An investing competition turns the Investing Simulator into a class event: everyone starts with the same money, trades over the same window, and the standings go up on the board. Done well, it's less about crowning a winner and more about getting students to argue over risk, research and patience. This guide shows how to set one up fairly, run it day to day, and close it with a debrief that sticks.
Available on: Intertwined Plus and Pro, or during an Intertwined Solo trial of the Investing Simulator. For the settings themselves, see Investing Simulator: teacher guide.
Decide the shape of the contest
A few decisions up front make the rest easy:
Solo or teams. Teams share one portfolio, so students have to agree before they trade, which produces great conversations. A team gets the same starting balance as a single student, not one per member.
How long. One to four weeks gives prices time to move without losing momentum.
What wins. Return or portfolio value. With the same starting balance and no deposits, the two give the same order. Return is easier to compare with the market.
When it ends. Pick an exact moment to read the final standings, such as after the market closes on your last day. Portfolios keep being valued at current prices after trading stops, so "the end" needs a time, not just a date.
Set up the simulator
Go to Classrooms > your class > Simulators, choose Investing Simulator in the simulator picker, and open Setup.
Under Starting Student Balance, confirm the amount (the recommendation is $100,000). Everyone in the class gets the same starting balance automatically.
If you're running teams, create them under Investment Groups and put every student in one now, before anyone trades.
Under Trading Schedule, turn on Limit to specific dates and set your start and end dates. Trading closes at the end of the last day. Optionally, turn on Limit daily trading hours, then click Save Schedule.
Under Trading Rules, decide on day trading. Leaving Allow day trading off stops students from buying and selling the same stock on the same day, which cuts down on frantic churning.
Under Weekly Deposits & Interest, either leave both fields blank or give everyone the same amounts. Deposits and interest count toward each portfolio's gain, so a group with its own deposit amount would have an edge.
If students practiced before the contest, click Reset Simulation so everyone starts even. It deletes all holdings and trades and puts everyone back at the starting balance, and it can't be undone.
Click Activate Simulation if it isn't active already.
Timing matters more than you'd think
Your trading schedule is separate from the stock market's own hours. A market order placed at night or on a weekend still fills right away, at the latest price the simulator has. That's fine for most contests, but if you want every trade made on prices that are actually moving, set daily trading hours that match the market's: 9:30 AM to 4:00 PM Eastern, entered in your local time.
A few other things worth telling students before day one:
Use Market orders. Limit and stop orders wait under Waiting to fill and may never fill, which can leave a student sitting in cash without realizing it.
Portfolio values refresh about every 15 minutes, so the standings aren't a live ticker.
Every trade needs a written reason. Tell students you'll read them.
Announce the rules
Students take a contest more seriously when the rules are written down. A simple rule sheet might include:
The start and end dates, and the exact moment you'll read the final standings
What wins: highest total return
A diversification rule, such as no more than 30% of the portfolio in one stock, or at least five different companies by the end of week one
A minimum number of trades, so nobody wins by buying one stock on day one and logging off
Every trade needs a real reason, not "I felt like it"
You'll be able to check the diversification rule from the Class view's One stock, or mostly cash tile and each student's holdings in the Students view.
Run it day to day
Rankings tab. Go to Classrooms > your class > Rankings and choose Investing. Use RANK BY to switch between Return and Portfolio value, and switch between Students and Teams if you're running groups. A team's shared portfolio counts once.
Present mode. Click Present to put the board on the projector. It shows first names and last initials, the top ten by default, and has Hide figures (so the class sees the order but not the numbers), Show everyone and Full screen. Press Esc to close it.
Class view. In Simulators > Class, the tiles show who hasn't started, who's losing money, the average return and who's concentrated in one stock or sitting in cash. The charts show which stocks drove the class's results.
Students can see the class standings, with names, on their own Rankings page in the simulator. That's worth knowing before the contest starts. When you project the board, Hide figures lets the class see the order without the numbers.
For more on the Rankings tab, see Rankings and leaderboards.
Close it out
When your end date passes, trading stops on its own. If you'd rather stop it at a specific moment, click Deactivate in Setup.
At the time you announced, open the Rankings tab and record the standings (a screenshot works well), since values keep moving with the market afterward.
Present the final board, then move on to the debrief.
If you want grades, create a Simulator assignment for the Investing simulator with a due date at the end of the contest. At the due date, each student's suggested score is saved using the last market close before it, so it doesn't drift afterward. The suggestion rewards trading, spreading money across stocks, and a return compared with the S&P 500, with a floor so nobody is failed by a falling market. See Simulator scores in the Gradebook.
Debrief questions
Did the winner beat the S&P 500 over the same time? Each student's Returns page shows how they compare. What would a simple index fund have earned?
How much of the top result came from one stock? Would you call it skill or luck, and how could you tell?
Look at your trade reasons. Which ones still make sense? Which ones were reactions to a headline or a price jump?
What was your biggest gain on paper that you never banked? What happened to it?
Did the teams that diversified do better or worse than the ones that went all in? Over a longer time, which would you bet on?
If the contest ran for ten more years, what would you do differently on day one?
Tips
Celebrate more than the top return: best diversified portfolio, most thoughtful trade reasons, best recovery from a loss.
Hold a practice day before the contest, then reset. Students make their first-trade mistakes when it doesn't count.
Keep the contest window inside a few weeks. Short contests reward luck, and that's a lesson worth naming in the debrief.
Pair the contest with a written reflection. Students can pull their reasons from their own Orders page.
Common questions
A student joined my class halfway through. Can they compete?
They start with the full starting balance whenever they join, but with less time to trade. Ranking by return keeps it fair on money, though not on time. You might give late joiners their own recognition instead.
Can I reset just one student?
No. Reset Simulation resets the whole class. Reset before the contest starts, not during it.
Do teams get more money?
No. A team shares one portfolio with one starting balance and one weekly deposit.
Why did the standings change after trading closed?
Holdings are always valued at current market prices. Trading stops at your end date, but prices keep moving, which is why you announce an exact time to read the final standings.