The stock market is one of the most exciting and volatile ways to invest your money. A lot of people dream of making a killing in the stock market, but it can be hard to know where to start.
The first step is knowing what apps are out there that can help you make sense of all the information out there. There are thousands of apps that claim to help you predict the future or get rich quick, but they’re mostly scams or ineffective at best.
We’ve done some research into what apps exist for stock market analysis, and we’ve found these three to be the most helpful and reliable. Check them out below!
Best Apps For Stock Market Analysis
Alpha is the measure of your active return on an investment compared to a market index or benchmark designed to represent the market’s movement as a whole.
For example, one might compare the performance of an investment to how the S&P 500 performed during the same time and the excess return amount would be considered the alpha.
“Capturing alpha” refers to consistently doing better than the average stock trader and making more money in the stock market than statisticians would expect you could achieve. Note the word “consistently.”
You might get lucky with one stock performing better than people anticipated, but to do this consistently takes more than luck.
It requires extensive knowledge of the current trends in the stock market and a mastery of how to invest money wisely.
To keep yourself up-to-date with the stock market and increase your chances of capturing alpha, consider downloading some of the best stock market research and analysis apps and software listed below.
Best Stock Research Apps, Tools and Sites (Investment Research Software)
A useful stock market research app will contain statistics and analyses from several reputable sources. You need to be able to quickly see relevant news as well as various stock’s long-term trends.
Some of the best investment research websites are purely informational, while others both educate you and let you also buy stocks straight from their app. Paired with the best investing apps, these stock market research apps can be useful for building your wealth.
Features of the Best Stock Research App, Tool and Site
→ Comes at a Fair Price.
Most stock research apps come with a free trial to demo the product and understand if the service is worth the eventual price you’ll pay. Some services charge on a monthly basis while others charge on an annual basis.
If you choose only to rely on free services, you might get what you pay for. Premium services can quickly justify their price tags if they deliver stock research that allows you to outperform the market consistently.
That alpha is worth its weight in gold if you have money to invest and take advantage.
You should always purchase apps that meet your needs but only pay the minimum price to do so. If you don’t use the fancy add-ons and can’t justify the price, you shouldn’t subscribe to that tier if a lower one will do.
→ Provides Trusted, Transparent Research.
If you want to understand the stocks on the platform, you need to see the details provided by the stock research tools. The best stock research software and websites will provide actionable information for you to evaluate stocks and make an investment decision.
This can include things like real-time data, stock analysis tools and other resources. But it doesn’t necessarily need to include such details. Instead, they can perform in-depth analysis and provide an investable narrative for why the stock should be in your portfolio.
Regardless of the details provided, you should be able to trust the stock research and see dependable recommendations or information.
→ Uses Fundamental and Technical Analysis.
The two primary forms of stock research are fundamental and technical analysis. The former relies on the financial performance of a business, including how it manages its assets and liability as well as how it utilizes them for growth.
Technical analysis uses price action as an indicator for when you should buy or sell a stock.
Both of these should combine to understand which stocks make the best choices for your portfolio now and into the future.
How Do I Find the Best Stocks?
Finding the best stocks can take work through use of screeners, strict profitability and performance criteria, as well as projections for understanding where a stock might go.
Services mentioned below can help you to uncover the best assets to invest in. Consider using one or two (maybe even three) to find those best stocks to buy.
Of special note, you’ll find Seeking Alpha and two services from Motley Fool below. All of these have outperformed the S&P 500 significantly, leading them to be great at finding long-term stock buys to hold in your portfolio.
- Seeking Alpha – Best for Investment Research + Stock Recommendations
seeking alpha app
Available: Sign up here
Price: Free; $19.99/mo billed annually for Premium (or $29.99/mo monthly); $199.99/mo billed annually for Pro (or $299.99/mo monthly); contains ads and in-app purchases
Seeking Alpha Premium caters to the needs of intermediate and advanced investors looking for an affordable, all-inclusive, one-stop-shop for their investing needs.
Seeking Alpha Premium acts as an all-in-one investing research and recommendation service that offers insightful analysis of financial news, stocks, and more—all designed to help you make better investing decisions.
