[GUIDE] Stock Market, Assassination Missions Guide

[Crokey 10,429]

Being Gordon Gekko... or how I learned to make a 'killing' on the Bawsaq

Background

There are a few mentions around the internet and this place on how to make your money using the assassination missions given to you by Lester, but few if any actually give a detailed step by step to make the most of it. In this guide I will give a step by step process with some hints and tips to speed things up a little.

CAUTION: This guide may contain spoilers, nuts and ingredients that will affect those with an intolerance to dairy.

This guide was originally written using the PlayStation 3 version of the game. From the way I did it as described in this guide I managed to make $2.1bn; your total payout may vary depending on if you chose Option A, B or C (if after main missions) or if you made numerous purchases before taking on the missions, or do this before the end of the main storyline.

If you are playing it on the PlayStation 4, XBox1 or PC, then your payout may be a lot less as the return percentages have been changed since then. For the update to this guide I have been using the PC version, but from feedback in this topic and research the payout appears to be similar across the "Next Gen" editions of the game.

In the build up to my undertaking these missions, I had already purchased a Hanger and Helipad with Micheal, and a boat slip with Trevor, as well as purchasing the Taxi Business, Los Santos Customs, The Towing Company and the Mackenzie Airstrip, with differing characters and completed the main storyline missions. (PS3 Version)

In the update the total earned across all three characters was between $600m - $800m, this included a hanger purchase, helipad purchases, Downtown Taxi's, The Towing Company, Los Santos Customs, Mackenzie Airstrip amongst other costs; however, this is still a health return. (PC Version)

Tips

• When you save your game at a safe house using Micheal and Franklin time progresses 6 hours, when you save your game with Trevor time progresses 12 hours. Don't forget the quick save option on your in-game phone, this won't progress time but can 'bookmark' your save slot until you get back to a safe house.
• Markets don't really move during the weekend, so keep an eye on your in game phone to check out the day of the week, but during this guide I will mention this before undertaking missions. - During the update the Stock Markets did move during the weekends; however, for ease of writing the guide I still started all missions on Monday
• Any mention of time throughout this guide will be in-game not real time, so when I say 48 hours I don't mean you've got to spend a couple of days taking the dog for a walk, working, sleeping, spending time with the other half or updating your stamp collection. However doing this guide may take you a couple of real time hours.
• Optional: You can keep two save games going at the same time, one as a good copy so once each mission has passed and you've completed the pay-out cycle, the other as a work in progress save, for when you're speeding up time, keep a mental note which one is the good one and which is your WIP one. - Also worth noting you don't have to actually save a game when you're speeding up time, the action of "saving" your game will progress time forward.
• In this guide I won't be detailing how to do each mission, as there are numerous guides around for that and besides they are fairly self explanatory and easy missions anyway (barring the lack of a first aid kit during the 5th mission) - I have now added a quick guide for each mission, to save you looking elsewhere. This means you can get all your Stock Market fixes.. right here.. on GTAForums.. /Mick Foley Cheap Pop
• When switching to the other protagonists don't forget Trevor gets himself in some real pickles including being chased by the cops which is awkward on some of the missions where you need to sell quick and buy the next lot of stock. When switching I would recommend switching to Trevor first, Micheal second then Franklin last as you'll be doing the missions with him.
• I'll mention the marketplace each stock is on however I'm fairly sure some swap their markets (may have been done during updates, to be confirmed), so if it's not on the LCN check out the Bawsaq and vice-versa
• During my run through I had left the missions till last, however I had fully modded weapons and did very little modding of vehicles, depending on when you choose to do these missions keep an eye on your current account just in case you start running a little low.

Before you start

• Do not do the Hitch Lift 1 Mission, this is the Random Event which is where the guy whose car has broken down just off the highway on the west side of the map who wants a lift to the airport. This guy will give you a Stock Market tip which you can make a good return.
• Some of the stock tips require access to the Bawsaq, this is an online only stock market, so you'll need to be connected to the internet and to the Rockstar servers (Social Club account etc) for this to work, the LCN is offline so can be done at all times.
• Read each mission carefully first before committing as some require the stock to be bought before the mission and some after.

