Stock Market Apps: The Most Comprehensive Services in 2022

The best stock market apps give you the complete set of tools and information that you’ll need to make wise investments in the stock market. A few decades ago, the way of stock trading required investors to visit the bank and get their stock purchases with the help of a stockbroker. This tradition then shifted to online platforms where investors could view and purchase stocks without leaving their homes.

Nowadays, we are so blessed to have stock trading apps that allow investors to monitor the stock market and place trades anytime, anywhere, using any device connected to the same app. In this article, we’ll explore the many amazing features of the best stock trading apps and how exactly they can help you stay on top of global markets.

Inside this Article

What Is a Stock Market App?
How Do Stock Market Apps Work?
The Evolution of Stock Market Trading
Stock Market Apps: The Most Comprehensive Services in Today
Final Thoughts on Stock Market Apps in 2021

What Is a Stock Market App?

Stock market apps are mobile or desktop-based stock trading programs that allow users to participate in stock trading through an internet-connected device. The operational purpose of a stock market app has two basic sides: stock market research and stock trading. With stock market research, you can view the comprehensive list of companies whose stocks are available for trade. You can also view the corresponding price and price performance of its stocks. Most stock market apps also provide research materials and how-to guides. They also provide market research materials to help you keep up with stock market trends.

On the other hand, you also have stock trading features that let you buy or sell stocks entirely through the mobile platform. Most also offer real-time alerts regarding price changes and changes to your portfolio. Essentially, you should be able to view the entire offerings of the stock market at any point in time. You should also be able to conduct transactions regardless of where you are. You can purchase, sell, or monitor your stocks with the user-friendly mobile app. And you can do this all while walking the dog, cooking, or even while traveling.

How Do Stock Market Apps Work?

Stock market apps work in a very similar manner to an online marketplace. You view, purchase, and sell stocks with the stock market just like with a normal marketplace. However, you would first have to sign up and verify your identity before you can use the app. You will also have to link your banking accounts, which you will use to fund the investment accounts. Once that’s done, you can transfer money into your account to serve as your running balance. You can use this fund to purchase stocks and other investments. The apps will also automatically reflect your gains, losses, and remaining balance.

Stock market apps provide a list of all companies that sell stocks within your particular country (e.g., US Stock Market). Take note that there are many stock markets all over the world. With stock market apps, you can purchase stocks from both domestic and international stock markets offering a variety of investment options. In any case, you can purchase stocks from practically any company that’s listed. The app will also tell you the current prices of stocks, price trends, and how many stocks you can buy from each company.

Once you’ve bought X amount of stocks from a company, the app will automatically keep an eye on the stock and notify you of any price changes. Most stock market apps also feature tutorials and demo programs. These are intended to help you understand how the stock market works and teach you what to look out for when trading online. There will come a time in the future when these stock market apps will also feature machine learning. Check out this article to learn more about the applications of machine learning in finance and how it can change the industry.

The Evolution of the Stock Market Trading

Stock Market App Blue — Photo by TechDaily via Unsplash

In the past, the way of stock trading demanded investors visit a brokerage company to buy or sell a share of stock. By virtue of tradition, there was also a stockbroker always available to handle the transactions on your behalf. And in return for their services, you also had to pay the brokerage company and the broker a small commission or fee per transaction.

Before electronic trading became popular, only affluent investors could afford full-service brokerages. But the shift towards electronic trading also lowered barriers to entry into the stock market. This, in turn, led to a more inclusive stock market environment. It also led to more opportunities for middle-class investors. This newfound inclusive strategy will not only stimulate activity in the stock markets. But the overall increase in demand will also drive the value of stocks upwards.