Whether you’re looking to invest on the go or dedicate time for more in-depth research and analysis, Seeking Alpha provides features that meet your needs.
No other site provides what Seeking Alpha does, providing unlimited access to everything from:
Earnings calls transcripts
Seeking Alpha Author Ratings and Author Performance metrics
10 years worth of financial statements
Ability to compare stocks side-by-side with peers
Access to dividend and earnings forecasts and much, much more.
How Has Seeking Alpha Premium Performed?
Seeking Alpha’s Premium subscriptions provide access to the service’s Stock Quant Ratings. These represent collections of the best (to the worst)-rated stocks according to three independent investment resources provided on Seeking Alpha’s website.
These cross checks and validations come from: (1) the Seeking Alpha Quant Model, (2) Seeking Alpha independent contributors, and (3) Wall Street analysts. The list of best stock recommendations gets further vetted by quantitative and fundamental analysis.
For example, the service offers its Triple Rated Top Stocks collection, which contains a listing of the top rated securities—all of which get validated by “Very Bullish” or “Bullish” ratings held on the platform.
All this attention to detail pays off, too.
Have a look at the dramatic market outperformance seen by these Top Rated Stocks from Seeking Alpha Premium as compared to the S&P 500 (total return with dividends reinvested):
seeking alpha top-rated stocks vs sp500
What to Expect from Seeking Alpha’s Paid Plans
Seeking Alpha has over 16,000 active contributors sharing well-written stock analysis. In-house editors vet these pieces before being read and discussed by millions of people.
Reading different opinions about the same stock helps investors develop their own informed opinions on the likelihood a stock will rise or fall. I recommend this approach when learning how to research stocks.
In addition to diverse, deep-dive research articles, Seeking Alpha’s website has fundamental analysis tools, a Trending News feed, crowdsourced debates, and market data.
Users can create their own portfolios to follow favorite stocks, see how choices perform and receive email alerts or push notifications. You also have access to podcasts and video content.
While the website has a significant amount of information, some features remain reserved for the Premium Plan and Pro Plan members.
Seeking Alpha Premium
With a Seeking Alpha Premium subscription, you will enjoy unparalleled access with an ad-lite interface across your user experience.
Seeking Alpha Premium can help you manage your portfolio with a large investing community so you can better understand the financial world.
Access more premium content, author ratings and performance to get ideas for your next investment.
Premium plan members can see the ratings of authors whose articles they read. It’s useful to know if you’re reading a piece written by someone with a top record or a poor track record.
“Expert” analyses are reserved for Premium members as well. This plan includes a stock screener letting you filter by average analyst rating and gain access to listen to conference calls and other presentations. Premium costs $19.99/month.
Seeking Alpha Pro
A Seeking Alpha Pro subscription comes with all the features of Seeking Alpha Premium, but also comes with extra features like:
The Top Ideas recommendation list
Exclusive newsletter subscriptions and interviews
VIP Editorial Concierge
Seeking Alpha Pro screener for investing ideas
No ads—providing you with fewer interruptions to your reading experience.
The Pro Plan, targets towards professional investors and costs $199.99/ month if paid upfront.
Why Subscribe to Seeking Alpha?
In short, SeekingAlpha distills down the relevant financial information for you so you don’t have to—making it easy for anyone interested in self-directed investments to have a chance at outperforming the market. Now’s your chance with Seeking Alpha’s Paid Plans!
Consider starting a 14-day Free Trial to take advantage of the service without cost and see if it makes sense for your needs.
Our Stock Research + Recommendation Pick
Seeking Alpha Premium & Pro
Seeking Alpha Premium & Pro
4.8
$19.99/mo* for Premium, $199.99/mo* for Pro
Seeking Alpha has the world’s largest investing community
Seeking Alpha Premium helps you find profitable investing ideas, improve your portfolio, research stocks better and faster as well as track the news to find investing opportunities
Receive up to 15 investing newsletters filled with stock research and analysis, commentary and recommendations
Use Seeking Alpha Premium’s Seeking Alpha Stock Ratings to find stocks likely to outperform and make you money
Seeking Alpha Premium’s proprietary quant records have an impressive track record leading to massive market outperformance
Start 14-Day Free Trial
- Price reflects annualized discount pricing on a per month basis
Related: Best Seeking Alpha Alternatives to Consider
- Motley Fool Rule Breakers: Best for Long-Term Investors Looking for Growth Stocks
motley fool rule breakers sign up
Available: Sign up here
Best for: Buy-and-hold growth investors
Price: $99 for the first year
Motley Fool Rule Breakers focuses on stocks that have massive growth potential in emerging industries. This service isn’t fixating on what’s currently popular, but rather always looking for the next big stock.
