9 Best Stock Trading Apps for September 2024

Currently, 6.8 billion smartphone users exist worldwide, and interestingly, individuals check their phones on average 58 times daily. Given this high level (over 80%) of smartphone penetration and usage, it is no surprise that people also want to trade on the go. Against this backdrop, stock trading platforms are working hard on improving their mobile app experiences, but the question is, which is the best stock trading app?

To answer this question, we’ve curated this list of top stock trading apps based on several factors, such as their user-friendliness, range of assets supported, tools and features offered, quality of customer service, and more. So, let’s find the best stock trading app for you!

Best Stock Investment Apps for Beginners Reviewed

Now, let’s take a deeper look at each of these apps, what they have to offer you, and where they lack, while addressing the critical question, what’s the best stock trading app?

1. eToro – 0% Commission Stock Trading App with Excellent Mobile Charts

eToro is a stock trading app offering 0% commission trades on thousands of stocks and ETFs from around the world. It’s a great option for traders who want access to international stocks since eToro offers shares from UK, European, and Asian stock exchanges in addition to the NYSE and NASDAQ.

Regulated by leading bodies in the US, UK and Europe, the eToro mobile app features many outstanding charting applications to help you on your trading journey. You can quickly customize technical charts with a variety of built-in indicators and drawing tools. You can also compare multiple tickers on the same chart or set up price alerts on your phone.

When you’re ready to buy or sell, eToro makes it easy to execute a trade with just a few taps. You can choose from multiple order options for risk management, including stop-loss and take-profit levels. With near-zero fees, eToro is one of the most competitive stock trading apps on the market.

eToro also supports copy trading allowing you to put your trading on auto-pilot. This feature allows you to quickly find stock traders to follow within the app, then start copying their trades instantly. You only have to set aside as little as $200 per portfolio you want to copy.

Hands-on traders can use eToro’s $100,000 demo account to test out their own strategies risk-free. You can switch between demo and live stock trading in the eToro app at any time.

76% of retail CFD accounts lose money – your capital is at risk.

2. Pepperstone: Top App for Precision Stock Trading 

Pepperstone offers efficient mobile trading applications for MT4, MT5, and cTrader for both Android and iOS devices. As a regulated broker known for its fast execution, Pepperstone offers tight pricing in its app, which comes with a beginner-friendly, intuitive interface.

Its stock trading app provides a premium and seamless mobile trading experience by giving you access to a wide range of assets, order types, technical analysis tools, price alerts, watchlists, advanced management settings, a demo account, and the ability to customize the platform. Supporting optimized trading functionalities, the app allows easy buying and selling of assets.

Pepperstone’s apps, rich in features, cover market sentiment, trade statistics, market depth, economic calendars, copytrade service, and support for several languages, catering to a global audience. Additionally, they enable swift switching between accounts with just one click. Further, these apps offer educational and analysis materials, aiding traders in making informed decisions and improving their trading skills.

Between 74-89 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading CFDs. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

3. XTB: Top User-friendly Stock Trading App 

One can trade a good amount of assets on this stock trading app, which is regulated by the world’s biggest authorities. Notably, XTB is a publicly listed company with its own shares trading on the Warsaw Stock Exchange.

Featuring a user-friendly interface, XTB’s mobile app, formerly called xStation, comes decked up with different chart types and advanced technical analysis tools. Its Trader’s calculator provides a clear view of pip value, margin, and risk exposure. Additional features include price alerts, market news, economic calendar, and market sentiments, along with customizable options.

Its free demo account enables you to test the platform with  $100,000 worth of fake money, while its extensive video library and Trading Academy can be used to advance your trading. As for customer support, it is available 24/5 and can be contacted directly via in-app chat mode.

4. Trade Nation: Premier Stock Trading App with a Simple Interface

Available free of charge for your iOS and Android smartphone and tablet, Trade Nation allows you to trade with any brokerage firms that use its platform. The app supports a full set of trade orders and various execution modes.

The app features a minimalist and user-friendly interface, enabling you to focus entirely on trading. It eliminates clutter and reduces distractions by avoiding republished news feeds or analyst reports. Additional features include one-click trading, market alerts, and advanced charting capabilities.

Trade Nation is known for its razor-thin spreads and low-cost trading, underpinned by a transparent pricing model. It also offers credit, allowing you to trade without needing cash for every transaction. After setting up a live trading account, you can apply for credit, subject to review by the platform. However, it’s worth noting that language support is limited, and customer support operates 24/5.

5. Eightcap Partners: Top Choice for Collaborating Stock Trading App

The leading CFD broker with the MT5 trading platform boasts of low spreads and fast execution. Its app offers a good search function, commentary webinars, weekly trade ideas, an AI-powered economic calendar, and interactive live events. Additionally, the platform also provides support for market, limit, and stop orders, along with multiple languages, a demo account, and live chat.

Eightcap Partners supports MT4 & 5, allows for code-free automation with Capitalise.ai, and the ability to trade from TradingView charts.

To get started with Eightcap, you have to download and install the mobile MT4 on your device. Then, using the main menu, log into your trading account with your ‘Eightcap-Demo’ or ‘Eightcap-Real’ account. Now, from the managed accounts option, you can switch between trading accounts.

6. TD Ameritrade: Known Widely as a Top Stock Trading App for its Comprehensive Tools

Among the best no fee stock trading apps, TD Ameritrade stands out, enabling you to quickly monitor markets and positions on its dashboard. This app allows further access to charts, price alerts, real-time streaming quotes, and the ability to check your order status. Additionally, it provides the convenience of authorizing trades and transfers via Face ID or Touch ID.

Expanding its functionality, TD Ameritrade offers the capability to browse educational content, as well as the latest news, social signals, and research directly on your mobile device. The app also encourages trying out new strategies with its paper trading feature and simplifies the process of depositing funds through mobile check deposits. An added feature is the option to chat with a trading specialist in real-time.

