As the title suggests, I have made some paper investments on investopedia simulator a couple months back and haven't seen any progress. Though the value fluctuates up and down, over the long run it has stayed around the same amount. I wanted to know what I was doing wrong, what i was doing right and what must I do to improve.
I'm not committed to looking at charts everyday, though I try to keep myself updated with industry trends and how the market is generally looking like.
I am attaching a table with a summary of my portfolio below – I would really appreciate some constructed criticism.
| Symbol | Company | Current Price | Today’s Change | Purchase Price | QTY | Total Value | Total Gain/Loss |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AAPL | Apple Inc | $262.55 | -$68.46 (-0.62%) | $239.92 | 42 | $11,027.10 | $950.30 (9.43%) |
| ACLS | Axcelis Technologies Inc | $84.57 | $166.60 (2.37%) | $81.05 | 85 | $7,188.45 | $298.93 (4.34%) |
| BLK | BlackRock Inc. | $1,064.01 | -$2.28 (-0.05%) | $1,130.00 | 4 | $4,250.64 | -$269.36 (-5.96%) |
| CAT | Caterpillar Inc. | $744.40 | $12.56 (0.21%) | $514.22 | 8 | $5,955.20 | $1,841.44 (44.76%) |
| DHR | Danaher Corp. | $206.55 | -$28.63 (-1.94%) | $218.23 | 7 | $1,445.85 | -$81.76 (-5.35%) |
| FSLR | First Solar Inc | $195.10 | -$21.92 (-1.39%) | $228.29 | 8 | $1,555.68 | -$270.64 (-14.82%) |
| GDX | VanEck Gold Miners ETF | $114.21 | -$22.82 (-1.41%) | $73.80 | 14 | $1,598.94 | $565.74 (54.76%) |
| GLD | SPDR Gold Shares | $487.97 | $21.10 (0.87%) | $377.31 | 5 | $2,439.85 | $553.30 (29.33%) |
| GM | General Motors | $76.49 | -$51.06 (-2.82%) | $67.18 | 23 | $1,759.27 | $214.25 (13.87%) |
| HD | Home Depot | $372.01 | -$40.48 (-2.66%) | $388.55 | 4 | $1,482.40 | -$71.80 (-4.62%) |
| HDB | HDFC Bank ADR | $31.06 | -$67.68 (-2.26%) | $37.22 | 94 | $2,926.22 | -$577.19 (-16.35%) |
| HON | Honeywell | $245.44 | $1.61 (0.76%) | $206.54 | 9 | $2,208.92 | $350.10 (18.83%) |
| IAU | iShares Gold Trust | $100.29 | $2.50 (0.91%) | $77.28 | 25 | $2,499.25 | $567.25 (29.36%) |
| JNJ | Johnson & Johnson | $248.57 | $4.18 (0.05%) | $192.79 | 31 | $7,705.52 | $1,729.18 (28.93%) |
| JPM | JPMorgan Chase | $297.19 | -$43.51 (-1.04%) | $293.33 | 14 | $4,160.63 | $54.01 (1.32%) |
| KO | Coca-Cola | $80.61 | -$14.33 (-1.17%) | $70.02 | 15 | $1,209.08 | $158.78 (15.12%) |
| LEN | Lennar Corp | $110.48 | -$197.10 (-3.83%) | $127.55 | 45 | $4,949.10 | -$790.65 (-13.77%) |
| MS | Morgan Stanley | $167.79 | $11.52 (0.77%) | $159.43 | 9 | $1,510.11 | $75.24 (5.24%) |
| NEE | NextEra Energy | $91.84 | -$115.80 (-2.06%) | $83.43 | 60 | $5,510.40 | $504.60 (10.08%) |
| NFTY | India Nifty 50 ETF | $56.20 | -$202.00 (-1.77%) | $57.27 | 200 | $11,240.00 | -$214.00 (-1.87%) |
| NVDA | NVIDIA | $180.66 | $18.85 (2.13%) | $155.55 | 5 | $904.80 | $127.04 (16.33%) |
| SCHW | Charles Schwab | $95.38 | $3.60 (0.19%) | $94.33 | 20 | $1,907.60 | $21.10 (1.12%) |
| SLV | iShares Silver Trust | $81.04 | -$98.75 (-4.65%) | $44.08 | 25 | $2,026.00 | $924.00 (83.85%) |
| SNPE | Xtrackers S&P 500 ETF | $62.85 | -$5.07 (-0.21%) | $58.69 | 39 | $2,451.15 | $162.10 (7.08%) |
| STLA | Stellantis N.V | $7.57 | -$48.36 (-6.43%) | $10.80 | 93 | $704.01 | -$299.93 (-29.87%) |
| TLT | iShares 20+ Yr Treasury ETF | $89.66 | -$18.29 (-1.01%) | $91.40 | 20 | $1,792.10 | -$35.80 (-1.96%) |
| TMO | Thermo Fisher Scientific | $506.88 | -$142.30 (-2.73%) | $563.71 | 10 | $5,068.80 | -$568.30 (-10.08%) |
| TSLA | Tesla | $401.50 | -$14.14 (-0.25%) | $437.31 | 14 | $5,621.00 | -$501.34 (-8.19%) |
| UNH | UnitedHealth | $292.64 | -$3.15 (-0.21%) | $360.08 | 5 | $1,463.20 | -$337.18 (-18.73%) |
| WM | Waste Management | $241.78 | $4.70 (0.39%) | $216.93 | 5 | $1,208.90 | $124.25 (11.46%) |
Just getting into investments – Started with Paper trading/Paper investing
byu/Ok_Tear5594 ininvesting
Posted by Ok_Tear5594
2 Comments
What’s the case for this over just buying broad index funds?
Stocks are volatile. Better to find EFTs. VTI for core position and shine international, like AVDV and FLKR.
In 2025, the Franklin FTSE South Korea ETF (NYSEARCA:FLKR) delivered a robust performance with an annual return of approximately 75.00%.
As of March 2, 2026, the fund’s year-to-date (YTD) performance remains strong, gaining 47.02% since the start of the year.
Wish I’d found this sooner.