Teaching economics with a stock market game
A stock market simulator turns textbook economics into something a class can watch happen. Journey Shares is free, needs only a browser and runs supply and demand, real CPI inflation, US-style taxes, bank capital rules and Black-Scholes option pricing live, so students can trade for a week and then discuss what the numbers did and why.
Before you start
Everything is play money, and a player needs only a username. Seasons run Monday to Monday, so a one-week unit lines up with the leaderboard. The listed "stocks" are real public figures, including politicians and commentators, so check that the game fits your school's policy before using it in class; the glossary and guides on this wiki stand on their own.
Lesson: supply and demand
Have half the class buy the same person and the other half watch the price. Every buy moves the bonding curve, so the class sees a demand shift as it happens. Then have the buyers sell and watch the price fall. Discuss why the last buyer paid more than the first (slippage) and what a deeper market would change.
Lesson: inflation and the time value of money
Ask one group to leave their cash idle for the week and another to invest it in an ETF. Uninvested cash loses value at the real CPI rate once a day. Compare the two groups' cash at the end and connect it to why people invest savings, and to the rule of 72.
Lesson: taxes
The game has a one-week tax year with short-term and long-term rates, a standard deduction and the wash sale rule. Have students sell a winner after a day and another after a week, then compare the tax on each and work out the effective rate. The wash sale rule makes a good puzzle: sell at a loss, buy back, and find where the loss went.
Lesson: banking
The bank lends on margin under Reg T, takes 150% collateral for short sales and must keep equity of at least 8% of its loans under the Basel rules. Its figures are on the Stats page. Have students find the capital ratio, predict what a wave of defaults would do to it, and discuss why real banks are regulated this way.
Lesson: risk and diversification
Compare a portfolio of one person with an ETF of a whole category over the week. Use the price charts to estimate volatility and discuss beta, unsystematic risk and why index funds exist.
Discussion questions
Who decides a price when no company is behind it? Why did the same news move two people's prices differently? What would happen to the bank if everyone withdrew savings at once? Is a game price a prediction, an opinion or a bet?
Common questions
Does it cost anything?
No. Journey Shares is free and uses play money with no cash value. There is nothing to buy.
What do students need?
A browser and a username. No real money, payment details or personal information beyond an optional email for password resets.
Which topics does it cover?
Supply and demand, price formation, slippage, inflation, compound interest, capital gains tax, the wash sale rule, margin, collateral, short selling, bank capital requirements, bank failure and bailouts, diversification, ETFs and options pricing.
Key terms
- Supply and demand
- : Supply and demand is the model that explains prices: when more people want something than is available, its price rises; when more is available than people want, its price falls.
- Bonding curve
- : A bonding curve is a formula that sets an asset's price from how many units are in circulation, so each purchase raises the price and each sale lowers it.
- Slippage
- : Slippage is the difference between the price you expected and the price you actually got on a trade.
- Inflation
- : Inflation is the rate at which prices across the economy rise over time, so each dollar buys less.
- Compound interest
- : Compound interest is interest earned on both your original money and the interest it has already earned, so savings grow faster over time.
- Capital gains tax
- : Capital gains tax is tax on the profit from selling an investment for more than you paid.
- Wash sale rule
- : The wash sale rule stops you from claiming a tax loss if you buy the same or a substantially identical investment within 30 days before or after selling it at a loss.
- Margin
- : Buying on margin means borrowing money from your broker to buy more stock than your cash alone allows, using your investments as collateral.
- Capital requirements
- : Capital requirements are rules that make banks fund part of their lending with their own money (equity) so they can absorb losses without failing.
- Diversification
- : Diversification is spreading money across many different investments so a loss on one has less effect on the whole portfolio.
- ETF (exchange-traded fund)
- : An ETF is a fund that holds a basket of investments, such as all the stocks in an index, and trades on an exchange like a single stock.
- Black-Scholes model
- : The Black-Scholes model is a formula for the fair price of a European option using five inputs: the stock price, strike, time to expiry, risk-free interest rate and volatility.
See also
- Glossary of every term above
- Game-wide stats and the bank's figures
- Create a free account
- How to learn to trade stocks without risking money
- Free stock market simulator: what to look for
- Real-time trading explained
- Paper trading vs real trading
- Streamer stocks: trading Destiny, Hasan Piker and other commentators
- Economics glossary for college students
- How stock prices are set
Practise with $10,000 in play money
Free. No real money involved.
For learning only. This isn't financial advice.