How Rival works

A fair game. A clear rulebook.

Rival is an investing tournament game for entertainment and education. All balances are virtual. No money is deposited, withdrawn, borrowed or held. No real trades are executed. This is not personalized financial advice.

Tournaments

In every tournament, each player starts with the same $100,000 in virtual money, and players are ranked by the return of their tournament portfolio. Friends tournaments are created by players and joined with an invite link. In You vs Rival AI, you play one-on-one against Rival AI. Official tournaments are run by Rival; some have their own Official Rules, which can include a prize. You need a verified email address to play.

How market closes work

Invest in supported US-listed stocks, ETFs and ten approved crypto assets in USD. In a tournament that executes at current prices, a confirmed change trades immediately at a current market price obtained at that moment, while the U.S. regular session is open on a Rival trading day, up to 10 buys and sells per account per day. If no current price is available, nothing is traded. Requests at or after the authoritative market close in America/New_York, including early-close days, are refused. Starting portfolios, and tournaments created before current-price execution was introduced, execute at that eligible session’s confirmed official closing price. Your screen shows dates in your local time.

Since November 4, 2026, running tournaments can be changed on any day the US stock market is open (Monday to Friday, except market holidays), from market open through that day’s actual close, and the change executes immediately at the current price (before that date, the trading days were Mondays and Fridays). In older tournaments, starting portfolios lock at the starting cutoff and execute at the tournament’s first close, whatever weekday that is. In tournaments that open at current prices (such as Rival Friends), players build their starting portfolio at the current market price from the market open on the start day until its close; a player who has not built one yet may build it at the current price on any later US market day of the tournament.

Older tournaments keep the trading rule shown on their page.

One daily crypto snapshot

Bitcoin, Ethereum, Solana, XRP, Dogecoin, Cardano, Avalanche, Chainlink, Litecoin and Uniswap follow the same current quotes as stocks and ETFs while the US market is open, and can be traded at the same times. Outside those hours their value comes from one snapshot at 21:00 UTC each day. Rival uses market data from a third-party provider. The daily snapshot waits at least fifteen minutes. Missing data keeps your last confirmed value and retries the same dated snapshot; Rival never trades or values anything at a guessed price.

Portfolio changes, including crypto, keep the eligible US market-day windows above. Crypto values update on weekends too; stocks and ETFs retain their last official close. Weekend updates do not create extra trading opportunities. Existing stocks-and-ETFs tournaments keep their original asset rules.

Rival AI

Rival AI competes in Friends tournaments whose creator chooses to add it, and in Official tournaments where Rival includes it. It gets the same $100,000, available investments, deadlines, prices and ranking rules. In Friends tournaments, members can see its executed holdings like any other player’s. In You vs Rival AI, you choose when you start: see its executed portfolio during play, or only when the tournament ends (the default). Its pending changes are never shown. Its choices go through the same checks as yours. A failed AI decision leaves its existing investments or cash unchanged. In Official tournaments, its holdings stay hidden until the tournament ends. It is a competitor, never your investment adviser. Rival AI can appear in the rankings, but it is never eligible for a prize.

Tournament fairness

Each tournament has its own $100,000 portfolio. Everyone starts using one shared price snapshot. Registration and allocations close at the starting cutoff, unless a tournament’s Official Rules set an earlier registration deadline or a later time when portfolios open. Rules are fixed when a tournament is created. Final standings freeze at the last eligible market close on or before the end date. Equal values share a rank.

Prices and performance

During the U.S. session, values and standings use current prices, refreshed about every five minutes; they are current, not final. The official closing value recorded after every close is the record and decides the final results. Missing prices pause execution; the last confirmed value stays visible. Performance starts from $100,000, including cash. The S&P 500 comparison uses SPY price return over the same valuation dates and excludes cash dividends; portfolio returns include credited dividends.

Stock splits adjust virtual quantities. Supported dividends are credited on pay date to eligible holders before ex-date trading. Unsupported corporate actions and delistings pause affected market updates until authoritative data is available. Nothing is valued using a guessed price.

Your information

In Friends tournaments, members can see executed holdings and trades. In Official tournaments, holdings stay hidden until the tournament ends, then become visible to other participants in that tournament. Pending allocations are always private. Read the full Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.