Free · No signup · Real 1996–2002 prices
Dot-Com Bubble simulator
Market Rewind · Historical simulation
December 1996. You have $10,000 in pretend money.
It starts split 60% in the S&P 500, 30% in the tech-heavy Nasdaq and 10% in cash. At 11 moments, choose whether to leave the mix alone, put more into the tech-heavy Nasdaq, spread it out or raise cash. Future prices stay hidden while you play.
How the Dot-Com Bubble simulation works
You start in December 1996 with $10,000 in pretend money, split 60% in the S&P 500, 30% in the tech-heavy Nasdaq and 10% in cash. The replay stops at 11 moments, each with the news people had that day. At each one you choose one of four moves: put more into the tech-heavy Nasdaq, leave the mix alone, spread it out or raise cash. Future prices stay hidden until you continue, so you decide with what was known at the time.
How the Dot-Com Bubble replay calculates results
A change you make trades at that day's closing level. Between decisions nothing is rebalanced, so the share of your money in stocks moves with prices. Cash earns no interest, and fees, spreads, slippage and taxes are ignored. These are simplifications: on a fast-moving day a real order could not count on the closing price. The score at the end describes the choices you made in this simulation, not your investing ability, and it does not reward the highest balance.
Where the Dot-Com Bubble prices come from
S&P 500 index closing prices (price only, dividends not included), from Yahoo Finance, each checked against StatMuse. Technology: the Nasdaq Composite index close, from Yahoo Finance, each checked against the St. Louis Fed (FRED).
Read the history behind the replay
For what happened, what caused it and how the recovery is measured, read Dot-com bubble burst: how long recovery took. Related terms: diversification, bubble, index fund, risk tolerance.
Dot-Com Bubble in brief
On December 5, 1996, Fed chair Alan Greenspan asked whether "irrational exuberance" had pushed prices too high. The Nasdaq Composite, heavy in technology companies, then rose almost fourfold to a record 5,048.62 on March 10, 2000, and fell 78% by October 9, 2002. The S&P 500 fell 49% from its own March 2000 record. Read the full story
Dot-Com Bubble simulator: questions
Is the dot-com bubble simulator free?
Yes. It is free, needs no account, and uses pretend money. Nothing you do in it touches a real account.
Does the simulator use real dot-com era market data?
Yes. Every price is a real closing level of the S&P 500 and of the Nasdaq Composite, from December 1996 to December 2002, taken from Yahoo Finance and checked against StatMuse and the St. Louis Fed. Your money is split between the whole market, technology and cash, and the mix drifts as prices move.
How long does a run take?
About six minutes for all 11 moments. You can also skip to the end at any point and see how leaving your mix alone would have turned out.
Does the simulator show when to buy or sell?
No. It is a historical replay for education. It shows how one stretch of history played out for the choices you made, and it cannot give a rule for when to buy or sell. Past performance does not indicate future results.
How long did it take to recover from the dot-com bubble?
By price alone, the S&P 500 first closed above its March 2000 record on May 30, 2007, and the Nasdaq Composite on April 23, 2015, 15 years after its own record. With dividends reinvested, measured with SPY, a fund that tracks the S&P 500, it got back on October 26, 2006. The replay counts prices only and ends in December 2002.
Educational simulation only. Historical data is shown for teaching purposes; past performance does not indicate future results. Simulated outcomes are hypothetical and ignore fees, spread, slippage and taxes. Real investing involves costs and emotions a simulation cannot reproduce. StockCram is not a broker-dealer, investment adviser, or financial institution.