Other Stock Tips

• This is a list of missions that have also been known to affect stocks as posted within this topic by ribon. After testing the markets with these stock tips they can be fairly unpredictable and I would suggest trying them at your own risk. With the caveat of, if they work for you then then cash in while you can, if they don't then c'est la vie.
• When I tested the other tips that ribon had posted, before trying the stock tip, the stock was -15%, for example; I did the mission, and the stock had gone up to +30% and then started to drop; however, the maximum target was around +35%. So after reloading my game to try and get most out of the stock tip, the stock level should had reverted back to -15%, which is what it was when I had last saved it, however for some reason the game had "carried over" the stock level after trying them out, and the stock level was now reading +30%. In a couple of cases I had to speed up time in order for the stock to return to "normal" and then begin the mission; but the sting in the tail was that the tip did not work. These differ from the main Lester missions and the Hitch Lift mission which are more predictable.
• As with all the stock tips (bar the Bus Mission) invest before the mission.
• Huge amount of credit goes to ribon for these tips, thanks to this post here... Serious go like the guys post now to share your love, or click this to shortcut it (will like his post automatically)

 

Friend Request

Life Invader -45.57%

The Jewel Store Job

Vangelico -29.76%

Hotel Assassination

Bilkinton -67.26%

Minor Turbulence

Vangelico +42.57%

The Paleto Score

Cluckin Bell -39.99%

Derailed

Bilkinton +82.20%

Monkey Business

Life Invader -50.03%

Fresh Meat

Gruppe Sechs +11.17%

Legal Trouble

FlyUS -50.20%

Meltdown

Richards Majestic -50.03%

FlyUS +100.69%

The Third Way (after the credits)

MerryWeather -49.51%

Augury Insurance +101.49%

Cluckin Bell +66.89%

Gruppe Sechs +10.80%

Basics

• To purchase each stock, open your phones browser go to the Money section and select the relevant stock market (Bawsaq or LCN), find the company and click on it, select Buy, then click and hold on the + until you've bought all of the stock you can, then click Buy and Confirm. Note: when you get to the high values quickly check that the stock you are buying doesn't put you into a minus figure (buying more than you can afford) as the game won't purchase the stock, you may need to click the - a few times until you still have a positive balance. - When trying this in the update, this never happened and actually defaulted you back to a positive balance for you.
• To check the payout of each stock purchase, open your phones browser go to the Money section and select the relevant stock market (Bawsaq or LCN) select the My Portfolio tab and there will be a column for what the return percentage is. There will be a +/- 1-2% variance with the payout this is due the fact the regular stock movement is included in the percentage. Please note this will the the increase or decrease in the stock value and not the Return on Investment (ROI)
• To sell your stock, open your phones browser go to the Money section and select the relevant stock market (Bawsaq or LCN) select the My Portfolio tab then select Sell All, then confirm.
• IMPORTANT TIP: If you are playing as one character and you are checking your stock every game hour or so, and it does not move, then try switching to another character and back again, as this seems to force a refresh of the market data

Let's begin...

 

Mission 1

(The Hotel Assassination)

Note: This mission is mandatory and cannot be left to the end as you have to do it in order to progress in the game.

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday at 00:00, if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday

- Switch between all characters and invest all in Betta Pharmaceuticals (BET) on the Bawsaq

 

DO MISSION 1

 

Post-Mission

- Wait about 18 hours, save if needed (using your WIP save slot) with either Micheal or Franklin, after each save quickly check your on your phone what the return percentage is, the stock moves regularly, for fine tuning it's worth checking it every hour to see what return percentage is sitting at. When checking if you want to squeeze every last penny out of the deal then you can check every 30 minutes until you see the percentage dropping, if this happens, SELL, SELL, SELL.

- Target Return Percentage: ~50% (Note: reports are it can be up to ~80%, you may need to test it a couple of times to attempt this)

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- NB: You can also do the Bilkington tip as below, however at the time of this update I'm unsure when to sell, or the target. Feedback is welcome.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preperaiton

- Same as above

 

DO MISSION 1

 

Post-Mission

- Sleep once as Franklin (6 hours), or till about 13:00

- Target Return Percentage: ~38%

- Sell all your stock in Betta Pharmaceuticals, then sleep once as Franklin

- Buy all stock in Bilkington, which may be ~-47%

- Sleep until the following Monday until around 13:00, after this point the stock starts to drop

- Target Return Percentage: ~54%

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

HOW TO:

(WIP)

Mission 2

(The Multi-Target Assassination)

Note: From now on these can be left to the end or indeed at any time during the game, depending on how much of a Wall Street Shark you are.

