As ardent, young investors ourselves, we had used a number of services that provided a stock simulation feature. We realized that all of these websites were cumbersome to use, especially for kids and people who have not had experience in the stock market. This inspired us to build our own stock simulation website that would make stock trading easy and fun to use for all traders. We also wanted to integrate a leaderboard so that our stock trading more engaging and accessible for all people.
MyFirstStock lets people practice investing by using fake currency to buy and sell stocks. This means no heavy entry fees to learn about the investment process. The gamification aspect of the site means more people will learn about financial security through competing with their friends and family.
We built the front-end of the website with React.js and serviced the backend using Node.js and Firebase. We utilized Google's Cloud Firestore for the database of all users. Additionally, we leveraged Firebase Auth for user sign-in and email verification. In order to obtain requested stock data, be fetched data from the AlphaVantage API.
We initially had too many ideas, many of which were unrealistic to develop in the given timeline. It was difficult making sacrifices for the sake of finishing on time. In terms of technical challenges, during testing, we called the Firebase Auth API too many times and were blocked for about 30 minutes, which made it really difficult to continue adding features.
We are proud that we were able to create a working product at the end of the day that accomplishes making stock trading more available for all. We are also proud that we were able to collaborate to incorporate new technologies that would not have tried in an independent setting.
We learned that it is difficult to put all of our ideas and passion into one website in less than 2 days. We realized that we need to limit the scope of our projects to integrations that are the most impactful that our website provides for young investors all around the world. We also learned that it is hard to manage and distribute work for programming our website; however, each one of us was able to take our part and successfully complete an influential website that would hopefully bring more investors together to make a brighter future for all people.
Our next step is to get users to try out our site. We are really proud of what we made, but we want to hear real user feedback on what features to add and what elements need improvement. We also would like to add some simple guides about the basics of investing. For example, a thread about when to buy and sell stocks and overall movements of the market. Additionally, a member forum where people can talk about their investments and help others get started and succeed.