You can still join. You will simply have less time to trade than the people already in.
Four steps, then trade.
1Download Stock Picks on the App Store or Google Play and create an account. Trading in the app during the contest window is your entry — there is nothing else to sign up for.
2Every entrant begins at $10,000 when trading opens, so an account opened months ago has no head start.
3Stocks and options, live market prices. You need filled trades on at least 5 separate days to qualify — about one every other session.
4At the close on the final day every open position is valued at its closing price. Cash plus positions is your score, and the highest one takes the prize.
Dates, in writing.
- Registration opensOpen now
- Trading startsTuesday, September 15, 2026 at 9:30 AM ET
- Trading endsMonday, September 28, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET
- Results posted byTuesday, September 29, 2026
Pick a fight with someone.
The contest runs for 10 sessions. A duel runs for fifteen minutes — same market, same clock, same starting balance, and at the bell one of you is right. Send somebody your code and settle it before the contest even closes.
Enter the $500 challenge
Free to enter. $10,000 in practice cash, live market prices, 10 trading days, and one winner takes the prize.
iPhone and Android · no card required · nothing to buy
Official rules.
1Entry
Free. No purchase or payment of any kind. Download Stock Picks on the App Store or Google Play and create an account. Trading in the app during the contest window is your entry — there is nothing else to sign up for and nothing to buy. You can join at any point; you will simply have less time to trade.
2Eligibility
18 or older, legal US resident. One account and one entry per person. Employees of Realtime Software Inc. and their immediate families are excluded. Void where prohibited.
3Starting line
Every entrant begins at $10,000. Accounts created before the contest are reset to $10,000 on entry, so everyone competes from the same number.
Requests for additional practice funds are suspended for entrants for the duration. Any account that receives a top-up is disqualified.
4How the winner is decided
The winner is the entrant with the highest total portfolio value at Monday, September 28, 2026 at 4:00 PM ET. Total portfolio value is available cash plus the market value of every open position, valued at that day's closing price. Because everyone starts at $10,000, the highest value is the best performance.
5Minimum activity
Filled trades on at least 5 separate trading days within the window. Fewer than that and the entry does not qualify — the prize is for trading through the contest, not for one bet that happened to land.
6Ties
Broken by the earlier of the two entry times.
7Disqualification
Multiple or shared accounts, automated trading, resetting an account mid-contest, exploiting a bug or a pricing error, or receiving additional practice funds. Determination by Realtime Software Inc. is final.
8Prize
$500 USD. One winner takes the full prize. Awarded after the result is verified, with arrangements confirmed directly with the winner. No substitutions and no alternative prize. Any tax owed on a prize is the winner's own responsibility.
9Results
The leaderboard is visible in the app throughout, so the standing is never a secret. Final standings are published on this page by Tuesday, September 29, 2026.
10Fair notice
Stock Picks is an educational app. Trades are simulated against live market prices — no securities are bought or sold, and no real money is at risk inside the app. Results here, simulated or otherwise, predict nothing about real markets.
11No affiliation
This promotion is in no way sponsored, endorsed or administered by, or associated with, Apple Inc. or Google LLC.
Somebody is going to win $500.
It costs nothing to be one of the people it could be. 10 sessions, $10,000 each, live prices.