12 Best Virtual Trading Apps: Start Virtual Trading Without Real Money

12 Best Virtual Trading Apps: Start Virtual Trading Without Real Money-feature image
April 12, 2023 Reviewed By : Asheet Makhija .18 Min read

Summary: Master your investing skills on virtual trading apps without putting your real money at risk. Try and test different trading strategies on the real-time market data, and see how you perform on the app’s leaderboard. Make it more fun by competing with your friends and see who earns more profit.

Scared of investing in stocks?

A lot of us are, because we are not sure if our trading strategies, will yield profit or result in a major loss. But there is a way that can help you test and master your trading skills without actually spending real money.

Gamification in virtual trading apps allows users to test different trading strategies, by using virtual money. This eliminates the risk of losing real money, and users can freely experiment and learn by hit and trial in the real-world stock market scenarios.

Let’s understand how virtual trading apps work and which are the best available options in the market.

What Does Virtual Trading Mean?

Virtual trading, done using virtual trading apps enables users to do trading with virtual stocks and track the market too. Through virtual trading, the users increase their knowledge about finance and stock trading without risking any money.

Trading done through a virtual trading app makes use of a real-world trading platform that is used by stock market brokers. This provides users with a quick run to go through all available stock trading controls.

Undertaking paper trading is the right way to start with investing money in the market. More so because you are less likely to make mistakes given all the practice you get while doing virtual trading.

Virtual trading is therefore the practice of doing stock trading and analysis in a simulated environment. Here you don’t have to take the risk of losing money, rather you can learn some useful tricks of stock trading without making any real investments.

You get a certain amount of virtual money as well to start investing and learning new stock marketing strategies. The best virtual trading apps also offer interaction opportunities with other traders to help improve your market skills.

What is Virtual Trading App?

Virtual trading apps help beginners to easily practice stock trading. Some of the best virtual trading apps for Indian market also let you learn and understand the basic rules of stock exchange such as shares, commodities, fixed deposits, mutual funds, bonds, etc.

With the help of stock market simulators, you can learn how the Indian stock market works. As a beginner, you can invest in stocks without real money and track the real-time stock data.

Along with inbuilt discussion threads, the best stock simulators support portfolio management and historical stock data. Real-time stock market experience in virtual trading is possible with limit order, stop loss and market order. These features make virtual trading apps ideal to learn stock trading.

How Virtual Trading App Acts as Stock Market Simulators?

Stock investment and share trading with stock simulators is easy and so is practicing stock trading with fake money. Here is how virtual trading apps act as stock market simulators:

  • Instant notification on market events and volatility
  • You can buy fractional shares
  • No limit set on trading volume
  • Price targets & expert stock analysis
  • Security protocols for protecting funds
  • Option to choose any stock for trading
  • Detailed market analysis

The Working of a Virtual Trading App in India

Using a virtual trading platform now doesn’t need to be intimidating. We mention some easy steps on how to go about virtual trading apps.

  • For starters, download an app. Some apps provide an option between free and paid accounts. Choose an appropriate option and create your account.
  • Once your account is created, you will get some virtual money for initiating the buying/selling stocks.
  • You can deal with different stocks and apply numerous trading strategies, ultimately finding the one that works for you.
  • The best virtual trading apps provide you a portfolio where you can monitor your total profit or loss incurred.
  • Once you think you have gained enough knowledge and experience in the virtual market, you can use that knowledge in the real stock market and real trading.

List of 12 Best Virtual Trading Apps for Beginners and Professionals

If you are looking for top mock trading apps, then your hunt ends here. We present you with some of the most sought-after stock trainer apps, which are backed by finance and stock market experts.

  • Zerodha

virtual stock market app - Zerodha

Zerodha Varsity offers a library of stock market lessons that comes with illustrations and covers all the possible topics with in-depth information. Moreover, the lesson content is further broken into brief cards which makes content easy to learn.

Additionally, users can also take quizzes that come at the end of every main topic. In fact, to make learning more interesting, users can also challenge themselves by taking up a certification exam at the end.

Features of Zerodha Dummy Trading App

  • Access to level 3 data: Zerodha virtual trading app provides access to level-3 data, which is essential for better understanding of market liquidity.
  • Intuitive charts: Zerodha gives you a rundown of important information using its intuitive and customizable charts.
  • Set triggers: Set triggers to know when to enter or exit stock holdings.
  • Baskets: With Zerodha virtual trading app, you can create and maintain multi-stock baskets.
  • Accurate profit and loss statements: The app uses a large stream of historical data to calculate and analyze accurate profit/loss statements.

