How markets work

Each of these explains one mechanic the simulation actually implements, in the same terms the game uses — and says where the model stops.

GuideWhat is a stock market simulator?A simulator generates its own market. That is the whole difference, and it decides what the thing can and cannot teach you.GuideWhat actually moves a stock price?A price move is never one thing. Separating the six is most of what reading a market means.GuideHow to read an option chainA chain looks like a wall of numbers. It is four ideas repeated across a grid.GuideHow short selling worksSelling something you do not own is a loan, and every strange thing about shorting follows from that.GuideHow interest rates affect stocksA rate decision is not news about the economy. It is a change to the price of every future dollar.GuidePaper trading vs simulationBoth use fake money. Only one lets you replay a crisis before lunch.ReferenceTrading terms glossaryEvery term the game uses, defined in one or two sentences, with what it is actually for.

A caveat

These explain how markets and this simulation work. None of it is financial advice, none of it is a recommendation, and Margin Call is not connected to any real market — the companies are fictional and the money is imaginary. That is what makes it a reasonable place to be wrong.