 

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday at 00:00 (vital in this mission), if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday (any time as long as it's Monday)

- Switch between all characters and invest all in Debonaire (DEB) on the LCN

 

DO MISSION 2

 

Post-Mission

- Wait about 8 hours, save if needed (using your WIP save slot) with either Micheal or Franklin, however due to the short time maybe best just sit in your car and listen to some tunes and watch the sunset or go for a drive etc. After each save quickly check your on your phone what the return percentage is, the stock moves regularly, but it's worth checking it every hour to see what return percentage it's sitting at. When checking if you want to squeeze every last penny out of the deal then you can check every 30 minutes until you see the percentage dropping, if this happens, SELL, SELL, SELL.

- Target Return Percentage: ~80%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- Switch to all characters and Invest everything into Redwood (RWC) on the LCN

- Wait 48-96 Hours, this may take you up to Saturday, the reason is unclear why it such a huge window of opportunity however when this reaches its target percentage it doesn't really move, so for this reason switch to Trevor due to the 12 hour save and each time you wake up check your return in your Portfolio.

- Target Return Percentage: ~300%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preperation

- Same as above

 

DO MISSION 2

 

Post-Mission

- Sleep as Franklin 2/3 times or until around 18:00 on Monday, as the stock in Debonaire tops off around this time

- Target Return Percentage: ~39%

- Switch to all characters and sell all stock

- Switch to all characters and invest everything in Redwood, the stock at this time will be: ~-23%

- Do several sleeps, possibly with Trevor to speed this up until somewhere between 16:00-23:00 on the Sunday as the stock levels off at this point before dipping on the Monday

- Target Return Percentage: ~203%

- Switch to all character and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

HOW TO:

(WIP)

 

Mission 3

(The Vice Assassination)

 

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday at 00:00, if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday

- Switch between all characters and invest all in Fruit (FRT) on the Bawsaq

 

DO MISSION 3

 

Post-Mission

- The return on this one is fairly quick about 6-8 hours, so you probably won't have time to save anywhere to advance time.

- Target Return Percentage: ~50%

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- Switch to all characters and Invest everything into Facade (FAC) on the Bawsaq

- Wait 48 Hours, in this case it's pretty much bang on 48 hours from when you buy

- Target Return Percentage: ~33%

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preperation

-Same as above

 

DO MISSION 3

 

Post-Mission

- The return is just as quick, and should level out between Monday 20:00 - Tuesday 03:00

- Target Return Percentage: ~19%

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- Switch to all characters and Invest everything into Facade, the stock should be around: ~-21%

- Sleep several times until around Sunday 19:00 as the stock levels off at this point and is still and increase on the initial investment

- Target Return Percentage: ~-0.25%

- Switch to all characters and sell all

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

HOW TO:

(WIP)

 

Mission 4

(The Bus Assassination)

 

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday, if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday

- Do not purchase anything yet, although it may be worth switching to Trevor to make sure he's being a good boy (toilet incidences aside), for when you need to switch.

 

DO MISSION 4

 

Post-Mission

- Switch to all characters (Trevor first just in case he's decided to start a fight with the police in the meantime), then invest everything into Vapid (VAP) on the Bawsaq

- Wait 48 Hours, again in this case it's pretty much bang on 48 hours from when you buy

- Target Return Percentage: ~100%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preperation

- Same as above

 

DO MISSION 4

 

Post-Mission

- Switch to all characters and invest everything in Vapid

- The stock when bought should be: ~-48%

- Sleep several times until the following Monday as the stock levels off at this point and is still and increase on the initial investment

- Target Return Percentage: ~-0.25%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

HOW TO:

(WIP)

 

 

Mission 5

(The Construction Assassination)

 

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday, if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday

- Switch between all characters and invest all in Gold Coast (GCD) on the LCN

 

DO MISSION 5

 

Post-Mission

- Wait about 24 hours before selling, this is quite a quick turn around, save if needed (using your WIP save slot)

- Target Return Percentage: ~80%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Same as above

 

DO MISSION 5

 

Post-Mission

- The return percentage on this mission is quite a wide margin, and is probably more luck than anything, including when it levels out

- The stock should level out between: ~37% - ~41%

- The stock will level out between Monday 18:00 - Tuesday 09:00

- This may take a couple of attempts if you are wanting to max this one out.

 

HOW TO:

(WIP)

 

You should now have more money than you know what to do with, unless you're on Next Gen as it's less, and the big question who to give the Golf Club to.

 

Bonus Stock Tip - Hitch Lift 1

 

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Make sure it is Monday, if not switch to Trevor (12 hour save) and save your game numerous times to advance the time to Monday

- Start as Franklin and park up by the Gas station at the start of the Freeway heading north up the Western Freeway, do a quick save (using your WIP save slot)

- Switch to all characters and invest all in Tinkle (TNK) on the Bawsaq

- Switch back to Franklin then head up the coast until you get the blip on the radar to give the poor guy a lift, if you don't get the blip drive up and down the road a few times (Fort Zancudo to the North the Gas Station to the South to allow spawning) until he shows, if not reload your saved game and try again.