Zerodha Pros & Cons

  • Zerodha provides you APIs to build your own applications
  • The app is suitable for obtaining intraday strategies
  • Users complain that Zerodha does not provide buy/sell calls

Price: Users can download the virtual trading app for Android and iOS for free.


  • Moneybhai

mock trading app - moneybhai

Moneybhai is also referred to as moneycontrol virtual trading app. It offers an intraday trading limit of INR 1 crore, which can be invested across multiple assets such as mutual funds, stocks, fixed deposits and much more.

Features of Moneybhai Virtual Trading App

  • Enhanced experience: The app uses data from real stock market situations to enhance the virtual trading experience.
  • Investment section: Moneybhai allows you to easily view your transaction history, portfolio, profit and loss statements, and much more.
  • League formation: By forming leagues, investors can compete against one another. They can even invite their friends and family members.
  • Learning section: The app has a dedicated learning section to obtain appropriate investment strategies.

Moneybhai Pros & Cons

  • Moneybhai, moneycontrol virtual trading app, teaches you techniques which you can directly implement in the real stock market
  • The app has a leaderboard section which shows the standings of different investors
  • The simulated environment provided by the app may not cover all the variables present in trading in real life

Price: Moneybhai is a free to download app.


  • Sensibull

virtual stock trading app - sensibull

Sensibull offers a simple virtual trading application for beginners that comes with great trading strategies and low-risk options.

In fact, for experts, it also provides an Options Strategy Builder that helps them create and analyze Advanced Options Strategies. All levels of traders can learn and practice options trading without using real money.

Features of Sensibull Virtual Trading App India

  • Easy options: The software provides easy options for beginners to further minimize losses.
  • Options glance: This feature lets you see the price of all stock options in one go.
  • Better monitoring of foreign institutional investors: This app lets you trade the way FIIs are trading and maximizes your chances of returning a profit.
  • Tutorials: Sensibull offers a lot of tutorials to teach you the basics of trading and more.
  • Events calendar: All the important upcoming events are mentioned within your event calculator.

Sensibull Pros & Cons

  • The interface is also easy to use.
  • The software regularly organizes seminars on trading psychology.
  • Some investors may derive an unrealistic experience due to Sensibull’s simulated environment

Price: The price of Sensibull virtual option trading app starts from ₹5,555 per month.


  • Stock Market Challenge – Dalal Street Virtual Trading App

Dalal street virtual trading app is one of the most popular virtual trading platforms in India. This is because of its simple and easy to use interface.

Not only this, Dalal Street is one of the best virtual trading app India that helps you easily monitor the status of your favorite stocks over a course of time.

The Stock Market Challenge App provides an online trading game where users can build and manage their own portfolio and even compete with other traders in a secure environment. In the beginning, every challenger gets ₹10,00,000 virtual money to play and compete.

Moreover, Dalal Street virtual trading app is ideal for new and experienced traders to build skills, evaluate their trading strategies, and gain relevant investing experience.

Dalal Street Mock Trading App Features

  • Quick notifications: The app provides notifications quickly about buying or selling a specific stock.
  • DSIJ Mindshare: This feature lets you keep a tab on important events related to the financial world for a specific day.
  • Screener: With its screener feature, it is very easy to obtain all company details related to a stock.
  • Involvement of industry experts: Each recommendation of Dalal street virtual trading app is backed by deep analysis and expert opinion.

Dalal Street Pros & Cons

  • Dalal virtual stock trading app has been offering legitimate advice for over 30 years.
  • This stock trainer app provides buy/sell signals based on the latest market movements.
  • At times, the notifications may not produce a sound even if the sound bar is maximum.

Price: Dalal street dummy trading app can be downloaded free of cost from android or apple store. 


  • Moneypot

stock trainer app - moneypot

Monkeypot is an iOS stock virtual trading platform that allows users to enjoy trading in different stock markets without investing their real money. Traders can play stock market games in real-time and test different trading strategies, that too without the fear of losing their money.

The ranking system will give summary of each player’s performance in the game.

Features of Money Pot Virtual Option Trading App India

  • Internal training: You can use this app for training your financial or accounts team.
  • Interaction with other traders: This best app for virtual trading facilitates conversation between different investors.
  • Exciting rewards: You have the opportunity of earning rewards for each trade you make.
  • Ample trading scope: Each time you start a new trade, the app deposits INR 20,00,000 virtual money. You can use this to buy/sell your favorite stocks.
  • Expert opinion: You can obtain expert opinion regarding stock trading techniques.

Moneypot Pros & Cons

  • It has a simple and easy to use interface.
  • Each order is executed within 5 minutes.
  • Experienced traders might find the app lacking in information in some aspects.