The service has six rules they follow before making stock recommendations to subscribers:
Only invest in “top dog” companies in an emerging industry – As Motley Fool puts it: “It doesn’t matter if you’re the big player in floppy drives — the industry is falling apart.”
The company must have a sustainable advantage
Company must have strong past price appreciation
Company needs to have strong and competent management
There must be strong consumer appeal
Financial media must overvalue the company
As you can see, before recommending a stock to users, Rule Breakers considers a number of factors. In short, the service mainly looks for well-run companies in emerging industries with a sustainable advantage over competitors, among other factors.
And their rules seem to pay off if their results have anything to say about it.
Over the past 15 years, Rule Breakers has more than tripled the S&P 500, beating many leading money managers on Wall Street. Their results speak for themselves and easily justify the affordable price tag of $99 for the first year.
motley fool rule breakers vs sp500 -09.01.2021
What to Expect from Motley Fool’s Rule Breakers:
The service includes three primary items you can expect to receive:
A listing of Starter Stocks to begin your Rule Breakers journey with their “essential Rule Breakers”
5 “Best Buys Now” opportunities each month
Two new stock picks each month
You’ll receive regular communications from the stock picking service with their analysis and rationales for buying stocks meeting their investment criteria.
If you’re unhappy with the service within the first month, you can receive a full refund.
Our Stock Recommendation Pick
Motley Fool | Rule Breakers
Motley Fool Rule Breakers is an investment advisory service which provides insight and recommendations on potential market-beating growth stocks and businesses which could be poised to be tomorrow’s stock market leaders.
Motley Fool | Rule Breakers
$99 for 1st year
- Motley Fool Stock Advisor – Best for Buy and Hold Investors
motley fool stock advsior
Available: Sign up here
Best for: Buy-and-hold growth investors
Price: $89 for the first year
The main difference between Motley Fool’s services is the type of stock pick recommendations.
Stock Advisor primarily recommends well-established companies. Over a decade ago, they advised subscribers to buy companies such as Netflix and Disney, which have been majorly successful.
As a subscriber, you’re granted access to their history of recommendations and can see for yourself how they have done over the years.
According to their website, the Motley Fool Stock Advisor stock subscription service has done five times better than the S&P 500 over the last 17 years.
motley fool stock advisor vs sp500 -09.01.2021
What to Expect from Motley Fool’s Stock Advisor:
The Stock Advisor service provides a lot of worthwhile resources to subscribers.
“Starter Stocks” recommendations to serve as a foundation to your portfolio for new and experienced investors
Two new stock picks each month
10 “Best Buys Now” chosen from over 300 stocks the service watches
Investing resources with the stock picking service’s library of stock recommendations
Access to community of investors engaged in outperforming the market and talking shop
The service costs $89 per year and has a 30-day membership refund period. Consider signing up for Stock Advisor today.
Motley Fool | Stock Advisor
Motley Fool Stock Advisor provides a list of five stocks they believe deserving of your money today.
Stock Advisor also lists “Starter Stocks” they believe should serve as a portfolio’s foundation.
Limited Time Offer: Get 55% your first year with Stock Advisor ($89 vs. $199 usual value)
Motley Fool | Stock Advisor
$89 for 1st Year (60% Off)
Related:
Best Stock Picking Services
Best Stock Investment Newsletters
Best Stock Advisor Services
- Benzinga Pro – Best for Fast Actionable Market News and Research
benzinga premium sign up
Available: Sign up here
Price: Basic: $27/mo; Essential: $177/mo or $1,404 annual paid up front
Benzinga Pro is a platform for traders and investors to get fast, actionable market news and research.
