7 Best Stock Trading Apps of April 2024 (2024)

Company	Minimum Deposit	Stock Trades	Options (Per Contract)	Offers	Visit Site
	$0.00	$0.00	$0.65	New clients, special margin rates.	Visit Site

Interactive Brokers offers three mobile apps to retail investors, and I tried out stock trades on all three. Each has a unique focus. I prefer the IBKR Mobile flagship app for its extensive features, but beginners might appreciate the other two apps, as they are much easier to use. The Impact app focuses on ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. Global stock investors will find a very friendly experience on the Global Trader app. Though I found the stock trading on Impact and Global Trader to be very similar, I also enjoyed using Global Trader to speculate in foreign currency, even if it was only a few dollars. Read review.

Interactive Brokers apps gallery

Company	Minimum Deposit	Stock Trades	Options (Per Contract)	Offers	Visit Site
	$0.00	$0.00	$0.65		Read Review

What stands out to me about E*TRADE apps is, first, how clearly everything is labeled and, second, the responsiveness. E*TRADE Mobile and Power E*TRADE Mobile are quick, clear, and feature-rich and won’t scare novice traders into giving up and just buying CDs. I prefer E*TRADE Mobile for monitoring market news and doing deep stock research dives. Power E*TRADE Mobile does a better job with chart-driven day trading. Read review.

E*TRADE stock trading apps gallery

A demo of E*TRADE Mobile, the broker’s more beginner-friendly mobile app.

Company	Minimum Deposit	Stock Trades	Options (Per Contract)	Offers	Visit Site
	$0.00	$0.00	$0.65		Read Review

I found that Fidelity’s mobile experience is cleanly designed, bug-free, and delivers comprehensive research and market insights in an easy-to-navigate format. Fido’s app will satisfy almost every long-term investor, but I think its logical layout makes it easier for beginning investors to find useful insights into the markets and their holdings. Read review.

Fidelity app gallery

Company	Minimum Deposit	Stock Trades	Options (Per Contract)	Offers	Visit Site
	$0.00	$0.00	$0.65		Read Review

Schwab’s mobile suite should satisfy everyone except for the most active professionals and a few highly specialized traders. There’s Schwab Mobile for occasional and long-term investors and, new for this year, thinkorswim mobile for active traders. Though I’m happy to use either Power E*TRADE or thinkorswim, I lean toward thinkorswim personally because I prefer the layout. Read review.

Company	Minimum Deposit	Stock Trades	Options (Per Contract)	Offers	Visit Site
	$0.00	$0.00	$0.65		Read Review

Merrill has a unique way of presenting stock information that makes the former investment analyst/advisor in me very happy. Edge’s Story format delivers what I think clients absolutely need to know before they make an investment. For existing Bank of America customers, the universal account access and functionality make the app an easy winner. Read review.

Now that almost all stock apps offer free stock trading, we recommend comparing other features to choose the best stock trading app. The most widely used stock app features are watch lists, stock charts, and order tickets, so make sure those are great. To help readers, we include full screenshots of each stock trading app in our broker reviews.

Fun fact: Not all stock trading apps offer real-time streaming quotes. Instead, some apps only refresh stock quotes every few seconds or longer. Watch lists aside, apps like TradeStation's and Charles Schwab's thinkorswim provide excellent stock chart tools and stock alerts functionality. Both brokers offer traders access to several hundred technical indicators in addition to endless customization options.

The best stock trading apps for 2024, based on our extensive, hands-on app testing, are:

• Interactive Brokers - Best Overall
• E*TRADE - Best for Casual Traders
• Fidelity - Best App for Investors and Beginners
• Charles Schwab - Best for Traders
• Merrill Edge - Best App for Stock Research

For beginners in 2024, the best stock trading apps are Fidelity and Charles Schwab. Between the two brokers, Schwab has the edge for educational resources and trading tools. Meanwhile, Fidelity stands out for ease of use.