Price: The pricing details of Money pot virtual trading platform can be obtained from the official site.

Suggested Read: Top 14 Nifty Buy Sell Signal Software for Indian Stock Market

  • Fidelity

Virtual trading app India

Fidelity is a virtual trading app for Android that allows users to learn and trade, anywhere, any time. Users get access to insights on domestic stocks, international markets, Openfolio performance, and more. Moreover, to enhance trading knowledge, you can also watch live streams of Bloomberg videos, podcasts, and webinars.

Features of Fidelity Stock Simulator

  • Asset screeners: Asset screeners help end-users narrow down investment choices.
  • Trade executions: Algorithms for price improvement and avoiding payment order flows.
  • Account tracking: You can use Fidelity virtual trading app for tracking preferred securities & account positions.
  • Chain enhancements: Option of chain enhancements along with multi-leg option trading for extended hours trades.

Fidelity Pros & Cons

  • Outstanding trade executions
  • Asset screeners for ETF research
  • Flexible news feeds
  • Option for futures and commodities missing

Pricing: Price details are available on this stock market simulator’s official website.


  • Investopedia Stock Simulator

Dummy stock trading

Momentum trading, P/E ratios or equity markets, all is easy with Investopedia Stock Simulator. The stock virtual trading software uses real data from the stock market that helps in margin trading and adjusting commission rates.

Investopedia Stock Market Simulator Features

  • Advanced trade types: The software offers detailed guides for advanced trade types, covering short positions & purchasing stocks. 
  • Portfolio analytics: The feature portfolio analytics helps users to choose and manage specific investment groups.
  • Potential picks: Investopedia allows you to easily practice stock trading by providing potential picks of the market.

Investopedia Pros & Cons

  • Simple and easy to use, imitating real market stock operations
  • Tracking trade results is super quick
  • Option for pursuing advanced trade stock types & purchasing stocks is an added advantage
  • Reduced risk of losing the actual capital
  • The user interface can be more user friendly

Pricing: Investopedia Stock Simulator is a free tool available for download on its official website. You can also check the upgraded plans on its website.


  • TrakInvest

Best paper trading app

With TrakInvest, users can buy and sell stocks using their virtual cash instead of using real money. You can trade across 10 global stock exchanges and even track other investors’ trading strategies to learn and improve your trading skills.

In fact, users can also earn by participating in competitive simulations and earn some sponsored prizes like vouchers and even internship opportunities.

TrakInvest Dummy Stock Trading App Features

  • Tracking stocks: Use this dummy stock trading software for tracking stocks as well as traders.
  • Copy Trade: Copy Trade feature helps users in tracking the investments of their peers.
  • Buy/sell stocks: Buy and sell stocks using built-in modules like short selling and portfolio overviews.
  • Portfolio snapshot: This feature provides details about orders that are processed, under process, and failed ones.
  • GOTC: Global Online Trading Certification for improving investment skills.

TrakInvest Pros & Cons

  • Option for creating private tournaments
  • Certification courses for improving stock trading skills
  • Good number of video guides and tutorials available
  • Need to have more stock options

Pricing: Basic plan starts from Rs 86 per month. Other advanced plans are:

  • Premium– ₹729
  • GOTC Certification– ₹10,946

  • Chart Mantra

Practice stock trading with fake money

Chart Mantra allows users to play and learn at the same time. You can invite your friends to play along and see who is performing the best on the leaderboard. In addition to this, players can track their individual performance in terms of game rank, net worth, returns, overall gain, etc.

Features of Chart Manta Practice Stock Trading App

  • Technical indicator: Technical indicators for gaining market insight available with this best paper trading app.
  • Infographs: Inbuilt infographs for performing the technical analysis of stocks.
  • Loading new stocks: Loading new stocks with the stock simulator is as easy as managing previous stocks.
  • Virtual cash: Here you can practice stock trading with fake money of up to ₹1 lakh for playing stock games.

Chart Mantra Pros & Cons

  • Virtual money for instantly performing instant stock trading.
  • Risk free source of learning stock trading for free
  • The virtual trading experience might seem unrealistic at times.

Pricing: Price details of Chart Mantra dummy stock trading software is available on its official website.


  • ICICI Direct

ICICI Direct’s virtual trading platform offers an opportunity for traders to sharpen their trading skills. You can practice in a live stock market, but without using your real money. Further, you can replicate your trading strategies in the real stock market, if they seem to be working in the virtual simulated environment.