 

DO MISSION - HITCH LIFT 1

 

Post-Mission

- Wait about 18-24 Hours

- Target Return Percentage: ~33%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

 

Pre-Mission Preparation

- Same as above

 

DO MISSION - HITCH LIFT 1

 

Post-Mission

- The return is now pretty much instantaneous, that being just drive out of the Airport complex and park up at the parking lot by the garage used in the Gauntlet Car Missions.

- Target Return Percentage: ~24%

- Switch to all characters and sell all.

- (save game in your good slot if successful)

 

HOW TO:

- Seriously?!?... just drive fast as **** and don't crash.

 

---- ---- ---- ----

CREDITS

Huge thank you to the feedback provided in this topic and a big thanks to ribon for his extra stock tips as linked above.

---- ---- ---- ----

UPDATE: 20 November 2014

This guide was written using the PS3 version of the game, I do not own an XBox One or PS4 so I am unable to test this using the "HD" versions of GTA:V. I do have a small team of Elite Crack Winged Monkeys looking into things for me to test out the guide to see if there are any major differences, some of which have already been reported later in this topic. Once I've got some of the information correlated I will add the notes to this guide.

UPDATE: 16 June 2015

Updated all missions to reflect changes made since the Next Gen/PC versions have been released.

Currently still a Work In Progress is the "How To's", these wiill be done shortly and once done you'll no longer see this sentence.

(*cannot guarantee the date as knowing Rockstar and their history, the PC version may be delayed until such time that man has landed on Mars, Half Life 3 is released and a cure for Justin Beiber is found)

 

Any Comments, critique, praise or offers of marriage* accepted. Any comments of "dis iz old nooz u r a n00b", will be met with a slap, or I'll put a curse on you to make you fart and follow through... your choice?

 

(*may be declined if you're ugly)

Edited February 6, 2017 by Crokey

[epoxi 9,274]

Excellent guide Croke, I'll use this for my second playthrough.

[esmittystud101 438]

nice thread

[robinho263 0]

thank you so much for this thread. it helps allot. but one thing: the betta pharmaceuticals is at the BAWSAQ and not at LCN. just saying. but nice thread!

[~Legend~ 1]

Looks good. Nice one.

[Meekail 411]

Does this work on both consoles?

[Crokey 10,429]

thank you so much for this thread. it helps allot. but one thing: the betta pharmaceuticals is at the BAWSAQ and not at LCN. just saying. but nice thread!

It is, fixed

 

Does this work on both consoles?

Should do, I can't see any reason why not... should hopefully work the PC...when they finally pull their fingers out and do it, eh Rockstar, eh?.

[Lord Magnum 3]

A huge thank-you for this excellent, well-written guide. Helped me earn some big bucks.

I wish there were more guides like this. Keep up the good work!

[Arya35 489]

I've done this before with another guide and ended up with over $1 billion but this is the most detailed guide I've seen.

[aaronimpact 44]

I just finished these. I didn't bother investing for the final mission because I had already made over a billion dollars for all 3 characters.

[Luthandrian 0]

I didn't invest in the hotel assassination or reinvest in redwood after the crash so I only ended up with about 250 million per character. But, now I'm excited to play the game over again and getting the full amount. Thank you for the write up.

[Spuds725 877]

This is very well written--

 

The suggestions I have are to add the mission titles to each one instead of (or in addition to) Mission 1, Mission 2 etc...

 

In addition- I think you should in a few other opportunities to make money-- examples would be buying FlyUS after it drops when you do the Solomon mission "Legal Trouble"-- It makes about an 80% return (if I remember correctly) but not until you do the mission Meltdown-- http://gtaforums.com/topic/643893-let-me-understand-this-about-the-stock-market/?p=1063979736

 

In addition I would make general recommendations about not spending too much on weapons or car mods until after your finish the missions- I only bought weapons a few times but was pretty meticulous at picking up dropped weapons during missions.

Edited November 10, 2013 by Spuds725

[Crokey 10,429]

Thanks Spuds, I've added the titles to each mission. I was completely unaware of the FlyUS Stock Tip, I'll have a look into that myself fully before adding it in.

