The stock market is one of the easiest and most efficient ways to make money in Grand Theft Auto 5 and GTA Online. Though it’s simple enough when players get the hang of it, learning the ins and outs of Grand Theft Auto's stock market system, particularly how to observe trends, can be tricky at first.
Luckily, GTA Online’s stock market parallels the real-world stock market. They both have the same point: to buy stocks at a low price and then sell them for a higher value in order to turn a profit. However, this requires having a knowledge of when the right time to let go of or invest in a particular stock is.
There are several factors that contribute to the value of stocks in Grand Theft Auto Online's multiplayer, including in-game purchases, other players, and even the single-player Grand Theft Auto 5 story campaign itself. Over time, these actions produce discernible patterns that allow GTA Online players to figure out how to manipulate and make the best of the stock market, and in doing so, those players are able to walk away with literal millions.
How GTA Online's Stock Market Value Fluctuates
The value of stocks in Grand Theft Auto 5's story mode are dependent on several factors. For one, some are impacted by how far along players are in the single-player campaign. Franklin’s Assassination Missions in Grand Theft Auto 5 have a direct influence on the stock market — when he assassinates a target, it will impact the value of their owned company stock. Players have to complete the first Assassination Mission (and should invest heavily in Betta Pharmaceuticals before doing so) to progress the story, but they should wait to complete the rest until they finish the single-player story campaign, at least until they have banked a large amount of cash. That way, players can afford to invest even more before Franklin's missions and will end up making a bigger profit in the end.
In GTA Online, however, players can reportedly earn money through the stock trade by observing trends. IGN notes that when purchasing a stock, players can view graphs that allow them to identify clear patterns in the stock’s value. If players can easily distinguish a pattern, they should buy this sort of stock when it’s at a low point. Then, sell it when it’s nearing a predictable high point. Similarly, players can also observe in-game purchases and how other players are playing the online mode, as BAWSAQ stocks are directly influenced by the GTA Online community.
Stocks in GTA: Online are unpredictable, and so not only should players not invest all of their money into a single stock, but they should sell the stock once they reach a satisfactory return on investment. So, don’t be greedy. IGN estimates that a satisfactory return on Liberty City National stocks is about 10%, but for BAWSAQ stocks, players can expect anywhere between 25-40%. The stock market in GTA Online, just like in real life, may be intimidating, but once players understand the patterns and grasp its workings, learning how to benefit from it should be a breeze. [Update 8/11/2020: This information is based off IGN's GTA 5 & GTA Online Stock Market guide, which was last updated in 2016, but a number of players have since reported on social media sites like Reddit that GTA Online's BAWSAQ stock market has been taken down completely. The conclusion most players have come to is that Rockstar does not want the community to be able to influence player income to such an extreme extent, especially when they make so much money off the sale of things like Shark Cards.]