The Full Playbook
How a fantasy stock league works
PlayFSL is fantasy sports played with the stock market. Instead of drafting quarterbacks, you draft real companies — then prove you read the market better than your friends. Free to play, no real money: no bets, no buy-ins, no payouts.
How It Works
Four steps. One season.
One champion.
Create or Join
Start a private league or jump into a public one.
Draft Your Team
Snake-draft 7 stocks from 100 real ones.
Set Your Lineup
Start your best 5 each week. Bench 2.
Score & Win
Rank your starters — #1 counts 5×. Top total after 4 or 8 weeks wins.
The draft: build a team of 7 stocks
Every league starts with a snake draft, just like fantasy football. Managers take turns picking from a curated pool of about 100 of the largest U.S. companies — names you already know, like Apple, Amazon, and Nvidia. Once a stock is taken, it's off the board for your league, so draft position and strategy matter. When the draft ends, every team holds 7 stocks.
Public leagues draft Sundays at 3 PM ET and always run 4 weeks; private leagues take 2 to 8 players, run 4 or 8 weeks, and start whenever your group is ready. New to stocks? An AI coach can suggest your next pick on draft day.
Weekly lineups: start 5, rank them by conviction
Each week you start 5 of your 7 stocks, bench the other 2, and rank your starters by conviction: your #1 pick counts 5×, your #2 counts 4×, down to 1× for your #5. The same five stocks in a different order is a different score.
Lineups lock every Sunday at 11 PM ET, and you can re-rank every week — last week's hero can ride the 5× slot again or drop to the bench. Skip a week and your last lineup simply carries over.
Scoring: Conviction Points
How your five starters move during the market week — each counted at its weight — becomes that week's Conviction Points (CP). CP is a points unit rather than a percentage: a week where all five starters rise 1% is worth about +3 CP. Scores come from live market data, so the scoreboard moves while the market does.
Every week adds to your Overall CP, the running total for the season — and the highest Overall CP when the season ends takes the title.
Choose your arena
Public Leagues
- Jump in now — no invite needed
- Drafts every Sunday, 3 PM ET
- 4-week sprint seasons
Private Leagues
- One league link to share with your crew
- You set the rules as commissioner
- Group chat, DMs, and trash talk built in
Questions? Answered.
Is it really free?
Yes — completely. No purchase, no subscription, no credit card. All it takes is an email to create your account.
Wait — is this gambling?
No. There are no bets, no buy-ins, and no payouts. You draft real stocks and compete on performance, but you never spend or win a single cent. It is all for bragging rights.
Do I need to know anything about stocks?
Not at all. You draft companies you already know — Apple, Amazon, Nvidia — and an AI coach can suggest your picks on draft day.
How do I actually win?
You rank your 5 starters: #1 counts 5×, down to 1× for #5. How they move that week, at those weights, is your score in Conviction Points (CP) — all five up 1% is about +3 CP. Weeks add up; the highest total when the season ends wins.
When can I play?
Anytime. Start a private league with friends whenever you like, or join a public one (they draft Sundays at 3 PM ET). Seasons run 4 or 8 weeks, and each week’s lineup locks Sunday at 11 PM ET.
Which stocks can I draft?
From a curated pool of about 100 of the largest U.S. companies, with live market data powered by Finnhub.
Is there an app?
PlayFSL installs straight from your browser — Add to Home Screen on your phone and it runs as an app, with push notifications for drafts, matchups, and league news. Nothing to download from an app store.
Ready to draft?
Grab a team, rank your five, and find out who actually has the best instincts in your group.
No credit card needed