Fin24.com launches virtual trading dashboard

14 Dec 2011

South Africans, apprehensive about investing in the stock market have been given an early Christmas present by premier online financial website, Fin24.com. The introduction of a virtual trading dashboard aims at breaking down the reservations preventing many South Africans from investing in the stock market.

The Fin24 Dashboard provides seasoned investors and newbies alike with access to a virtual investment world where they can safely practice investing in the stock market.

"Historically, investing in South Africa's top companies through the stock market has been the preserve of the wealthy, but now, thanks to technology, the stock market is more accessible and investment information is only a click away," says Fin24's chief information officer, Riaan van Niekerk. "Ordinary South African's should be participating in the country's economy and growing their savings by investing in listed South African companies."

Users can register for free on Fin24.com and create multiple virtual portfolios to buy and sell shares based on 15-minute delayed data. Unlike the real-world, there are no trading limitations, so budding investors can virtually buy and sell as many shares as they wish to, and try out any number of combinations to see where they get the best growth. In addition users can create a watch list of shares that they want to keep an eye on, follow other users, and complete a profiler to determine what their investment style is.

Practice before taking first step

"We are very excited about the launch of this new product and hope it will be a game changer for ordinary South Africans to overcome their fears of investing in the stock market. This is a product that is easy and fun to use for ordinary South Africans who are eager to invest, but need to practice and gain confidence before taking their first real investment steps," says Fin24 Dashboard product manager, Henem van Staden.

Fin24 has teamed up with, Validea South Africa, the investment research house, to present users with the investment styles of well-known international investment gurus. Premium users gain additional views of shares on the JSE that gurus such as Warren Buffet and Benjamin Graham would most likely have in their portfolios.

An important social element has been added to the product, allowing users to gauge their investment skills against the almost 2 000 portfolios on the rapidly growing Fin24 Leaderboard. In addition, users can share comments on stocks they buy or sell within Dashboard, Twitter and Facebook.