Stock Market Apps: The Most Comprehensive Services

Best Stock Market Apps — Photo by Audy0037 via Pixabay

There is currently a wide selection of stock market apps on the market, and they differ based on their specific target audience. Some apps were designed for beginners while some apps are designed for more experienced traders and institutional traders. Below is a curated list of the best stock market apps to help you conduct stock market research and stock trading in a very convenient and handy format:

1. Fidelity

Fidelity Investments App — Photo by Fidelity via Fidelity Investments Official Website

Fidelity is a comprehensive stock market app that offers value for your money. Like many other stock market apps, Fidelity doesn’t charge commissions or fees for trading basic stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). It’s also one of the few brokers to not accept payment for order flow (PFOF). This is a huge help for investors to gain cost savings when investing in stocks. In fact, Fidelity and Charles Schwab are the only two brokers that show customers cost savings on eligible orders. They also offer several zero-expense-ratio mutual funds. These usually come with no minimum deposits and a zero expense ratio.

However, the one thing that Fidelity excels at is industry-leading stock market research. The entire mobile app experience is meticulously laid out for investors, and clients can access information about their portfolios via Google Assistant. The app features stock, ETF, and mutual fund screeners that are intended to help you develop trade ideas. Besides these screeners, the app also provides third-party research reports from over 16 different sources for stocks and five research reports for ETF. All of these functions are supposed to help you make optimal investment decisions.

Fidelity is available both as a desktop application and mobile application.

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2. eToro

eToro is another stock market app that won’t charge you for stock trades and ETF trades. One of the unique offerings on eToro is copy trading. Copy trading essentially lets traders automatically copy trades made by select individuals. This feature allows investors to copy an individual trade or an entire portfolio created any another individual. Another unique feature on eToro is called the Social Trading Network. The way this works is that you will see a social feed whenever you try to view a stock quote. The social feed functions like a Twitter feed for stocks. Essentially you can post your thoughts or include data about the stock.

Stock market research is a bit limited on eToro. But it nevertheless covers the basics like financial data and a quick overview of the companies on the stock trading list. It also offers beginners educational materials. One such example is the Trading School. This program teaches beginners the basics of managing a portfolio.

eToro is available both as a web-based platform and mobile application.

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3. JStock

JStock is another stock market app that focuses on stock market research over stock trading. The software is completely free to use on PC and mobile and comes with no advertisements. You won’t even need to provide your email address or personal information. On the downside, there are no paid options for an upgrade. With JStock, investors can create an unlimited number of portfolios. And the results of these portfolios are reflected in charts that show your percentage gains, losses, or dividends over time.

JStock is mainly focused on stock market monitoring more than anything. It practically collects information from different trading and stock markets and compiles them into stock watch lists. With JStock, you can create an unlimited number of stock watch lists. The watch list helps investors to determine which stocks to purchase and/or avoid.

Other than comprehensive watch lists, you can also find stock market charts on JStock. You can display stock market trends using the standard candlesticks version or as lines. Then the charts will show trading volumes by default.

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4. Robinhood

Robinhood is a stock market app that’s very popular among millennials and younger investors. To start off with the types of investments that you can expect with Robinhood, you can generally find stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency trading. The program doesn’t charge commissions and fees for basic stocks and ETF trading. However, it still gains revenues by selling your order flows or right to fill orders to wholesale market makers.

The software also offers research materials in the form of analyst ratings and recommendations and sections providing information about individual companies. It also offers a special Robinhood newsletter and podcast offering a daily summary of stock market movements in an easy-to-understand and digestible format.

Robinhood is available as a web-based platform and mobile application.

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5. WeBull

WeBull is a community-driven stock market app for active traders. The service offers stocks, ETFs, options, crypto trading, among others. Unfortunately, it doesn’t offer mutual funds, futures, and bonds.

WeBull offers a sophisticated set of tools for monitoring stocks. Its stock charting features cover the basic lineup, including several different chart types, drawing tools, and over 50 technical indicators for the charts to help you refine your analysis. It also included the ability to add hotkeys and to view the charts in grid format to compare them.

The app also offers time-lapse video replays of stock charts that give users a quick look at the day’s price action for any particular stock. The user interface is also remarkably easy to use, with a versatile layout and dashboard that you can customize. The dashboard also presents you with key stock market information, including a watchlist, key market statistics, and recent news about the stock market.

