The GTA V stock market can be a lucrative way to grow your in-game cash reserves, but it takes some know-how to maximize your profits. In this guide, we'll share practical tips and strategies for investing in stocks on the LCN and BAWSAQ exchanges.
Whether you're a beginner investor or looking to optimize your portfolio after completing the game's main missions, these methods will help you navigate GTA 5's stock market and make smart trades. We'll cover:
- Lester's Assassination Missions and how to time your investments around them
- Story affected stocks
- High Frequency Trading on the LCN exchange
- Exploiting the insurance stock market after rampages
- Finding the most volatile LCN stock for consistent gains
- Understanding company rivalries to predict stock movements
- Listening to the radio for insider stock tips
- Manipulating stock prices through targeted destruction
- Optimizing trading by advancing time efficiently
Lester Assassination Missions
The "Lester Assassination Missions" method of investing in GTA 5's stock market is probably the most fool-proof method to make money in in the game, and lots of it too.
We have a page dedicated to Lester's Assassination Missions here.
Basically, it boils down buying and sell specific stocks before and after you complete the assassination missions for Lester (which are a big part of the single player story line).
Story Affected Stocks
LifeInvader and Richards Majestic
You should not invest in LifeInvader or Richards Majestic. LifeInvader will decrease in value after Friend Request, and Richards Majestic decreases at a later point in the game. The key issue with these two is that they never regain their original values.
Vangelico
Vangelico will decrease in value after The Jewel Store Job and increase after Minor Turbulence, for about a 40% return if you buy at its low and sell at its high.
FlyUS
FlyUS will decrease in value by about 50% after Legal Trouble and increase to its original value after Meltdown, for a 100% return if you buy at its low and sell at its high.
Cluckin' Bell
Cluckin' Bell will decrease in value after Paleto Score and Gruppe Sachs will decrease in value after The Big Score (subtle version). These two, along with Augury Insurance and Merryweather (which do not decrease in value during the game), will increase for high returns based on your ending decision.
Cluckin' Bell will increase to its original value if you go with The Third Way (Deathwish) ending choice, for about a 65% return if you buy at its low and sell at its high. Gruppe Sachs will also increase to its original value, for about a 30% — 35% return if you buy at its low and sell at its high. Augury Insurance will double in value, for a 100% return.
However, if you pick The Third Way, Merryweather will decrease in value by over 50% and never return to its original value. To make money by investing in Merryweather, you should choose The Time's Come. It will increase in value for about a 250% return.
High Frequency Stock Trading
This only works for LCN stocks and do make it worthwhile you need A LOT of money. For this reason it is good to do after you've finished all of Lester's assassination missions, for example. You should also know that the prices of the LCN stocks will refresh every 45 seconds while you're doing this.
- Look for the stock that has the lowest price (meaning you can buy more of it).
- Buy it (the maximum amount) and then immediately save your game. Don't muck around when doing this (you will have 45 seconds or less).
- Once saved then check the stock by pretending to purchase more. Provided you stay on the "purchase more stock page" the price will constantly refresh for you.
- If the stock price goes up, then save your game and repeat the steps above. If the stock price goes down then reload your initial save game and try again.
This can be a little annoying (having to wait through a lot of saving screens) but it can also be worthwhile provided you are investing a lot of money to begin with. The incremental changes won't be massive (maybe a few cents per price change) but they add up if you have loads of money riding on it...
Insurance Company Stock Tip
Head out on a mission of destruction and then immediately put some money into AugeryInsurance stock (AUG). When you destroyed lots of cars by damaging them, it should have caused the stock price to go down. Then after a while (and given you've stopped destroying things) the stock should shoot right back up.
LCN Stock Trading
When you're playing GTA V there will always be one particular stock on the LCN market that fluctuates within a set range (well pretty much a set range).
If you can find that stock and know it's range, then it's just a matter of continuously trading it to make money! When it goes down into the bottom of the trading range, buy it. Then when it goes up to the top, sell it!
Note that the stock in question for your game will not be one affected by the Assassination Missions (ie Debonaire Cigarettes, Redwood or GoldCoast).
Best Stocks to Buy & Sell
This table is useful because what is good for one company (i.e. its stock price will increase) will often be bad for its competitor (its stock price will decrease). So, if certain events happen in the game that might be good or bad for specific companies, you have a better idea of what stocks you should buy.
List of Stock Tickers for all BAWSAQ Stocks
- Alpha Mail
- Ammu-Nation (AMU)
- Bank of Liberty
- Badger Wireless (BADR)
- Bean Machine (BEAN)
- Biglogs (BIGL)
- Binco (BNCO)
- Bleeter (BLE)
- Burger Shot (BSHT)
- Candy Box (CABOX)
- Canyon Entertainment (CANE)
- Cluckin' Bell (CUBEL)
- CNT (CNTU)
- eCola (ECLA)
- Eris (ERIS)
- Eugenics Incorporated (UGEN)
- Eyefind.info (EYEF)
- Fleeca (FLEE)
- Fruit Computers (FRUC)
- Genic (GNIC)
- Globe Oil (GLBOIL)
- Gruppe Sechs
- Heat
- Liberty Tree (LIBT)
- Limit
- Logger Beer (LOGR)
- Liberty Sports Network (LSNW)
- MeTV (METV)
- Nx-Jn (NXJN)
- Pißwasser
- RON Oil (RONO)
- Shark Credit Card (SHRK)
- Schmidt & Priss
- Sprunk (SPUK)
- Tinkle Telecom (TIKL)
- Weazel Networks (WZNT)
- Whiz Wireless (WHIZ)
- WIWANG (WIW)
- Xero (XGAS)
