How The Stock Market Game Works
Are you new to The Stock Market Game (SMG)?
The Stock Market Game is a great way for students to learn about investing in a very practical manner. It is an online simulation of the global capital markets that engages students grades 4-12 in the world of economics, investing and personal finance. SMG has prepared 16 million students for financially independent futures.
Teachers register online and the students will also manage their portfolios online. Once you have registered, you will have access to the Teacher Support Center. This serves not only as a resource for running SMG, but there are also numerous lesson plans, quizzes and other materials that you can use in your classroom to really leverage the value of your students' SMG experience.
Key Takeaways
There are a number of different videos and documents that are listed below to give you more information, but a few key points are:
- At the time of registration, you may request as many teams (also called portfolios) as you like, but each team should not contain more than 5 students. Many teachers divide their classes into 3 students per team, but you can divide your class into team sizes of anything between 1 and 5 students each.
- We offer multiple game sessions, 3 of which are competitive, with the others being labeled as enrichment sessions. All sessions function essentially the same, with the key difference being that no prizes are awarded for the enrichment sessions. However, some teachers prefer the starting and ending dates for those sessions, and so enjoy the flexibility that they offer.
- Teams are given a hypothetical portfolio of $100,000 that they invest throughout the trading session. They will be competing with other student teams, based on their region and grade level grouping (elementary (4-5), middle (6-8), or high school (9-12)).
- All sessions use the highest portfolio value as the basis on which winners are selected.
- The state is divided into 3 competition regions: West, Central and East. In the spring, there will be awards banquets where the top 3 teams of each of the various competitive sessions, regions, and grade groups will be presented with prizes.
- The registration fee is $20 for each team for the fall, spring and enrichment sessions. The fee for the year-long session is $30. Teacher prep sessions are free and give you an opportunity to try out SMG before you sign up for your classes. In addition, each teacher that signs up student teams can create his or her own portfolio to interact with the class. This team will not be billed or eligible for prizes. All invoices will be emailed a couple of weeks into the start of the session.
Ready to try it out?
Dates for the 2024-2025 Stock Market Game Sessions
Competitive Sessions
Year-Long Competitive: 9/16/24 to 4/11/25
Fall Competitive: 9/30/24 to 12/6/24
Spring Competitive: 2/3/25 to 4/11/25
Enrichment Sessions
Fall Enrichment: 10/14/24 to 2/14/25
Winter Enrichment: 1/6/25 to 3/14/25
Spring Enrichment #1: 2/18/25 to 5/9/25
Spring Enrichment #2: 3/10/25 to 6/13/25
Teacher Prep Sessions available throughout the year.
* Enrichment sessions are made available in case the competitive sessions do not fit your class schedule. The platform and materials are identical, with the only difference being that no prizes will be awarded for enrichment sessions.
A special thank you to SIFMA Foundation & SIFMA Member Firms for providing The Stock Market Game.