Following its acquisition by Charles Schwab, TD Ameritrade’s thinkorswim app, renowned for its advanced trading tools, has been integrated into the financial services company.

7. Interactive Brokers: Best for Low-cost Stock Trading

This popular global broker provides IBKR mobile trading applications, enabling traders to access a broad spectrum of assets and markets, along with support for standard order types and complex option spreads. To ensure the best prices, the app employs its SmartRouting℠ technology.

When it comes to features, the stock trading app includes charts, real-time streaming quotes, price alerts with email notifications, market scanners, and the BookTrader trading tool. It further facilitates quick access to account information, portfolios, trade reports, and market briefs.

Additionally, the app allows for the direct deposit of funds from checks using its mobile check deposit feature.

8. Charles Schwab: Best Stock Trading App with a Range of Services

The publicly traded investment services firm offers Schwab Mobile, one of the best stock investing apps. for traders to view accounts, positions, and balances with ease. This app also facilitates money transfers with features like mobile check deposits and external account linking. Meanwhile, the virtual Schwab Assistant allows you to place trades, set alerts, and get answers to your queries.

On this app, you can also access news, research, charts, and real-time quotes on the app, as well as create customized watchlists. Moreover, following the acquisition of TD Ameritrade, Charles Schwab now also has thinkorswim. This platform comes with an extensive array of 300+ technical charts and indicators, complemented by StreetSmart Edge, which offers a full range of brokerage, banking, and financial advisory services.

9. Admiral Markets: Go-to Stock Trading App for Global Market Access

Developed in-house, the Admirals Mobile App is straightforward to use, allowing you to instantly access its extensive asset offering. It is the best free stock trading app to download on Android and iOS devices. The app supports 10+ languages and has a pretty simple, fast, and completely digital account opening process.

Its well-designed mobile trading app with a simple interface has a safe login option and the ability to create and modify watchlists. Here, you can access charts, graphs, margin previews, and manage open positions. However, some account types may not be supported. 

You can learn from many educational videos provided by the app and then test your ability and strategies through a demo account. It also supports payment card and document scan depositing in-app. Deposit and withdrawal are mostly free here, with multiple options available. Customer support is available via the chat feature.

How We Ranked the Best Stock Trading Apps

We evaluated a number of factors to choose and rank these stock trading apps so that you can make informed decisions as to which one of these best fits your needs. These factors involve elements that are most important for a trader and investor when choosing the best online stock trading app. 

Range of Assets

When you make a decision to commit to a stock trading app, you do so after much deliberation, so you want to continue using it for years to come. While you may want to trade one asset now, it can change down the road. So, to prepare for that future, you need an app that supports a wide range of assets, such as commodities, bonds, options, futures, cryptocurrency, and more. 

Also, in your quest for the best fit, considering the insights from the best stock trading app Reddit discussions can be invaluable, as they share their first-hand experience, tips, and comparisons.

After all, not all markets move in tandem. Some, like crypto, offer high volatility, while others, like gold, are a great inflation hedge. This will allow you to enjoy different markets, diversify your funds, and take advantage of diverse trends. 

Fees

One thing that can easily eat into your profits is fees, so when choosing a stock trading app, fees charged by different platforms must be compared. The thing is, it’s not so easy because there are different kinds of fees charged by these platforms, even when a platform says there are no fees.

The main charges to be aware of include brokerage fees, which may be monthly or annually, custodial fees, spreads, commissions, inactivity fees, account closing fees, deposit and withdrawal fees, and margin fees. Also, it needs to be made sure that there are no hidden fees charged by the platform, such as research fees, weekend fees, transfer fees, etc.

Minimum Deposit

When creating this list, we also considered whether a stock trading app has an account minimum requirement and what that number is. Ideally, the lower the amount required to open an account, the better it is. After all, you don’t want a high cap just to get started with a platform. Besides having a minimum deposit to trade, some brokerages set a minimum amount to unlock margin trading. In the latter case, it is best to have reserved cash on hand to manage your risk.

Demo Account

A stock trading app that offers a demo account is the best choice to start your trading journey because it allows you to first test your trading in a risk-free environment. While you don’t use real money, you test your trades in real, live market situations. This allows you to get a sense of how the market and trading work as well as to test your strategies before executing them. 

Besides the demo account, one must also consider the different types of accounts offered by a broker. Some platforms, especially the best stock market trading apps, offer multiple types of trading accounts to meet your different needs. 

Payment Methods

This factor may not look like that big of a thing, but if you want the best trading experience, then it is essential that the app allows for convenient and seamless payments. The best stock market app must offer a range of reliable and safe payment methods that allow for swift and hassle-free deposits and withdrawals, such as eWallets and bank transfers, for a user to choose from.

Customer Service

Good customer support is essential in all kinds of businesses, and it is true for trading apps, too. Considering that a user’s hard-earned money is involved, a trader must be able to reach the support service at any time and through various channels, including email, phone, and live chat. In addition to prompt and responsive customer service, the best trading app offers a comprehensive FAQ section along with detailed guides and educational material on how to use the platform and how to resolve different issues. 

Conclusion

The high potential of returns makes stocks a popular and attractive investment option. This substantial market size, coupled with heightened investor interest, has spurred the demand for stock trading apps that enable traders to manage their operations seamlessly. Reflecting this trend, the stock trading app market is now estimated to be worth $16.26 billion.

With the proliferation of trading platforms, selecting the best stock trading app is crucial for your trading success. eToro stands out as the best stock trading app for beginners, offering access to an extensive selection of assets, a demo account, and copy trading tools.

76% of retail CFD accounts lose money – your capital is at risk.

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