WeBull is available as a web-based platform, desktop application, and mobile application.

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6. Acorns

Acorns is a stock market app that automatically directs spare change to various investment accounts. The way this works is users have to link their financial accounts (debit cards, checking, and credit cards) to the Acorns app. The app then rounds up all of your credit or debit purchases to the nearest dollar.

Choosing your own investment account from the outset is easy, especially since they offer ready-made portfolios. You can choose from several types of investment accounts, including Acorns Invest, Acorns Later, Acorns Spend, Acorns Earn, and Acorns Early. The most popular service and the main subject of our review is Acorns Invest, which provides you with diversified portfolios to invest in from over 7,000 stocks and bonds. The app also automatically rebalances your portfolio and reinvests dividends.

Other offerings like Acorns later focus on other aspects of investment which in this case is retirement. Meanwhile, Acorns Spend offers a combination of banking and investing in that you can withdraw money as needed through a connected checking account. Acorns also feature a program called Acorns Earn (Found Money), which offers cost savings on purchases you make from Acorn partner companies. However, instead of returning the savings, it automatically invests it into your investment account.

The app is available as a web-based platform and as a mobile application.

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7. Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab is another trusted name in the stock market app industry. The program caters to all types of investors, from beginner investors to more experienced traders. Both types of investors are sure to appreciate the zero account minimum and zero-commission policy for stock, options, and ETFs.

The program has quite a lot to offer in the way of tradable securities, with stocks, bonds, CDs, mutual funds, ETFs, and fractional shares available for the taking. It also offers over 4,300 mutual funds for absolutely no transaction fees. In addition. you can find a selection of proprietary index funds and ETFs with the lowest expense ratios available in the market. With everything having been considered, the majority of the proprietary ETFs available on Schwab come with minimal fees of o.50 percent and below. It also offers fractional shares, so investors can take part in the trade based on their own terms.

Charles Schwab offers several robust trading platforms in addition to its basic website for trading. The premiere offering is StreetSmart Edge, a customizable platform that functions via cloud-based technology online. The platform features the basic tools to commence market research and trading within the same platform, with charting tools and a single-window stock purchase panel for buying or selling multiple stocks in one swoop. It also features StreetSmart Central for options trading, and Schwab.com provides access to a complete set of tools for trading and access to research and technical data.

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8. E*Trade

E*Trade is a stock market app with a long-standing and solid reputation in the industry. The company was founded nearly forty years ago in 1982. Back then, it was one of the first online brokerages. Like its competitors, E*Trade charges zero commissions for regular stocks, options, and ETF trades. However, it does charge for other things like penny stock transactions, options contracts, and futures contracts.

E*Trade has a lot to offer when it comes to market research and educational materials. It features five third-party research reports for stocks and also complete price analysis and price estimates under the charting function. It also offers E*Trade native content that relates to market happenings and daily market insights. You can also watch Bloomberg TV from inside the app. There are also dozens of informative articles that cover different topics on stock trading, at least 25 webinars each month, and archived recordings to teach beginners the basics of stock investing.

E*Trade is available as a downloadable desktop platform and mobile platform.

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9. TD Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade is another stock market app that offers distinct options for beginners and active traders. The best thing about this service is that it supports almost all account types, including stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, futures, and forex trading.

TD Ameritrade created two separate mobile apps: TD Ameritrade Mobile and thinkorswim Mobile. The former is designed more for casual trading, whereas the latter is designed for fast-paced, high-risk active trading. Ameritrade Mobile offers an easy-to-use platform with a customizable dashboard, stock quotes, price alerts, stock market news, fully-featured charting, and third-party stock ratings. On the other hand, the alternative app focuses on tools that active traders need, such as watch lists and active charting features with over 400 indicators. They also include and customization options that sync across devices.

Ameritrade also has a lot to offer when it comes to market research and educational materials. It has its own financial network that streams live daily. Ameritrade also provides daily market commentary and analysis covering different topics, including day-to-day markets, general finance, savings, and more. Beginners may also find helpful educational materials that consist of over 200 videos on trading, webinars, and rewards-based challenges.

