Fake web trading ¶
Posted on Wed Feb 8, 2017
In the last couple of years I have been playing on and off with the demo of the trading platform Plus500. The demo version let’s you start with 20000 virtual EUR and let’s you virtually buy and sell stuff. I have managed to gain some fake money! It is unbelievable that people can make money like this. Right now I am a bit exposed with energy companies and I am loosing, but there is still hope…
About Plus500 (and the many similar platforms) there are things to say:
- If you play with real money: it is really easy to loose it.
- The platform is built upon a big conflict of interests: the same people manage the platform and fill the role of market maker. This means there are operations you request to the platform that make the market maker loose money directly; will the platform always allow you to do it? They promise a “best execution”, which means almost nothing. There is no way for a user to verify what happens.
- It is very easy to give them money. It seems it is not so easy to get back your money.
- If I remember correctly: Plus500 is based in Israel, but the legal site is in the United Kingdom. If you feel the need to sue them: it is a costly problem.
- I would not be surprised if “winning” on the demo platform is easier than “winning” when playing with real money.
Overall, playing the demo of these platforms is an interesting experience: it makes you understand better all the news you hear on television. It is also useful to understand what’s the job of people managing investment funds you give your money to.
In fact, I would like to introduce to this game some youngsters in my family, as part of “understanding how the world works”. It is hard to convince them, so far I have failed. It is dangerous to expose a teenager to such stuff, but knowing is better.
Happy (fake) trading!