The service specializes in providing exclusive breaking news stories on publicly traded companies, sometimes 30 minutes before the official PR comes out from the company. The tickers who’ve seen these early releases have moved between 30% – 100% or more.
Benzinga’s Newsfeed covers all sectors, analyst ratings changes and SEC filings from companies. You can customize these news feeds based on watchlists you create within the platform.
Other notable Benzinga Pro features include:
News Squawk – We have a team that calls out actionable news during pre-market all the way through after hours. Having someone call out the news in real time is a big plus.
Insiders – What’re insiders of a company doing? Buying? Selling? How much do they own in total? Great tool to find out what insider holdings look like within the company.
Scanner – Get real time movement updates on the stock market. This also can be customized.
Charting – You can chart stocks within the Benzinga Pro platform (integrated with TradingView)
Calendar – Get dates on earnings reports, dividends, economics data, FDA data, IPOs, SEC Filings + so much more.
If you’d like the fastest real-time news feed, profitable trading ideas and exclusive content, consider signing up for Benzinga Pro today.
Our Fast Real-Time Market News Pick
Benzinga Pro | Fast Stock Market News
Basic: $27/mo; Essential: $177/mo or $1,404/yr
Benzinga Pro is built for traders and investors to receive actionable market news and research in real-time
Utilize Benzinga’s competitive news advantage for receiving breaking news and research to enhance your analysis
Leverage Scanner and Charting capabilities to get customized movement updates in the stock market
Limited Time Offer: Receive 35% off Benzinga Pro’s Annual Essential Package + Options Mentorship from April 15 – April 30th
Benzinga Pro | Fast Stock Market News
Learn More
- Trade Ideas – Best for Active Swing and Momentum Traders
trade ideas sign up
Available: Sign up here
Price: Trade of the Week Newsletter: Free; $1,999 / year, $167/mo for Premium; $999 / year, $83/mo for Standard
Trade Ideas employs an artificial intelligence-powered assistant named Holly. This AI becomes your virtual research analyst who never sleeps and instead sifts through technicals, fundamentals, social media, earnings and more to pick stocks as real-time trade recommendations.
Holly stays busy, too. She runs over 1 million simulated trades each night and morning before the markets open with more than 70 proprietary algorithms to find you the highest probability, risk appropriate opportunities to invest in stocks.
Trade Ideas doesn’t stop there, though. You can use these trade ideas proposed in real-time through a live simulated trading room. This allows you to demo the stock picking service’s ideas without risking your own money.
The powerful service allows you to access real-time streaming trading ideas on simultaneous charts to learn how to trade into risk-reward balanced trades. You can invest and learn at the same time.
Where Trade Ideas Excels
Where Trade Ideas excels is not only giving you the data and ideas you haven’t seen elsewhere, but also how to manage your money. The rules-based virtual trading room on every chart plays for both long-term investors as well as active traders.
As the market evolves, Trade Ideas’ software adjusts levels and the trading plan to match. The best part? You can learn how to do all of this without risking your principal through a real-time simulated trading environment.
After you’ve grown comfortable with the service, you can choose to go live with the trade ideas and start investing real money by connecting directly through an online discount broker like Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade and E-Trade.
Additionally, the service provides alerting services. You can receive price alerts through their Standard and Premium services as well as by subscribing to the company’s ALERT index newsletter.
This gives you 5 new trade ideas in your inbox from the company’s model portfolio every Sunday night. They also offer a free Trade of the Week newsletter highlighting a stock pick they have identified for subscribers.
How Does Trade Ideas Find Stock Picks?
Trade Ideas’ technology uses a different scan each week to find unusual trade activity. For example, they may detect a high short interest % in a stock or industry, which often leads to short squeezes, such as what happened with GameStop.
Real people curate scan results before any recommendations come available through the service. You’ll also learn how the service picked the trade, why they believe it will perform well and how to find similar trades on your own.
The service carries a hefty price tag with plans starting at $999 per year for the Standard subscription. For the full Holly experience, you’ll need to upgrade to their $1,999 Premium plan.
Though, for these prices, you get access to what is likely the best day trading stock picking service on the market. If you’ve got a lot of capital you plan to place at risk, this investment is a no brainer.
