I have played around in the stock market for about 19 years. In some cases, I did quite well. In others, not so much. Regardless, I was always trying to gather as much information from a diverse pool of resources before making any type of investment.

MyWallSt.net is a new resource for those interested in playing the stock market trading game. It is a niche social network site targeted towards those who want to communicate with others about financial investments.

Having a group of peers sharing their information with each other greatly increases the pool of information that you can use when making your buy/sell decisions. Newspapers and trade magazines are great, but because the stock market changes so rapidly, information printed in yesterday’s paper may be completely different (think about what happens when a CEO comes out with a major announcement).

Like other social network sites, users can create a profile. They can then participate in the “Rookie Challenge”. This game allows players to trade real stocks with virtual money. Those that are new to trading stocks can play around to see how they do before making real financial investments. Players start with $100,000 to invest and can have up to 20 active holdings (remember, it is just a simulation). Buy and Sell are the only transactions allowed. Players are then ranked. At the end of each week, the player who had the highest percent gain in portfolio equity that week receives a prize.

I got involved with the stock market playing a similar simulation game. If you are thinking about investing, this is one avenue that you may want to give a try. Losing $100,000 in virtual money doesn’t sting as much, but I bet you will end up doing better than you think.