TradeHQ — Free Paper Trading Simulator

What TradeHQ actually is

TradeHQ is a free paper-trading simulator for people learning how markets work. Every account starts with $100,000 in virtual cash. Nothing on the site touches real money: there is no brokerage account, no deposit, no withdrawal and no order ever reaches an exchange. Supported holdings use periodically refreshed provider quotes. Unsupported assets can use fixed simulator prices, and charts may show synthetic practice candles. Price and chart labels explain their source and freshness.

The point of a simulator is to let you make the expensive mistakes for free. Most beginners lose money not because they picked the wrong stock but because they sized positions badly, moved a stop, doubled down after a loss, or traded an instrument they did not understand. All of those habits are visible in a practice account, and all of them are cheaper to unlearn there.

What you can do here

• Paper trade 170 instruments across stocks, crypto, ETFs, forex and commodities using market orders.
• Track a full practice portfolio — open positions, realised and unrealised P&L, maximum drawdown, open-position P&L dispersion and allocation snapshots.
• Work through four structured courses (options, futures, macro reading and trading psychology) with quizzes and completion badges.
• Read a 49-term trading glossary written in plain language, each entry with a detailed explanation and a worked example.
• Follow step-by-step guides for individual assets, side-by-side asset comparisons, and named strategy walkthroughs.
• Keep a trading journal, build daily streaks with the daily challenge, and run a 30-day practice duel against a friend.

Who it is for, and who it is not for

TradeHQ is built for beginners and self-directed learners who want a place to rehearse market mechanics and a repeatable process without using real money. It can also be useful in classroom or independent-study settings.

It is not for you if you want signals, copy-trading, portfolio management, or someone to tell you what to buy. We do not publish price targets, we do not run a Discord with calls, and we do not accept payment for coverage of any asset. If you are looking for a recommendation, this is the wrong site.

How to start in five minutes

• Open the markets page and pick one instrument you already recognise.
• Read its guide page so you know what actually moves it before you trade it.
• Choose a deliberately small practice position first, then compare how different simulated position sizes affect drawdown and volatility.
• Write down, before you enter, where you would exit if you are wrong.
• Come back the next day, review the trade in the journal, and repeat.

Why practice first, honestly

The argument for a simulator is not that practice guarantees profit — it does not. It is that the cost of learning market mechanics is unavoidable, and you get to choose whether you pay it in money or in time. A beginner can practice buying and selling holdings with virtual capital, then review those decisions without risking savings. TradeHQ currently supports market orders only; it does not simulate resting limit orders or short positions.

There is a real limitation to be honest about: a simulator removes the emotional weight of losing your own money, and that weight changes behaviour. Treat practice as the place to build a repeatable process — sizing, exits, journaling, review — and expect the emotional part to still be new when real money is involved.

Common questions

• Is TradeHQ free? Yes, entirely. There is no paid tier, no trial and no card required.
• Do I need an account? No. Practice trading, courses and the glossary work without signing up. An optional account supports profiles and community features. Account cash, positions and server-recorded trades restore across devices when available; earlier guest trade history, journals and course progress remain on the original browser.
• Is the money real? No. Every balance, order and result is simulated, and the platform holds no funds.
• Are the prices real? Supported assets use periodically refreshed provider observations. Unsupported assets can use fixed simulator prices; charts may be synthetic. Check each source and timestamp rather than assuming a continuous exchange feed.
• Does TradeHQ give advice? No. There are no signals, price targets or recommendations anywhere on the site.
• Where is my data? Guest practice records stay in your browser. Signed-in cash, positions and server-recorded trades are stored in Supabase and restored when the service is available. Earlier guest trade history, journal entries, course progress and streaks remain browser-held; a synced badge count does not restore the course record.