Consider starting your Trade Ideas subscription with no contract involved. Cancel anytime.
Best Active Trader Stock Service
Trade Ideas | Your Coach and Partner for Navigating the Stock Market
$1,999 / year, $167/mo for Premium; $999 / year, $83/mo for Standard
Trade Ideas is a stock market app that teaches you how to trade and invest
Using a simulated trading platform, you can learn how to trade and invest without risking actual money
The service offers a free newsletter and also AI-powered automated trading for premium subscribers
Take a Test Drive: You can sign up for a Test Drive key from May 16th – May 29th to experience Trade Ideas’ Premium features (including Real-Time Simulated Trading and Holly, the AI Discovery Engine) for only $11.11
Trade Ideas | Your Coach and Partner for Navigating the Stock Market
Test Drive Sign Up
- Morningstar
morningstar
Available: Sign up here
Price: Free 14-day trial and then $199 for 1 year; $339 for 2 years; $439 for 3 years; or $23.95 monthly
Morningstar is a popular resource for investors looking to find, evaluate, and monitor investments which best meet their interests and needs.
The company has provided market and stock research for almost four decades and prides itself on its independence and reputation for objectivity.
The service includes access to stock screeners, research reports and in-depth analysis to assess your investing options.
Morningstar Premium
Morningstar Premium offers expert research and investing advice. The service prides itself on its objectivity, top picks and advisor-grade portfolio management tools.
Morningstar Premium
Start Your 14-Day Trial
- Stock Rover
stock rover sign up
Available: Sign up here
Price: Free 14-day trial, then $7.99 – $27.99/mo or discounted annual and bi-annual deals
Stock Rover helps you keep track your portfolio with detailed performance information, emailed performance reports, in-depth portfolio analysis tools, correlation tools, trade planning and re-balancing facilities.
You can also create real-time research reports that provide a full fundamental and technical overview of the company’s performance for the last 10 years.
This service works as a web-based applet and offers a number of useful services and applications, depending on your research and analysis needs.
Stock Rover provides a comprehensive alerting facility, real-time stock screener for instances where companies trade below their perceived fair value and signaling opportunities to buy stocks with a built-in margin of safety.
One of the best features of the web-based app is Stock Rover’s “Brokerage Connect.” This provides you with a read-only data feed of your portfolio holdings.
This shows you a comprehensive view of your portfolios, whether they’re in one brokerage account or spread across numerous investment accounts. This view makes Stock Rover one of the best stock tracking and portfolio management apps.
After syncing your brokerage accounts to Stock Rover, details for each portfolio get populated in your Stock Rover dashboard for in-depth analytics and tracking purposes.
Consider signing up for Stock Rover with a free 14-day trial. From there, you can decide if you’d like to upgrade to service’s premium plans for more robust tracking and analysis.
Our Stock Research Tool Pick
Stock Rover | Tools for Investors
A complete service for investors looking to use screeners, investment comparisons, real-time research reports, model portfolios, chart and more
Use this top-rated investment analytics service to identify stocks worth buying and outperforming the market
Stock Rover | Tools for Investors
14-Day Free Trial
Top 5 Features Video Explainer
- EquitySet – A Platform of Stock Market Research Tools
equityset sign up
Available: Sign up here
Price: Free 7-day trial, then $20/mo
Investing in stocks can be a daunting task. There are so many different factors to consider, and it’s easy to get overwhelmed.
EquitySet is here to help! The company provides unbiased stock reports that will help you make the best investment decisions possible.
This platform of stock market research tools also provides simplified data with beautiful UI outputs for your convenience. No credit card required – just sign up for free today!
With the platform’s 8,000+ stocks and ETFs coverage, it has everything you need to find the perfect investment opportunity. You’ll never have to worry about missing out on an opportunity again!
Get started now by signing up to a free 7-day trial of EquitySet Premium today!
EquitySet | Platform for Retail Investors
EquitySet offers a platform of stock market research tools useful to retail investors
Unbiased research reports with ratings, fair value calculations, historic data and unique insights on financials, earnings and dividends
EquitySet | Platform for Retail Investors
Start Your 7-Day Free Trial
- MarketXLS
marketxls
Available: Sign up here
Price: $260/yr – $740/year; more expensive options available for advisors
MarketXLS helps investors conduct technical and fundamental analysis on exchange-traded securities.