 

As for the Weapons and Car mods tip, to be honest I didn't really include anything like that in, because you make enough money during the game that those modification don't make much difference, especially since after the run through you end up with about $2.1bn, which is more money than you can really do anything with, and during my run through I had maxed out all mods on weapons as I went through (minus the flashlights as they annoy me). But I'll add a little note in the guide up top in case some people are flirtatious with their money.

[OzzyGTAFan 1]

ive found with Fruit Investment it goes to 23.5% return anymore sleeps after that it drops to -5.1 so id suyggest taking it at 23.5

 

Vapid gets to 100% after 3-4 Sleeps all guys have 700 Million so far

Edited November 11, 2013 by OzzyGTAFan

[OzzyGTAFan 1]

Alright thanks

 

made 1.3-1.7 billion each character, time to buy everything

[Luddite 299]

Other smaller profit would be investing in Vangelico after it drops from the 1st heist and Bilkington after making your profit from Betta as they both gradually return to normal.

 

On a side note: Does Cluckin Bell ever recover after it drops from the Paleto job?

 

Also interested now in Prolaps as it's low price makes large leaps in volume.

 

..oh yeah. I' offline so these are all LCN

[Hideo Kojima 8,367]

Thanks! this guide is very detailed and useful

Edited February 1, 2015 by m3tal z_DKI

[PhDJ 24]

Thanks for that, good "guide", will use it on my second play of the game, I did the Tinkle tip and the assanitions too early in the game and forgot to sell my stock when I saved the game for the Tinkle tip, so now all my characters are broke basiclly.

[Luddite 299]

Forgot to commend the guide. Well done op.

 

Found the answer to my earlier query tho:

Cluckin Bell went up 80% for me when Franklin did the mission at his Vinewood house after the big heist.

[Crokey 10,429]

Thanks for the extra tips, I'm going to look into them and test them out to see if they work, I have the following to test

 

FlyUS Tip

The Clucking Bell Tip

Vangelico Tip

Bilkington Tip

 

As for the Prolaps one, I'm spitballing here and I'll have to test it, I wonder if it would go up after a Triathlon given it's a sports event and Prolaps is Sportswear... Mmmmm.... I'll have to test it.

[CsDaKillah 0]

Would help if I could actually do the assassination missions. I need money so bad.

Edited November 15, 2013 by CsDaKillah

[Spuds725 877]

Hey Crokey--

 

I was just starting to get the GTAV.net page going and just noticed a mistake on the guide-- For the first assassination-- you have a target of 50%-- I recall when I did this that the stock for me IMMEDIATELY jumped 50% and then slowly went up to 82% before dropping off rapidly-- I recommend you change that target to 80% from 50%....

 

I did this one twice as after the first time I waited too long and it dropped off (didn't save while I was waiting)... see my post here from Sept 28th

 

http://gtaforums.com/topic/603606-make-over-2-billion-per-character-easy-mild-spoilers/page-3?do=findComment&comment=1063500343

Edited November 16, 2013 by Spuds725

[Eutyphro 2,971]

Awesome guide. Will be using this if I do a second playthrough.

[PhDJ 24]

Going through my second play, just had to do the first assasination, Betta Pharmaceuticals (BET) went up just over 80% for me on the Bawsaq ! *EDIT* I see now Spuds already mentioned it *EDIT*

 

Made sure I did the nuclear waste collection before that ( the property only comes available after the Merryweather heist ), damn that is so boring, especially if you do it for the second time !

 

Another good tip is doing the Epsilon missions before you start the guide, I only noticed this now, can make you $2.1M as Michael.

Edited November 18, 2013 by PhDJ

[Crokey 10,429]

I'll be doing another quick run through hopefully by the end of the week I'll be testing out the smaller tips and I'll double check the Betta Pharmaceuticals one.

[Spuds725 877]

On that betta one... It is possible you saved past the peak...be nice if you could watch prices real time...

[PhDJ 24]

Bilkington gave me 102% return, I read someone who got 140%, I slept for a week but it did not go up past 102%.

[OldGamer67 51]

Excellent guide and included exactly the info I was looking for. This thread deserves stickification.

[PhDJ 24]

FlyUS gave me 100,69% return

 

Fruit only made me 25%, investing in Fac afterwards gave me another 33%

Edited November 24, 2013 by PhDJ

[Spuds725 877]

A companion guide for this wuld be ways to get money before the 1st mission (like epsilon, and sub waste collecting, etc.. mentioned above).

 

Also, does anyone know if they patched the 'not paying for property' bug yet... this saves you money as well as opens income streams...

Edited November 24, 2013 by Spuds725