Trading apps are a relative newcomer to Wall Street. In times past, the idea of buying and selling stocks on the go was limited to a select group of traders. Today, anyone can trade on the stock market right from their smartphone.
Top 10 Best Trading Apps
The basic premise of a trading app is simple. You download an application onto your phone, just like you would in order to manage online banking or browse social media. Trading apps are typically free to download, and the developer will send push notifications to make sure the app is secure and up to date.
Trading apps allow you to search through available securities that can be bought and sold through the app. Many of these trading apps will display basic metrics, such as a stock price, daily highs and lows, 52-week highs and lows, price to earnings ratio (PE), market cap, volume, and dividend yield. There are often charts that provide a visual representation of the stock’s market movement over the course of one day, one week, one month, three months, one year, and five years. In some cases, you can get a more complex range of metrics, but the majority of traders using these apps will not need more detailed data.
History of Mobile Stock Trading
The idea of retail investors browsing securities and placing their trades certainly seemed like the stuff of science fiction just a few decades ago. If someone was interested in buying or selling a particular stock, they would have to call their stockbroker to execute the trade on their behalf. Most investors would not dream of taking such an active approach to managing their stock portfolio, instead relying on the broker or financial advisor to select and execute trades. In fact, most retail investors still are not active traders—they just allocate a fixed portion of their paycheck into something like a 401(k) or IRA. This is actually a great way to invest and grow money, since the stock market grows at a steady rate over the course of decades, and most stock traders do not typically beat the market in terms of growth.
However, some people just really want to manage their money themselves, and the internet made that a possibility in 1992 with E*Ttrade, the first consumer facing online brokerage. Of course, other major financial institutions were quick to follow, and it wasn’t long before most national and regional banks offered their banking customers a platform for executing stock trades.
Electronic trading platforms had already been in use since the 1970s, but they were only used by brokers and financial advisors. The consumer-facing online platforms allowed individuals to avoid commissions taken by stock brokers by placing trades themselves.
Within the past few years, electronic trading has gained popularity due to the boon of mobile phone culture. You no longer need to log onto a website to place electronic trades—you just need to open an app on your phone and scroll through the options before buying or selling stocks, ETFs or cryptocurrency. You can even execute trades on the derivatives market, like an options trade, although this feature is restricted on some apps.
If you meet certain thresholds for equity invested on the app, you may even be able totrade on marginto amplify your gains (but hopefully not losses).
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Top 10 Best Trading Apps
Now that we’ve covered how the smartphone revolutionized the stock trading industry, let’s talk about some of the best trading apps available for mobile download:
1. Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab is an established name in the stock market and investing world. The Charles Schwab app allows you to take your trading account data on the go—such as checking the balance for your checking account, savings account, retirement account, and brokerage account.
The trade screen is broken into three tabs, which allow you to trade stocks, ETFs, options, or mutual funds. In terms of trading securities, you can buy, sell, and even short sell (if your account is approved for such activity). The short selling feature provides a little more flexibility in terms of stock trading strategies than the typical stock market app. The Schwab app also has an intelligent assistant that can recognize verbal commands, so you can perform a variety of functions without touching your phone. There are no fees to download and use the app, but in order to place trades with a brokerage account you need to have a minimum of $1k invested.
2. WeBull
When you sign up for WeBull, you’ll receive two free stocks. And when you deposit your first $5, you’ll get another free stock.
WeBull charges zero fees on trades for stocks and options, and you can purchase fractional shares of most securities. This means that instead of paying the entire price to own a share of stock, you can invest whatever you can or want to invest and get a fractional share. For example, if Amazon stock is priced at $3k per share and you only have $30 to invest, you can use WeBull to purchase one percent of a single Amazon share.
The fractional share feature is not unique to WeBull, but the layout of the WeBull app might appeal more to certain users than other similar apps, such as Robinhood. In any case, WeBull also has a desktop interface, so if you prefer using a computer instead of a phone, this might be the right brokerage platform for you.
3. Fidelity
Fidelity is another trusted name in banking and investing, and their stock trading platform reflects their prestige. The Fidelity app provides a customizable experience with news and tailored content, along with real-time metrics applicable to your portfolio.
Fidelity Investment provides the necessary tax forms, and even send push notifications when your activities might trigger additional tax forms. If you need technical support, you can connect with a real person on the phone. The app works on iPhone, Android, iPad, and even integrates with the Apple Watch. You can also manage your other Fidelity accounts from the app and perform tasks. like depositing checks and controlling your debit card.
Fidelity is constantly adding new features to the app, and if you talk with stock market day traders, you will likely find that many of them enjoy the complex range of metrics the Fidelity app provides, such as heat maps and comparative charts.
Since Fidelity is a brick-and-mortar financial institution, investors also have the opportunity to work with a full-service broker who can provide expert trading advice.
Looking for more investing strategies? Consider joining one of Infinity Investing’sstock trading workshopsfor helpful trading tips presented by our stock market experts.
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