MarketXLS is an Excel-based investment research tool which allows you to look deeper into stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, currencies with streaming market data.
The live stock quotes flow through Excel formulas to get the most accurate prices, fundamentals, key ratios, estimates, returns, and custom-calculated data points.
MarketXLS offers more than 120 technical indicators, including some of the following items:
Relative Strength Indicators
Double Exponential Moving Average
Exponential Moving Average
Kaufman Adaptive Moving Average
MESA Adaptive Moving Average
Average Directional Movement Index
Absolute Price Oscillator
Hilbert Transform – Dominant Cycle Period
Chaikin A/D Line
Several Pattern Recognitions
Linear Regression
Time Series Forecast
Variance
Weighted Close Price
Bollinger Bands
In short, MarketXLS is Excel-based software which makes it easy to research, track and invest in the stock market using valuable technical and fundamental analysis tools. This brings data and tools into a familiar environment: Excel spreadsheets.
MarketXLS | Market Data in Excel
MarketXLS is an Excel-based market research software which makes it easy to research, track and invest in the stock market.
This software is best suited to serious investors looking to gain data insights through a familiar software program: Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets.
MarketXLS | Market Data in Excel
Start 7-Day Free Trial
Best Stock Analysis Apps, Tools and Sites
Stock analysis software can also help improve your success with the stock market. Common features include simulations, backtesting (letting you test strategies using historical market data), stock charting and designing a trading or investment plan.
The best stock analysis app for you will depend on your preferences, needs, and whether or not you have programming experience. Before getting into the best and acclaimed stock analysis software options, let’s review the features you should look for first.
Features of the Best Stock Analysis App and Software
Many of the same features you should look for in a stock research app will also apply to stock analysis apps. Understandably so, as they should carry the same features in their respective right.
Below, you might see some retreaded features to pick an app based upon, but when they’re right, they’re right.
→ Comes at a Fair Price.
Once again, like stock research apps, you want to get what you need and not pay for what you don’t want. Some stock analysis apps come with a free trial to demo the product and understand if the service is worth the eventual price you’ll pay.
You will see some have the option to pay-as-you-go or opt for an annual or bi-annual subscription for cheaper rates than on a monthly plan alone.
→ Provides Relevant Tools, Educational Resources and Customer Support.
Understanding the indicators, tools and horsepower of your stock analysis app will make all the difference. That means you might need to brush up on some of the terminology or concepts covered with an analysis tool.
The best stock analysis app will provide tools and educational resources to learn what you need and room to continue growing.
Additionally, you’ll also want responsive customer support if you have questions you can’t answer by yourself. Having a dependable customer support system will make all the difference when you need help navigating something in the app.
→ Multiple Watchlist and Tracking Tools.
Proper stock analysis requires watching stocks for buy and sell signals. You’ll need powerful watchlist and tracking tools to do this.
The best stock analysis apps allow you to track from a single window and utilize stock screeners, real-time data alerts and notifications and more to inform your decision-making.
which one is the best app for stock market
In the past, many people did their investing by working with human stockbrokers who helped them execute buy and sell orders. Today, anyone can start trading stocks, bonds, and other securities online with little effort.
In just a short period of time, smartphones have become a ubiquitous part of life, and people are doing more and more things with them while on the go. Most brokers now offer apps you can use to trade stocks on your phone, making it easy to execute trades anytime, anywhere.
Many investing apps are offered by major brokers and let you do the same things you’d do from your online account portal on a desktop or laptop computer. They’re simply a mobile way to access your account.
If you like to take an active role in managing your portfolio or like to make frequent moves with your money, you might be interested in using a stock trading app. We investigated to find the best apps out there, looking at factors such as their ease of use, minimum deposits, and the fees they charge.
