stocks, 0.10% for stocks-intraday, 0.50% for mutual funds, 0.50% for bonds and STT is charged at a government rate of 0.125% for equities. The brokerage fee offered by the Dalal Street Virtual Trading app is Rs 0.05 per stock and Rs 0 for intraday trading. The brokerage fee charged by Money Pot can be discussed with an online chat option available on the official website, indicating charges “maybe” negotiable (opinion: may or may not be true).

Maximum Virtual Cash:

Zerodha app allows you to draw maximum virtual cash of Rs 1 lakh. Money Bhai offers you a maximum amount of virtual cash of Rs 1 Cr. Dalal Street Virtual Trading app offers Rs 10 lakh of virtual cash and Money Pot offers Rs 20 lakh of virtual cash to its users.

We have also drawn the above explanation in the form of a tabular chart as shown below:

Comparison criteria	Zerodha Virtual Trading App	Money Bhai Virtual Trading App	Dalalstreet Virtual Trading App	Money Pot Virtual Trading App
Download and installation	Free	Free	Free	Free
Brokerage Charges	Rs 0/- for Equity Delivery, Rs 20/- for Intraday trades, and Rs 0/- for direct Mutual Fund Investments	charges 0.50% for stocks, 0.10% for stocks-intraday, 0.50% for mutual funds, 0.50% for bonds and STT is charged at a government rate of 0.125% for equities	is Rs 0.05 per stock and Rs 0 for intraday trading.	can be discussed with an online chat option available on the official website
Maximum Virtual cash offered	Rs 1 lakh	Rs 1 Cr	Rs 10 lakh	Rs 20 lakh
Mobile App	Available	Available	Not Available	Not Available

Conclusion

All the above-listed apps provide users with top-notch service and knowledge that is required in the field of the stock market. All of the above virtual trading apps have their own pros and cons, features, functionalities, and target audience, though, they have a common goal that is to keep users aware of the trading and prepare them for the real market.

Hence users have to be aware of their purpose and goal before choosing a suitable app. One more thing that needs to be kept in mind by the user is that before entering into the world of stock markets and trading one should be both financially prepared as well as mentally prepared in order to take the risk.

One should be aware of the current status and knowledge of the economy and market if he/she wants to yield a high number of profits.

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