Trade Bots: A Technical Analysis Simulation
Trade Bots is an educational simulation game featuring technical analysis and algorithmic trading. Buy and sell an unknown stock using its real, historic data – beginning from a random time in the past, trading the asset using only technical analysis concepts gained along the way. Learn fundamentals of how to trade based solely on patterns and technical indicators, gradually unlocking upgrades which expedite and automate your trading. Borrowing from the mechanics of some “idle” and “roguelike” games, progress is made by banking funds for future runs after you are margin called, and upgrades can enhance the speed of simulation, increase margin equity, unlock advanced indicators, and per its name, engage automation techniques.
In gamifying a process known as “backtesting” in economics, Trade Bots players test their own trading strategies against 5,000+ real, historic stock/ETF/crypto data dating back to as early as the 1950s to present day. Over the course of the campaign, design intricate trading bots using a custom-built visual node editor. The engine is highly flexible and accommodates practically any trading strategy imaginable while requiring no programming background. Advanced unlocks allow for playing with cryptocurrencies, Exchange Traded Funds, and the ability to share your bots with other players.
Features Include:
- Support for 20+ Technical Indicators]
- 100+ Unlockable Upgrades
- Stock, Crypto & ETF Modes
- Ability to Import & Export Bots
Trade Bots is developed by Cinq-Mars Media, the non-profit known for the hit The Devil’s Calculator, included in PAX’s 10 Best Indie Games of 2019.
Game Discussion
Steam User 9
In short, its a good place to start learning, but you gotta deal with a lot of bugginess.
Let me first say, this is a solid intro to stock trading. For the beginning stock trader, the ability to paper trade really helps (especially for a reasonable price on steam). The ability to control how fast the stock moves (days per second) means I can speed up and slow down time to see if my trade works out.
The game progression, while some have complained about, I think is a benefit. You start off with (basically) no indicators, just the candlesticks and volume. You can purchase indicators as you make money, then earn that money back from watching a in-game youtube video and answering a quick quiz. This forces you to return to basics and not get caught up in all the fancy indicators you could use.
Another huge benefit I love is not being able to see the name of the stock, industry or other indicators. That way it doesn't bias my judgement (ohh 2008 is coming up) etc.
The downside is the game is buggy af and some QoL stuff is lacking. A sample of the bugs I ran into today: Inputing a stop-loss on a stock, the price input is weird and will often not capture the price you entered (13.65 somehow becomes 103.65). MACD isn't lined up with the chart. 200 day MA will appear when the game is paused, but disappear when you play. I purchased the Fibonacci tool only to not be able to find it anywhere. You cannot directly input the moving averages you want to appear (e.g. typing 20/50/100/200), you have to drag a slider where you want (and sometimes you just need to settle for 99 instead of 100 days).
In short, if you're looking to a solid introduction to stock trading, and are willing to put up with some weird bugginess, pick it up.
Steam User 8
While fundamental analysis will always beat technical analysis, this is a decent sim for paper trading.
Steam User 1
In general very informative simulation tool. I have played for 10 hrs and didn't unlock much yet. I find it helpful in building up basics of trading and hopefully I can start building bots soon.
With that said, there are minor bugs here and there, hope they can get fixed soon,
Steam User 1
Very good for learning the basics of indicators and even dives into some of the less-known indicators and their functions. Good for practicing.
Steam User 5
I love this game. As someone who has 10+ years trading FX/Futures/Options I always keep my discretionary technical skills sharp. This helps a lot.
Steam User 3
makes me want to do cocaine! very exciting! but just after writing this I got a stock that had 30 years worth of data that made the display lag, there should definitely be a limit on the time span...
Steam User 2
the only think i do not like , the game doesn't save your progress