Hedge Fund CEO Support

Need help? Most questions are answered below. If you can't find what you need, email us at support@twisteddatastudios.com and we'll get back to you.

Last updated: 05/20/2026

Contents

1. What Hedge Fund CEO does
2. Starting out — your first $100,000
3. Permissions & ads
4. Trading mechanics — long, short, options, dividends
5. Leaderboard & Sign in with Apple
6. Achievements & streaks
7. Where your data lives
8. Troubleshooting
9. Trading disclaimer
10. Contact

What Hedge Fund CEO does

Hedge Fund CEO is a stock-trading simulator for iPhone and iPad. You start with a virtual $100,000 and trade real US-listed stocks, ETFs, and options at real, delayed market quotes. Your portfolio value, day P&L, win rate, and total return are tracked over time, and you can climb a global leaderboard against every other player.

It is a game. No real money is ever at risk, won, or lost. Quotes are delayed by roughly 15 minutes. Nothing in the App is investment advice. See the trading disclaimer.

Starting out — your first $100,000

The first time you launch, you'll see the Home tab with a starting cash balance of $100,000.00, a "Simulated trading — not real money" banner pinned at the top, and an empty positions list.

The six tabs along the bottom are:

• Home — Portfolio value, day P&L, top positions, news preview, your portfolio chart over time.
• Market — Live screener. Type a ticker, see the chart, fundamentals, and an order entry sheet.
• Portfolio — Positions, allocation donut, dividend ledger, full trade history, win-rate stats.
• News — Curated US-market headlines with an in-app reader view.
• Ranks — Global leaderboard, ranked by total portfolio value, with your row pinned.
• Stats — Performance over time, sharpe-ish ratio, best and worst trades.

To place your first trade: tap Market → type a ticker (e.g., AAPL) → tap Trade → enter a quantity → tap Buy. The position appears on the Portfolio tab immediately.

Permissions & ads

Hedge Fund CEO asks for exactly one permission, and it's optional:

The App does not request: Location, Apple Health, Notifications, Contacts, Photos, Microphone, Camera, or Calendar.

Why ads at all?

Hedge Fund CEO is free. Mobile ads are how we cover the cost of building and running it. There are two placements:

• Rewarded — strictly opt-in. Watching one unlocks an "Analyst Insights" analytics card for the rest of the day. It never adds cash, alters positions, or changes your leaderboard rank.
• Interstitial — may appear when you return to the App, hard-capped to at most one every few minutes, and never on the very first launch of a session.

You can change your tracking choice any time in iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → Hedge Fund CEO, or via the in-app Settings → Personalized Ads toggle.

Trading mechanics

Long positions

Tap Buy on any ticker. The trade fills at the current delayed quote. Your cash decreases by shares × price, your position appears on the Portfolio tab, and day P&L starts ticking. To exit, tap the position and choose Sell.

Short positions

Tap Short on any optionable ticker. The trade opens a short position equal to the borrowed shares; your cash increases by the sale proceeds, but you owe the broker the shares back. Day P&L on a short is positive when the stock falls and negative when it rises. To exit, tap the position and choose Cover.

Options

On a ticker's detail screen, tap Options to load the full chain. Pick an expiry from the tabs at the top, then a strike. The contract sheet shows live bid/ask, implied volatility, delta, gamma, theta, and vega. Buy a single contract for premium × 100 × number of contracts. The contract appears on the Portfolio tab as an option position; tap it to see unrealized P&L update in real time.

Selling-to-close, exercising at expiry, and tracking In-The-Money / Out-of-The-Money status are all handled automatically.

Dividends

If you hold a dividend-paying stock through its ex-dividend date close, the dividend hits your cash balance on the pay date. The payment appears in your trade history with a dividend tag, and short positions are debited the dividend amount (just like the real market).

Quote refresh and market hours

Quotes refresh roughly every 15 seconds while the App is open. Outside of US regular market hours (9:30 AM – 4:00 PM Eastern), the price you see is the last available close, and day P&L shows the close-vs-prior-close move. Pre-market and after-hours sessions display labeled separately.

Leaderboard & Sign in with Apple

Every player on Earth is ranked on a single global leaderboard by total portfolio value. The top 100 are shown on the Ranks tab; your own row is always pinned at the bottom, even if you're rank #5,134.

You do not need an account. On first launch the App generates an anonymous user ID and writes only your portfolio value to the leaderboard. You appear as "Anonymous" alongside other anonymous players.

