Overview
Insider Trading is a stock-themed roguelike deckbuilder built around one central fantasy: you’re not predicting the market—you’re creating it. Each run puts you in control of a trader with a distinct playstyle and a deck of market-moving cards. You’ll pump prices, trigger crashes, exploit swings, and chase a weekly profit target while the game dares you to get greedier than you can safely handle.
Despite the theme, this is explicitly not a trading simulator. Think of it more like a precision strategy game dressed in finance: manage tempo, shape probabilities, and build repeatable combos—then decide when to lock in gains before the whole board turns against you.
How the Core Loop Works
A run is structured around market days and the decisions between them:
- During the market: play your hand to influence price movement and how the market reacts. Your deck is the toolset that defines what “the market” even means in that run.
- Between market days (the Aftermarket): draft from different card pools and reshape your build. Drafting often involves tradeoffs—some picks may introduce risk, weaken parts of your deck, or demand careful timing to pay off.
The twist is that greed is a resource and a threat—like rocket fuel. It can accelerate your gains, but it also increases the chance you’ll be punished if you push too hard or overextend into volatility.
Your Cards Break the Market (By Design)
Insider Trading’s biggest hook is how directly your deck determines the behavior of the “economy.” Instead of reacting to an external simulation, you’re drafting the levers that control price action.
That makes deckbuilding feel unusually consequential: the market opens, and the deck you built is the only thing shaping what happens next. If you drafted too many high-risk accelerants, you may create explosive upside—followed by a wipeout if your sequencing slips. If you drafted too conservatively, you may survive but miss the profit target as opportunities drift away.
Strange Characters, Distinct Runs
Each character is portrayed as a maverick trader with their own quirks, starting deck, and special mechanics. In practice, that means runs aren’t just “new maps with the same strategy”—they’re incentives to explore lines you might ignore otherwise.
If you like deckbuilders with meaningful identity between classes/characters, Insider Trading leans into that: different toolkits encourage different risk profiles, timing windows, and combo priorities.
Precision Over Power
Where many roguelike deckbuilders reward brute-force scaling, Insider Trading emphasizes positioning and timing. Push too hard and you can make the “cost of entry” spike (turning future plays into a liability). Play too safe and the market slips away and your weekly target becomes unreachable.
That tension—cash out now vs. squeeze more value—is the game’s signature decision point. Winning isn’t just building a powerful deck; it’s knowing when to stop pressing your luck.
Key Features
- 120+ cards to pump, crash, and exploit prices
- 60+ stackable pills and perks designed for synergy-heavy builds
- Unlockable characters with unique decks and mechanics
- Combo system that rewards smart positioning and sequencing
- Disruptive events (like recessions) that can derail even a strong run
- Multiple difficulty levels for players who want a harsher market
Is It Actually “Trading”?
The game is clear about its intent: no. Insider Trading is a tight roguelike deckbuilder that uses the language of Wall Street to frame its mechanics. The result is a theme that’s immediately readable (pump, dump, exploit, cash out) without the baggage of real-world market complexity or the risk of losing anything but the run.
Mac System Requirements
Minimum
- OS: macOS Ventura
- Processor: Apple M1 or Intel Core M
- Storage: 500 MB available space
Content Creation & Streaming Guidelines
You’re free to create and stream content for Insider Trading as long as you include a link to the store page in your video/stream description. The developer also notes there is no copyrighted music and no AI-generated content included in the game.