Several mobile apps allow you to practice stock trading without risking real money — also called paper trading. Here are our top brokers with simulated trading:

• Webull - Best for beginners
• Charles Schwab - Best for complex trading layouts
• Interactive Brokers - Best for foreign investing
• E*TRADE - Best for new options traders
• TradeStation - A window into automated trading
• eToro - The herd is the word

Trading apps from established U.S. based brokerage firms are safe against theft and broker insolvency. Brokers in the United States are among the highest-regulated financial service providers in the world. They go to enormous lengths to protect your privacy and you are protected against the loss of cash and securities by the Security Investors Protection Corporation if, for some reason your broker is financially distressed (up to $500,000 in securities and $250,000 in cash per customer). Many brokers buy additional coverage to insure even larger amounts.

Remember, SIPC insurance does not cover against losing money from your investments going down. Your investing decisions will play a far bigger part than the risk of fraud or theft in determining whether your portfolio is safe.

Follow these steps to make a mobile stock purchase. There may be minor variations between brokers for these steps.

1. Open an account with a broker. Most brokers have no minimum deposit or investment minimum, so you can try them out for free. See our top picks above.
2. Once you have opened an account with a broker, deposit money. Some give instant credit for deposits via e-checks.
3. Choose a stock. You may have to search for its symbol. Once you have it, there will be a “trade” or “buy” and “sell” buttons. Tap “buy.”
4. Select the number of shares or dollar amount you want to buy.
5. Choose either a market order or a limit order. A limit order specifies the maximum you are willing to pay for the stock.
6. Select time in force, either for the day, or good-until-canceled.
7. Hit confirm, check for any errors, then send the trade.

Yes. Nowadays, most online brokers require no minimum deposit to open an account, commission-free stock and ETF trades, as well as the availability of fractional shares. As a result, new traders can start trading with a small investment such as $100.

To compare features and pricing, use our online broker comparison tool.

Sam Levine, CFA, CMT, the lead writer for StockBrokers.com, has over 30 years of investing experience and actively trades stocks, ETFs, options, futures, and options on futures. He's held roles as a portfolio manager, financial consultant, investment strategist and journalist. He holds the Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) and the Chartered Market Technician (CMT) designations and served on the board of directors of the CMT Association.

Blain Reinkensmeyer, head of research at StockBrokers.com, has been investing and trading for over 25 years. After having placed over 2,000 trades in his late teens and early 20s, he became one of the first in digital media to review online brokerages. Blain created the original scoring rubric for StockBrokers.com and oversees all testing and rating methodologies.

For this guide:

• We used our own brokerage accounts for testing. For several brokers, we also used test accounts that were provided to us.
• We collected 450 data points (25 per broker).
• We took over 200 app screenshots.
• We tested each online broker's mobile app (or apps, for those brokers offering more than one).
• Our editorial team met with the product teams of nine online brokers.

For this guide to the best stock apps, we thoroughly tested key features including the availability and quality of watch lists, charting, real-time and streaming quotes, stock alerts, and educational resources, among other variables. We also look for a fluid user experience moving between mobile and desktop platforms, where offered. Our writers maintained active, funded online brokerage accounts for testing. In certain circ*mstances, a demo account was provided by the broker.

StockBrokers.com uses a variety of computing devices to evaluate trading platforms. Our reviews were conducted using the following devices: iPhone 12 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, MacBook Pro M1 with 8 GB RAM running the current MacOS, and a Dell Vostro 5402 laptop i5 with 8 GB RAM running Windows 11 Pro. In testing platforms and apps, our reviewers place actual trades for a variety of instruments.

As part of our data check process, we sent a data profile link to each broker summarizing the data we had on file and the data they provided us last year, with a field for entering any data that had since changed. For the brokers that filled out these profiles, we audited the information for any discrepancies between our data and the broker’s data to ensure accuracy.

As part of our review process, all brokers had the opportunity to provide updates and key milestones in a live meeting that took place in the fall. Meetings with broker teams also took place throughout the year as new products rolled out. Insights gathered from these calls helped steer our testing efforts to ensure every feature and tool was assessed.

We tested 17 online trading platforms for this guide:

• Ally Invest review
• Charles Schwab review
• eToro review
• E*TRADE review
• Fidelity review
• Firstrade review
• Interactive Brokers review
• J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing review
• Merrill Edge review
• Public.com review
• Robinhood review
• SoFi Invest review
• tastytrade review
• TradeStation review
• Tradier review
• Vanguard review
• Webull review

» Looking for forex trading apps? See our picks for best forex trading apps on our sister site, ForexBrokers.com.