How to Actually Make Billions With the GTA V Stock Market Assassination Missions

You're probably sitting on a few million bucks in Los Santos right now, thinking you're rich. You isn't. Not really. Most players finish the main storyline of Grand Theft Auto V with maybe $20 million per character if they're lucky and handled the Union Depository heist well. That’s chump change. If you want the Tinsel Towers apartment, every single hypercar, and the golf course—which costs a staggering $150 million on its own—you have to exploit the GTA V stock market assassination missions.

It’s the only way to hit the $2.1 billion cap.

The biggest mistake? Doing these missions too early. Lester Crest, the twitchy mastermind, offers Franklin a series of hits throughout the game. He frames them as necessary story progression, but honestly, only the first one is mandatory to move the plot forward. If you do the rest before the final heist, you are flushing billions of potential dollars down the drain. You need capital to make money. It’s basic math. Investing $100,000 for a 50% return gets you a nice car; investing $30 million for that same return makes you a god.

The Golden Rule: Wait for the Big Score

Stop touching the "L" on your map. Just stop.

The first mission, Hotel Assassination, is the only one you have to complete to unlock the rest of the game's story. For this one, you don't have much cash yet, so the returns are modest. But for every mission after that? You need to wait until the "The Third Way" (the final heist) is finished. By then, Michael, Franklin, and Trevor should each have a massive stack of cash from the Union Depository. That is your seed money.

The mechanics are simple but easy to mess up if you’re rushing. The GTA V world has two stock markets: the LCN and the BAWSAQ. The LCN is affected by in-game events and is offline-only. The BAWSAQ used to be influenced by the global player base, though in 2026, it mostly functions through scripted triggers during these specific missions. When Lester tells you to kill a CEO, the rival company’s stock is going to skyrocket. You buy the rival stock before the hit, wait for the peak, sell it, and then—this is the part people forget—you buy the "victim" stock while it's in the gutter and wait for it to recover.

🔗 Read more: Venom in Spider-Man 2: Why This Version of the Symbiote Actually Works

Executing the Hotel Assassination

Since you have to do this one early, just dump whatever Franklin has into Betta Pharmaceuticals (BET) on the BAWSAQ.

Don't expect to buy a private jet yet. You’ll kill a guy at the Von Crastenburg Hotel, and Betta Pharma stock will jump. It usually peaks around 40% to 50%. Sell it immediately. Some players report a secondary gain by investing in Bilkington Research afterwards, but honestly, the recovery time on Bilkington is so slow and the returns so low during the early game that it's barely worth the effort. Save your energy for the post-game.

The Multi-Target Assassination (The Big Payday)

Once the main story is over and you have your millions, head to the Multi-Target Assassination. Lester wants you to take out four corrupt jurors. These guys are in the pocket of Redwood Cigarettes.

Logic dictates that if Redwood goes down, its rival, Debonaire, goes up.

1. Before starting the mission, switch between all three characters and put every single cent into Debonaire (LCN).
2. Finish the hit.
3. Watch the stock. Debonaire will climb and usually peaks at about 80% return.
4. Sell everything.

But wait. There’s more.

💡 You might also like: The Borderlands 4 Vex Build That Actually Works Without All the Grind

Now that Redwood Cigarettes has bottomed out, it’s going to eventually bounce back. It takes about two to four in-game days. Keep sleeping (without saving) to advance time. Once Redwood hits its floor, buy in with all three characters. It can see a 300% return. Think about that. If you put in $30 million, you’re walking away with nearly $100 million. This is where the real wealth starts to snowball.

Handling the Vice and Bus Assassinations

The Vice Assassination targets the CEO of Fruit, a clear parody of Apple. Naturally, you want to invest in Facade (the Microsoft equivalent) before the mission. Facade usually sees a jump of around 30%. It’s not the biggest win in the game, but it’s steady.

Then comes the Bus Assassination. This one is different.

Do not buy anything before the mission. Lester wants you to take out a greedy billionaire named Isaac Penny who's trying to take over Vapid. After you finish the mission and Penny is toast, Vapid’s stock price will crater, losing exactly half its value. This is your cue. Buy the dip. Invest every cent across Michael, Franklin, and Trevor into Vapid (BAWSAQ). Within a few days, the stock will rebound to its original price, netting you a clean 100% profit. You’ve just doubled your entire net worth in a week.

The Final Hit: Construction Assassination

The last one involves Enzo Bonelli and a construction racket. Before you go in with the sniper rifle or the RPG, dump your cash into Gold Coast (LCN).

📖 Related: Teenager Playing Video Games: What Most Parents Get Wrong About the Screen Time Debate

After Bonelli’s "accident," the Gold Coast stock will surge. You’re looking at a gain of roughly 80%. By this point, if you started with the Union Depository money and followed these steps, your characters should be sitting on hundreds of millions, if not a billion dollars each.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Checking the phone too much: The stock prices in the game's browser don't always refresh instantly. Sometimes you have to exit the internet app and go back in to see the real price.
• The "Save" Glitch: Sleeping is the fastest way to advance time, but be careful. Using the "Quick Save" on the phone can sometimes freeze stock movement. It’s better to go to a character’s bed, enter the save menu, and then back out without actually saving. This advances time by 6 to 12 hours depending on the character (Trevor sleeps the longest, obviously).
• Mixing up the Markets: Always double-check if a stock is on the LCN or the BAWSAQ. There is nothing worse than looking for a company that doesn't exist on that exchange while your window of opportunity closes.

Why This Still Matters Years Later

Even years after release, the GTA V stock market assassination strategy remains the peak of "emergent" gameplay that actually rewards patience. Most people play GTA for the chaos. They want to blow things up immediately. But the game subtly rewards the player who acts like a corporate shark.

The depth of the simulation is surprisingly fragile, though. If you accidentally trigger a mission and then fail it or reload, the stock might behave strangely. Always keep a "clean" save file from before you started any of Lester's missions.

Actionable Steps for Your Playthrough

To maximize your returns right now, follow this specific order:

1. Complete the Hotel Assassination as soon as it appears to progress the story, but only invest a small amount.
2. Play through the entire main storyline until the credits roll for the Union Depository heist.
3. Ensure you have the maximum payout by choosing the best crew members (Taliana Martinez and Karim Denz are key if you've leveled them up).
4. Execute the Multi-Target Assassination and do the Debonaire/Redwood "double-dip" (Buy Debonaire before, buy Redwood after it crashes).
5. Move to the Vice Assassination, focusing on the Fruit/Facade pivot.
6. Complete the Bus Assassination—remember, buy Vapid only after the target is dead.
7. Finish with the Construction Assassination by investing in Gold Coast.
8. Use your billions to buy the Los Santos Golf Club and finally earn that 100% completion trophy.

If the stocks aren't hitting the exact percentages mentioned in some old forum posts, don't panic. The returns can vary slightly based on game updates or even just RNG, but the "buy before, sell after" logic is hardcoded into the mission scripts. Just keep an eye on the graphs and sell when the line starts to flatten out.