Sign in with Apple (optional)

If you'd like a display name on the leaderboard, tap the person icon in the top-right of Home → Sign in with Apple. You can pick any display name you want; Apple's standard "Hide My Email" option is available. Your portfolio is not affected by signing in — the App simply links your existing anonymous ID to your Apple identity, so it survives reinstalls.

To sign out: Settings → Sign out. Your leaderboard entry reverts to "Anonymous"; your local portfolio is untouched.

Display names are validated against a basic profanity list. Inappropriate names are silently stripped.

Achievements & streaks

Hedge Fund CEO ships with 22 achievements in five categories:

• Milestones — first trade, 10 trades, 50, 100, first short, first option.
• Skill — best single-trade return, win-rate thresholds.
• Wealth — portfolio above $500k, $1M, $5M.
• Diversification — 5 positions, 10 positions, multi-sector spread.
• Risk — first short closed at a profit, naked option held to expiry.

Each is bronze, silver, or gold. When you cross a threshold, an unlock toast slides in from the top of the screen; you can review your collection on the Stats tab.

Daily streak

Open the App on any US market day and your streak ticks up by one. Miss a day and your streak pauses — it does not reset to zero. We're not trying to ruin your weekend. The current streak is shown on Home and counts toward several wealth-tier achievements.

Where your data lives

• Your portfolio, positions, trade history, achievements, and streak are stored on your device.
• If you sign in with Apple, a copy of your leaderboard row (anonymous UID, portfolio value, return %, optional display name) is stored on Google Cloud Firestore so it survives reinstalls.
• Quotes, options chains, dividends, and news are cached in the App's sandbox; they refresh whenever you open a screen.
• No analytics SDKs. No crash reporters that ship data off-device. The only third-party SDK that touches the network on your behalf is Google Mobile Ads, and only when you've passed the ATT prompt.

Full details: see our Privacy Policy.

Troubleshooting

My quotes look stale or wrong

• Quotes are delayed by roughly 15 minutes — by design and by Yahoo Finance's free tier.
• Pull-to-refresh on Home or Portfolio to force a fresh fetch.
• Outside US regular market hours, quotes show the last close. Pre-market and after-hours are labeled.

The leaderboard shows me as "Anonymous"

• You haven't signed in with Apple yet, or you signed out. Tap the person icon on Home → Sign in with Apple, then pick a display name.
• It can take a few seconds for the leaderboard to refresh after a name change.

The App is showing $0 or won't load

• Force-quit and relaunch (swipe up from the bottom of the screen, then swipe Hedge Fund CEO away).
• Check your internet connection — the leaderboard, quotes, and news need network access.
• If you tapped the App Tracking prompt at an unlucky moment, the dashboard may briefly read $0 — pull to refresh.

I want to reset my portfolio

• Open Settings (gear icon, top-right of Home) → Reset Portfolio. Confirm. This restores you to $100,000 cash with no positions. Achievements you've already unlocked are preserved.
• Deleting the App removes all local data and unlinks the local Firebase UID. If you've signed in with Apple, your leaderboard row remains until you ask us to delete it (see the Privacy Policy).

How do I opt out of personalized ads?

• iOS Settings → Privacy & Security → Tracking → Hedge Fund CEO → turn off.
• Or in-app: Settings → Personalized Ads → toggle off. You'll still see ads — they just won't be personalized.

The interstitial ad won't dismiss

• Tap the small X in the corner of the ad. It usually appears after a couple of seconds.
• If the ad freezes, double-tap the side button to reach the App Switcher, swipe Hedge Fund CEO away, and relaunch.

How do I check the App version?

• Open Hedge Fund CEO → tap the gear icon top-right of Home → scroll to About. Version, build, and your anonymous Firebase UID appear there.

Trading disclaimer

Hedge Fund CEO is a simulated trading game. All quotes are delayed and provided for entertainment and educational purposes only. Nothing in the App is investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation to enter into any financial transaction. Achievements and leaderboard positions have no real-world value. We never accept, hold, or transfer real money — and we never will.

Past performance — virtual or otherwise — is not indicative of future results. Always consult a qualified financial professional before making real investment decisions.

Contact

Twisted Data Studios

Email: support@twisteddatastudios.com

When emailing, please include:

• Your iOS version (Settings → General → About → iOS Version),
• Your iPhone or iPad model,
• The Hedge Fund CEO version and build (Settings → About in the App),
• Your anonymous Firebase UID (Settings → About) if your question involves the leaderboard,
• A short description of what happened and what you expected.

We do our best to respond within a few business days.