Best Stock Trading Apps of 2022
Best Overall: TD Ameritrade Mobile
Best for Beginners: Fidelity Investments
Best App for Options Trading: tastyworks
Best Robo-Trading App: ETRADE Core Portfolios Best App for Active Traders: InteractiveBrokers Best Stock Trading Apps of 2022 TD Ameritrade Mobile Fidelity Investments Tastyworks ETRADE Core Portfolios
InteractiveBrokers
Compare Providers
How Does A Stock Trading App Work?
How Much Money Do You Need For A Stock Trading App?
How To Choose The Best Stock Trading App?
Are Stock Trading Apps Safe To Use?
Methodology
BEST OVERALL
TD Ameritrade Mobile
the TD Ameritrade Logo
MINIMUM DEPOSIT: None
FEES: None for stock, exchange-traded fund (ETF), and most mutual fund trades; 65 cents per contract for options
ACCOUNT TYPES: Standard, retirement, education, trusts, managed portfolios, margin
OPEN ACCOUNT
Why We Chose It
We selected TD Ameritrade Mobile as our best overall trading app for a few reasons.
First is the ease of using it, both in terms of the user experience when you’re in the app and making trades, and for the low fees and minimums. You can open an account with TD without having to make a minimum deposit, and most trades incur no commissions or other fees. The app itself is sleek and easy to use, making it simple to navigate and manage your account.
Charles Schwab acquired TD Ameritrade in 2019 and will merge TD Ameritrade accounts into its existing ones; Schwab will keep the thinkorswim platform.1
TD Ameritrade Mobile’s app also includes a lot of valuable educational material you can use to learn about trading. Your account comes with free access to online courses that help you learn about different investing concepts.
Another benefit of TD Ameritrade is that you can use it to open almost any kind of investing account, from a traditional brokerage to a trust account. You can easily do all of your investing for every purpose from a single app.
Pros
Many account types
In-depth education tools and courses
No minimums to open a normal account
No commissions for most trades
Cons
No fractional share investing
BEST FOR BEGINNERS
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity Investments logo
MINIMUM DEPOSIT: None
FEES: None for stocks, ETFs, and many mutual funds; 65 cents per contract for options
ACCOUNT TYPES: Standard, retirement, education, trusts, managed portfolios, margin
OPEN ACCOUNT
Why We Chose It
Fidelity is one of the largest brokers in the world, managing more than $10 trillion in assets. Its offering made our list of best trading apps for a few reasons.
One is that you can easily do all your investing from within the app. You can open a traditional brokerage account, retirement accounts, 529 plans or other education savings plans, and other types of accounts with the company. No matter your reason for saving, Fidelity should be able to help you.
Fidelity also makes trading easy for beginners. There are no minimum balance requirements and no minimum amounts needed to invest in Fidelity’s mutual funds. The company even offers zero-expense-ratio index funds, letting you build a diversified portfolio without having to pay any investment fees.
If you prefer to trade individual securities, the app is easy to use for that. You also can trade fractional shares, meaning you can invest in thousands of stocks or ETFs with as little as $1.
Pros
Many account types
Fractional share investing starting with as little as $1
No minimum to invest in Fidelity mutual funds
Cons
You can’t trade futures and some other securities
BEST APP FOR OPTIONS TRADING
tastyworks
Tastyworks logo
MINIMUM DEPOSIT: None
FEES: None for stocks or ETFs; $1 per options contract to open (max $10 per transaction), none to close; $1.25 per contract for futures; 1% for crypto ($10 max per transaction)
ACCOUNT TYPES: Standard, joint, retirement, trust, corporate, international
OPEN ACCOUNT
Why We Chose It
Tastyworks makes our list because it’s a great broker for people who want to take a very active role with their trading, and who want to trade more than just stocks and bonds.
Where tastyworks shines is with derivatives such as options. Where many brokers will charge high commissions and fees for these types of trades, tastyworks keeps fees low and sets a cap on the fees it can charge in a single transaction. For stock and ETF options and crypto trades, the maximum fee is $10 per transaction, regardless of the size of the transaction.
That means that active options and crypto traders who want to move large amounts of money can do so at a very low cost using tastyworks.
