This is our February 2019 update for our practice stock trading series where we are doing a stock simulation and documenting how we are doing.
We started with $25,000 in each virtual account and are tracking our progress using two different stock simulator apps: Virtual Stock Market Game App for the hand-picked stocks and Best Brokers Stock Market Game App for the mutual fund.
So far, each app has performed well in tracking progress. We wish the Virtual Stock Market Game app showed our portfolio upon startup each time instead of the largest “Gainers” in the overall market – but it’s only one tap on the screen (at the bottom) to get to our portfolio and see how each stock is doing. The Best Brokers Stock Market Game App is very simple … not much detail. We also didn’t realize we had purchased a fund from the London Stock Exchange, so it took a while to find a graph to show progress – but now that’s bookmarked and we will be able to show these graphs on a monthly basis, although different from the graphs for the individual stocks. And, as mentioned last month, this app only works in Euros (€).
Overall, we have had a good month of January with both portfolios. As of February 2nd, 2019, here are our portfolios:
The stock portfolio stands at $26,955.89, which is a 7.8% gain from our initial January 1st investment of $25,000. The individual stock performances are shown on the graphic from the app (which has an annoying graphic directly over the Tesla numbers – this link takes you to a screen where you can buy in-app purchases):
The mutual fund portfolio stands at €27,654.40, which is an 10.6% gain from our initial January 1st investment of €25,000. The graphic shows an 11% gain for the mutual fund, but we also have some cash in the portfolio which made up the difference between the mutual fund purchase and our starting €25,000 amount. The mutual fund app graphic is below:
Overall the Vanguard fund has performed better than the individual stock portfolio. We think the Tesla stock alone is the difference, but we shall see how that may change in the coming months. Apple started the month with a steep decline, from the $157 price we purchased the stock at all the way down to $142 … but over the rest of January the stock recovered and is now over $166.
We will continue our monthly updates to our practice stock trading portfolio and mutual fund comparison throughout the year, so be sure to check in with our stock simulation next month!
