Best Stock Trading & Investment Apps for Beginners
Like most things in today's high-tech world, trading stocks has become an everyday activity on mobile devices. The best stock trading apps offer $0 stock and ETF trades, are easy to use, and deliver a fully-featured online trading experience for everyone from beginner to seasoned active traders.
Other Trading Apps
In addition to our top five stock trading apps in 2022, we reviewed 10 others: Ally Invest, Charles Schwab, Firstrade, J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing, Merrill Edge, SoFi Invest, Tradier, Robinhood, Vanguard and Webull. To dive deeper, read our reviews.
Best stock trading apps comparison
When comparing stock apps side by side, features such as real-time streaming quotes, charting with multiple indicators, and synced watch lists are commonly found, other features are not. For example, less than 50% of stock apps support basic stock alerts.
What is the best free trading app?
The best free stock trading app is from E*TRADE. Unlike most brokers, E*TRADE offers two apps: E*TRADE Mobile and the Power E*TRADE app. E*TRADE Mobile is designed for casual investors, while the Power E*TRADE app is designed for the feature-hungry active trader. Both apps are top-notch.
How do I choose the best stock trading app?
Now that all stock apps offer $0 stock trades, 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 TD Ameritrade and TradeStation 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.