Pros
Low fees for derivatives trades
Trade a variety of derivatives
Multiple cryptocurrencies available
Cons
Not designed for beginners
BEST ROBO-TRADING APP
ETRADE Core Portfolios ETrade logo MINIMUM DEPOSIT: $500 FEES: 0.30% ACCOUNT TYPES: Traditional, joint, custodial, IRA OPEN ACCOUNT Why We Chose It While many people looking for a mobile trading app want one because it makes it easy to make trades and manage their accounts on the go, some people want a helping hand when it comes to investing. ETRADE Core Portfolios offers that assistance at a low cost.
Morgan Stanley completed its acquisition of ETRADE in 2020. While integration between the platforms continues, some Morgan Stanley resources are available to ETRADE customers.2
When you open an account, you’ll tell E*TRADE what your investing goals are. Based on that information, the program automatically will design a portfolio for you and handle the day-to-day management of your money. All you have to do when using the app is decide when to add funds or when to make a withdrawal. You also can update your goals to adjust your portfolio as needed.
What sets E*TRADE apart from the competition is its low fees, just 0.30% of your invested assets.
Pros
Low fees
Automatic investment management
Low minimum for a robo-advisory service
Cons
Higher minimum than other stock trading apps
Fewer account types
BEST APP FOR ACTIVE TRADERS
InteractiveBrokers
Interactive Brokers
MINIMUM DEPOSIT: None
FEES: Varies – Zero to 0.5 cent per share
ACCOUNT TYPES: Individual and Institutional
OPEN ACCOUNT
Why We Chose It
Some people choose to be highly active traders, moving money in and out of securities multiple times a day. Day trading in this way can be a lucrative, if risky, pursuit. Having a powerful stock trading app means you can work from your phone, no matter where you are.
InteractiveBrokers is designed with these active traders in mind. You can use more than 100 order types to buy and sell securities such as stocks and options, and leverage your account balance to trade on margin, increasing your potential gains (or losses).
The pricing structure is transparent, with some trades being completely free and others fractions of a cent per share traded, with a maximum fee of 1% of the trade value.
Active traders also can benefit from the app’s analysis and investment research provided by Thomson Reuters Refinitiv, giving an edge over other traders and letting you find investment opportunities that match your requirements. There are additional research and analysis tools as well.
Pros
Many order options available
Powerful research tools
Designed with active traders in mind
Cons
Not beginner-friendly
Final Verdict
Stock trading apps are great ways for people to trade or simply keep an eye on their investment portfolio while they’re on the go. With the right app, you can get help with investment decisions and take steps to grow your savings over time. When looking for the best app for you, consider the account minimums and fees charged, as well as whether the app is designed for traders who fit your profile.
Compare The Best Stock Trading Apps
Company Account Minimum Fees Investments
TD Ameritrade Best Overall None None for stock, ETF, and most mutual fund trades; 65 cents per contract for options Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, derivatives
Fidelity Best App for Beginners None None for stocks, ETFs, and most mutual funds; 65 cents per contract for options Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, options
tastyworks Best App for Options Trading None None for stocks or ETFs; $1 per options contract to open (max $10 per transaction), none to close; $1.25 per contract for futures; 1% for crypto ($10 max per transaction) Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, derivatives, crypto
E*TRADE Core Portfolios Best Robo-Trading App $500 0.30% Managed portfolio
InteractiveBrokers Best App for Active Traders None Varies – Zero to 0.5 cent per share Stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, derivatives, forex
How Does a Stock Trading App Work?
A stock trading app lets you invest in stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, and other securities from your phone. You can select the app you want to use based on a few factors, such as the minimum account balance required, the fees it charges, and the investment options available.
Once you’ve chosen an app, you can deposit money in your account and start making trades. In general, it’s best to look for apps that have low minimum-balance requirements and low investing fees.
How Much Money Do You Need To Use a Stock Trading App?
Many stock trading apps, including some on this list, let you get started with very little money. Some let you invest with as little as $1, so almost anyone can start an account using an app.
How Should You Choose the Best Stock Trading App?
Not all stock trading apps are the same and they don’t all target the same group of people.
Beyond thinking about account fees and minimums, think about how you like to invest and the type of investor the app is designed for. Someone who wants a hands-off investing experience will prefer an app focused on mutual fund and ETF investing. Active traders might want one designed for people who like to day-trade derivatives.
Conclusion
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