Once you've set your class's Initial Trading Balance and (optionally) Trading Dates, students are ready to invest. The Stock Market Simulator lets students place real brokerage-style orders against live market data — so the mechanics they learn here mirror a real trading account. This article explains the order types students can use and how to read an order's status.
The Four Order Types
When a student opens a stock and clicks Buy or Sell, they choose how the trade should execute:
Market — Buys or sells immediately at the best available current price. This is the simplest order and the one most students start with.
Limit — Executes only when the stock reaches a price the student sets (or better). For example, "buy only if the price drops to $150." Great for teaching patience and price targets.
Stop — Also called a stop-loss. Triggers a market order once the price crosses the student's stop price, commonly used to cap losses on a position.
Stop Limit — Combines the two: once the stop price is hit, a limit order is placed rather than a market order, giving students control over the execution price.
What Happens When Markets Are Closed
Students can submit orders any time of day, even overnight or on weekends. If the market is closed (or your class is outside its Trading Window), the order simply waits in an Active state and is triggered when the market next opens and the order's conditions are met. Prices come from live data via TradingView and Alpha Vantage and may be delayed up to 15 minutes.
Reading Order Statuses
Every order a student places shows one of five statuses:
Active — Submitted and waiting for its conditions to be met (for example, a limit price to be reached, or the market to open).
Filled — Accepted and executed successfully. The shares and cash have moved in the student's portfolio.
Cancelled — The student cancelled the order before it executed.
Expired — The order's conditions were never met within its valid window, so it lapsed.
Rejected — The system could not accept the order — most often because of insufficient buying power or trading being closed for the class.
Teaching Tip
Have students start with Market orders to get comfortable, then introduce Limit and Stop orders once they understand price movement. Placing a Stop order alongside every buy is a great, concrete way to teach risk management.
Related articles:
Stock Market Simulator 101
How do students start trading?
Running a Stock Market Investment Competition