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10. Interactive Brokers

Interactive Brokers App — Photo by Interactive Brokers via Interactive Brokers Official Website

A web-based, desktop, and mobile program, Interactive Brokers is another stock market app that offers a global trading platform. A huge proportion of the clientele of Interactive Brokers consists of professional traders and institutional investors. This explains why they split up their offerings, one for professionals though IBKR Pro and another for beginners through IBKR Lite.

At the core of the Interactive Brokers service is their professional trading platform called the Trader Workstation (TWS) for the IBKR Pro. TWS offers a complete set of tools for active traders and professionals with a deep understanding of trading practices. The package includes algorithm trading, an options strategy laboratory, a volatility lab, a risk navigator, and more. Also included are watch lists covering everything from equities to individual options contracts, futures, forex, and warrants.

At the other end of the spectrum is their offering for less-experienced traders or beginners called the Client Portal. You can find the portal through the web-based platform. It provides all the core features necessary for basic trading and portfolio management.

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11. Merrill Edge

Merill Edge is a unique stock market app that combines investment and banking in a single platform. Purely from an investment perspective, Merrill Edge offers investment options in stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, and bonds. Trading stocks and ETFs is completely free, but they do impose a small charge for options trading. Besides offering tools for independent investing, Merrill also offers services for automated portfolio management and advisory services with full assistance from expert traders.

The app offers plenty of research tools and educational materials to satisfy even the pickiest investors. They offer special reports on stocks, funds, portfolios, and interactive video summaries about stock movements. They also offer educational materials in the form of articles, videos, custom courses, audio segments, and podcasts.

Active traders with more experience in the field can also opt for the alternative platform called MarketPro. This platform offers a variety of tools for real-time market analysis including over 285 column choices for watch lists, easy-to-use charting, automated technical analysis through Trading Central (Recognia), among other features.

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12. SoFi Active Investing

SoFi is another popular stock market app that offers no-cost brokerage services. At the heart and center of the program is its robust investment platform. However, it also offers a suite of financial products that extend towards student loan refinancing, mortgages, personal loans, credit cards, and banking across a variety of mobile and desktop programs.

Concerning its investment platform solely, SoFi offers stocks, ETFs, cryptocurrencies, and fractional shares. For those unfamiliar with the concept of fractional shares, these are a special type of stocks that allows investors to purchase a portion or percentage of a stock instead of purchasing the whole stock. For example, if a single share costs USD 3,000, the investor can opt to buy only a percentage of the share, say twenty-five percent of it for USD 750 dollars. This way, investors would have the freedom to invest in any minimum amount into companies that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford. On the other hand, SoFi doesn’t offer mutual funds and options.

Like its competitor Robinhood, SoFi also doesn’t charge fees for stocks and ETF trades. It also doesn’t have an account minimum to open a brokerage account, which means you can start buying and selling stocks and ETFs for as little as USD 1. However, it must be noted that there are special classifications of ETFs that have fees attached to them, such as ETFs that comprise the top 50 or 500 companies in the US. Its cryptocurrency trading also comes with corresponding fees.

SoFi also offers market research and educational materials in the form of historical and stock performance charts, webinars, and live events to help investors build their knowledge base.

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Final Thoughts on the Best Stock Market Apps Today

The capital market remains in fine fettle, and we now have more options to participate in it than ever before. But despite the glitter and glamour, only a select few are worth investing your hard-earned money on. The best online investing apps offer a comprehensive spread of tools for providing the latest information about the stock market. This includes watch lists alerts, advanced algorithms, charting tools with indicators, among others.

The best platform also offers comprehensive research tools and educational materials. With the right tools, you should be able to get started on your amazing investing journey. And soon enough, you should be able to master the art of investing long-term.

If you enjoyed this article and want to learn more about finance and technology, check out this list of the best robo-advisors to help you manage your money and budgeting apps to help you spend your money wisely.