Make Money in GTA 5 Story Mode: Lester's Stock Tips
There is no money cheat in GTA 5. The way to get rich in story mode is to finish the story, then play Lester’s assassination missions and trade the stock market with all three characters’ money. The Big Score gives each protagonist up to $41.6 million to invest, and Lester’s tips multiply it. Properties come after, as a way to spend the money rather than make it.
The order that makes the most money
- Play The Hotel Assassination when the story gives it to you. It is the only one of Lester’s five that the story requires. Before starting it, put every character’s cash into Betta Pharmaceuticals.
- Finish the story. The Big Score pays out after the final mission, whichever ending you choose. Our GTA 5 heists guide shows how to get the maximum $41,664,000 each.
- Then play the other four assassinations, Multi Target, Vice, Bus and Construction, investing all three characters’ money each time.
- Save in a separate slot before each mission, so you can reload if a trade goes wrong.
Stock prices move with in-game time. The quickest way to let a stock climb is to sleep at a safehouse, and Trevor sleeps the longest, about 12 hours.
What to buy and sell for each assassination
The tickers and exchanges below agree across GTA Wiki and GTABase. The returns do not: they vary between versions, and GTA Wiki notes that title update 1.14 in October 2015 lowered them. Treat the percentages as rough targets, watch the price, and sell when it stops climbing.
| Mission | Before the mission | After you sell | Rough peak return |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hotel Assassination | Buy Betta Pharmaceuticals (BET) on BAWSAQ | Buy Bilkinton Research (BIL) on LCN and hold while it recovers | BET about 20% to 80% depending on version, BIL can pass 80% |
| The Multi Target Assassination | Buy Debonaire (DEB) on LCN | Buy Redwood (RWC) on LCN | DEB about 50% to 80%, RWC about 300% |
| The Vice Assassination | Buy Fruit (FRT) on BAWSAQ | Buy Facade (FAC) on BAWSAQ | FRT about 25% to 50%, FAC about 33% |
| The Bus Assassination | Buy nothing | Buy Vapid (VAP) on BAWSAQ after the mission | VAP about 100% |
| The Construction Assassination | Buy GoldCoast (GCD) on LCN | Nothing | GCD about 45% to 90% |
The missions themselves pay almost nothing: $9,000 and a new house in the Vinewood Hills for The Hotel Assassination, where Franklin kills Brett Lowrey, the head of Bilkinton Research; $7,000 for the four jurors of Multi Target; $3,000 for Vice, plus $2,000 if you avoid a wanted level; $5,000 for Bus, plus $2,000 if you run the target over with the bus; $10,000 for Construction. The money is all in the trades, and the Redwood trade after Multi Target is the biggest single jump. The Construction Assassination takes place at the Mile High Club building site in Pillbox Hill, which you can find on our 3D map.
LCN or BAWSAQ: why it matters
The game has two exchanges. LCN is the story-mode market, driven by in-game time and chance. BAWSAQ follows real time and is tied to the online Social Club, according to GTA Wiki. In practice the LCN trades (Bilkinton, Debonaire, Redwood, GoldCoast) behave predictably after each hit, while the BAWSAQ ones (Betta, Fruit, Facade, Vapid) can be less reliable. If a BAWSAQ trade does not move, do not wait on it forever.
One ceiling to know about: GTA 5 stores money as a 32-bit number, so a character’s balance tops out at about $2.1 billion. Once you are near it, spend before your next trade.
Properties worth buying
Properties are bought on site from the For Sale sign once Trevor has completed Nervous Ron. Income lands in the owner’s bank account every week. The figures below match on GTA Wiki and on Point and Shooter’s property guide.
| Property | Who can buy it | Price | Income |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Hen House, Paleto Bay | Any character | $80,000 | $920 a week |
| Downtown Cab Co. | Franklin | $200,000 | $2,000 a week |
| Smoke on the Water | Franklin | $204,000 | $9,300 a week |
| Sonar Collections Dock | Any character | $250,000 | $23,000 per barrel of nuclear waste recovered |
| Tequi-la-la | Any character | $2,000,000 | $16,500 a week |
| Ten Cent Theater | Michael | $20,000,000 | $264,000 a week |
| Los Santos Golf Club | Any character | $150,000,000 | $264,500 a week |
Smoke on the Water is the best value: it pays for itself in about 22 weeks. The Sonar Collections Dock only opens after The Merryweather Heist, and it unlocks the 30 barrels of nuclear waste on the seabed, so it earns as fast as you can bring them up with the submarine moored there. The golf club and the Ten Cent Theater are what the stock market money is for. Five properties also count toward completion, as our GTA 5 100% checklist explains.
Other money in story mode
- The Epsilon Program. At the end of Michael’s Epsilon missions, you can drive off with the cult’s money and keep $2.1 million.
- The heists themselves. The Jewel Store Job, The Paleto Score and The Bureau Raid pay far less than The Big Score, but they fund your first trades.
- Random events. Robbing a security van pays a few thousand dollars, and a handful of other events pay more: useful early, irrelevant once the stock market kicks in.
Why there is no shortcut
GTA 5 has never had a money cheat, in story mode or online. Our GTA 5 money cheat guide explains what the cheat codes can and cannot do. For GTA Online, where money works completely differently, see our GTA Online money guide.
Frequently asked questions
What is the fastest way to make money in GTA 5 story mode?
Finish the story first, so each character has their share of The Big Score, then play Lester's four remaining assassination missions and invest all three characters' money in the stocks each one affects. Done in that order, the trades can take each character into the hundreds of millions.
When should you do Lester's assassination missions?
The Hotel Assassination is part of the story and has to be done when it comes up. Keep the other four, Multi Target, Vice, Bus and Construction, until after the final mission, when The Big Score has paid out and you have far more money to invest.
Is there a money cheat in GTA 5?
No. GTA 5 has no cheat code, phone number or console command that gives money in story mode, on any platform. Anything promising one is a hoax.
What is the best property to buy in GTA 5 story mode?
For value, Smoke on the Water: Franklin pays $204,000 and earns $9,300 a week, so it pays for itself in about 22 weeks. The most expensive, the Los Santos Golf Club at $150,000,000, earns $264,500 a week but takes over ten years of game time to pay back.