ICICI Direct Features

  • Virtual Money: Users get up to ₹15 Lakhs of virtual money that they can use to play stock games, instead of putting their real money at risk.
  • Real Data: Despite being a virtual trading platform, users get real data from the stock market that is based on the quotes of NSE or BSE.
  • Simple Log In: To get started, users can simply register using their basic credentials and start playing. In the beginning, you will get a limit of ₹15 Lakhs virtual money.
  • Virtual Stocks Segment: The cash market segment is currently enabled on the ICICI Direct virtual trading platform. These include cash buy & sell, margin buy & sell, margin trades, and more.

ICICI Direct Pros & Cons

  • Free account opening with absolutely no hidden charges
  • The app works great even in slow internet connections
  • Allows traders to deal in multiple commodities including mutual funds, postal saving schemes, and more
  • Access to free tips related to stocks and technical analysis
  • Trading and call charges are high
  • Higher brokerage charges when users trade in penny stocks

Pricing: Price on Request


  • NSE Virtual Trading App 2.0

NSE Virtual Trading software allows users to trade in the real stock market, without putting their real money at stake. Despite being a virtual simulator, the app provides you with the exact experience of trading in a real market.

You can access charts and technical indicators to build your own strategy. In fact, you can also trade in futures, options, and stock derivatives along with stocks.

NSE Virtual Trading 2.0 Features

  • Real Market Data: The app provides real stock market data so that virtual traders can see the result of their trading strategies in the real-life market scenarios.
  • No Limit of Investments: In virtual trading, there is no limit for investments, which means there is no limit for you to trade and test.
  • Trading Reports: Users can also generate virtual trading reports that help you understand daily gains and losses.
  • Notifications: Get instant updates regarding sudden upward or downward movements in the stock market through notifications.

NSE Virtual Trading 2.0 Pros & Cons

  • Comes with a cloud backup option
  • Enhanced stock search functionality
  • Suitable virtual trading app for beginners
  • Lags witnessed when there is price movement
  • Users receive frequent forced updates

Pricing: You can download the NSE Virtual Trading app for free from Google Play Store.


  • TradingView

TradingView allows users to deal in different markets, currencies, futures, crypto, and bonds along with the stock market. It also offers 10+ different types of sophisticated charts that help traders depict market dynamics in a better way. In addition to this, users can also create their custom watchlist and get real-time updates on financial commodities.

TradingView Features

  • Drawing Tools: With drawing tools like trends & lines, geometric forms, annotation patterns, and more, users can easily understand the technical elements of stock trading.
  • Screeners: Access forex screener, heat map of the stock market & crypto market, cryptocurrency screener, and more along with the stock screener.
  • Trading Indicators: TradingView offers a large collection of pre-built indicators which are regularly updated with the new ones.
  • Virtual Money: After signing up, every user gets a default amount of $100,000 that can be used to buy and sell stocks.

TradingView Pros & Cons

  • Access to history patterns that makes strategizing easy
  • Easy-to-use charting options available with smooth zoom-in and out functionality
  • Users can access an extensive library of community-built and other popular stock indicators
  • Limited broker support available

Pricing: Price on Request


Conclusion

Virtual trading apps are great options where you can learn and even experiment by implementing new trading strategies. These apps allow you to improve your trading skills without putting your money at risk. You can play using virtual cash and eliminate the risk of any real losses.

So, when you see your performance improving on trading games, you can switch to the real stock market and start trading real money and get better returns on your investments.

Success in virtual trading depends upon analysis of your profit and loss statements. For best analysis solution, you can also check Best Technical Analysis Software for Stock Trading in India.

FAQs on Best Virtual Trading App in India

  1. Which platform is best for virtual trading?

    TradingView, Moneypot, Chart Mantra, and TrakInvest are some of the popular platforms that are best for virtual trading. These platforms help traders improve their trading skills without investing real money.

  2. Is virtual trading app safe?

    Yes, a virtual trading app is completely safe. These apps come with high-end encryptions that keep all the user data safe.

  3. Which is the best virtual trading app in India?

    Zerodha Varsity, ICICI Direct, and NSE Virtual Trading are some of the best virtual trading apps in India.

  4. Where can I do virtual trading?

    You do virtual trading on platforms like Chart Mantra, Fidelity, Stock Market Challenge by Dalal Street Investment Journal, and more.

  5. Which are the best virtual stock trading apps?

    Some of the best virtual stock trading apps are Moneypot, Sensibull, and Zerodha Varsity. On these apps, users can trade using virtual money without risking their hard-earned money.

Written by Mayank Dixit

Mayank Dixit is a talented content writer with an enriching educational background with Bachelor's degree in Engineering and a Master's degree in Mass Communication. With this combination of technical and creative skills, Mayank is well-equipped to produce engaging content that is informative too. He is passionate about business... Read more

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