Investment Apps

Best Trading App in 2024

When trading the stock market, you need to use the best trading app if you want to increase the chance of success. But which is the best stock market app? There's no such thing. Instead, there's the best stock trading app for you. Everyone is unique and has their specific needs when it comes to trading.

We built this advanced comparison tool specifically with this idea in mind. We know that the best trading app for you might be the worst trading app for our next visitor.

To find out which of these online investment apps is best for you, please answer our short questionnaire. It will only take you a couple of minutes to find out which is the best trading app that you can use right now.

What Is a Trading App?

Simply put, a trading app, or a stock market app, is a mobile application developed by a trading platform that allows you to access the stock market anytime, anywhere.

All major brokerages offer their clients the possibility to trade stocks, commodities, or other securities straight from the mobile phone.

This has led to an increased number of independent stock traders around the world. Popular investment apps like eToro or Robinhood have millions of users worldwide. The number of users exploded in 2020, during the months of lockdown.

Examples of Stock Trading Apps

Let's take a quick look at some of the best stock trading apps available today.

eToro

eToro is probably the most popular trading apps today. With over 20 million users, eToro is also considered a good stock trading app for beginners. Users can invest in stock, commodities, ETFs, and cryptos* from the mobile app and web platform.

*eToro USA LLC does not offer CFDs, only real Crypto assets available.

The platform has a unique feature called CopyTrader, which allows you to copy the trades made by any other trader. This means that all you have to do to make a profit is find the right trader to copy. Don't worry, eToro made it very easy to find the most successful traders. And that's why eToro is considered to be one of the best investment apps for beginners.

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk.

Degiro

Degiro is an online discount broker regulated by many top-tier financial authorities in Europe. It has some of the lowest fees on the market, which makes it attractive for active traders. The downside of this platform is that you cannot trade forex.

Degiro also has a simple-to-use platform on the web and mobile, making it one of the best investment apps for beginners.

Trading vs Investing

To put it broadly, 2 types of users use trading apps: investors and traders.

Investors

Investors are people who buy a stock and keep it for a long time, sometimes even decades. During this time, the value of the stock increases several times.

Let's take Amazon (AMZN), for example. In 2001, one share was worth between $10 and $20, depending on when you bought it. Twenty years later, Amazon stock peaked at $3,700. That would be a 36900% increase if you purchased the stock at $10.

Other investors buy stock in companies that pay a quarterly or yearly dividend and then reinvest the money in the same stock. The goal is to create a dividend income for retirement – or even early retirement.

Let's say we invest $50,000 in AT&T (T), a stock that has a dividend yield of around 7,5%, for 30 years. If we use the dividend income to buy more stock in 30 years, our investment would be worth $437,748. Starting next year, you could live off of the dividend income - $32,831.

Traders

Traders, on the other hand, take a more active approach. There are 2 types of traders: day traders and swing traders.

Day traders use technical analysis to place multiple trades during a single day. A trade can last anywhere from a few minutes or hours to a few days. Because the increases in stock price are small, a day trader needs a much large account.

On the other hand, a swing trader analyzes stocks or commodities and places a trade that lasts even for weeks.

How to start trading or investing

To begin trading right away, you need 3 things:

Starting capital
Brokerage account
Strategy

Let's dive deeper into each of them.

Starting capital

Remember the old saying "you need money to make money"? To begin trading, you need a starting capital. How much is entirely up to you. If you are just starting out, it's best, to begin with a small sum. This way, your mistakes won't be as costly.

Most platforms require a minimum deposit of $200 or €200. If you deposit the minimum amount, your trading options will be very limited as most trading apps don't allow users to place a trade with less than $50 or €50.

If you're afraid of losing your money, you can start by using a free stock trading app. Alternately, you can use the demo account that most brokerages have. By using the latter, you won't risk losing any of your capital, but you will also familiarize yourself with the trading app.

Brokerage account

Besides your starting capital, you also need to open an account with a brokerage. This is where we can really help you.

Our complex comparison tool will help you find the best trading app for you. Whether you want to trade or invest, our complex algorithm will point you toward the platform that gives you all the tools you need.

All you need to do is answer the short questionnaire and once you're done, go to the suggested brokerage's website and open your account. The entire process will take you only a few minutes.

Strategy

Lastly, you will need a strategy to follow. Lack of strategy is one of the main reasons new traders and investors fail to achieve their goals. Even worse, some of them even end up losing capital.

Trading strategies

Traders have many strategies that they actively use to make money on the stock market. Below, you will find a brief description of the 3 most popular strategies they use. Keep in mind that trading (or active trading - as it's sometimes called) is usually more complicated than investing.

Day Trading

As the name implies, this strategy implies buying and selling securities (stocks, commodities, etc.) within the same day. Traders usually use this strategy within the first and last 30 minutes of the day when market volatility is higher. Although buying and selling a stock within the same day might sound easy, this is one of the most challenging strategies.

Swing Trading

Swing trading is another popular method. It implies analyzing a security's trend and entering into a position as soon as that trend breaks.

Let's take an example to make it easier to understand. Let's pretend that Apple's (AAPL) stock is going down, and when it hits a previous low price (one that was hit 2 days ago), the price starts to rise. A swing trader will buy the stock and keep it until this new trend (of the price going up) ends. Such a trade can last for a few days.

To be a successful swing trader, you need to understand technical analysis and fundamental analysis basics.

Scalping

Lastly, we have scalping. This strategy is probably the quickest any trader can use. It involves profiting off of small price changes that can happen in just a few minutes.

Let's take another example to make it easier to explain. As a scalp trader, you know that Apple's (APPL) stock is on an uptrend, so you enter a buy position at $140. After a few minutes, the price goes up to $141, and you sell for a profit.

Scalpers make several of these small trades every day. Again, you need to understand technical analysis if you want to use this strategy successfully. It's also important to avoid trading during periods of volatility because of the high risk of loss.

Check with your provider to see if they allow scalping.

Investing strategies

Just like traders, investors have several strategies they can apply to grow their accounts. Here are 3 of the most popular ones.

Dividend Investing

This is one of the most used strategies, especially by those who want to invest for retirement. This strategy involves investing in companies that regularly pay out dividends to their shareholders, then use the money to buy more dividends. The goal is to create a significant enough portfolio to live off of the dividends alone.

Experts recommend investing in the so-called dividend aristocrats, companies that have paid dividends every year for the past 25 years. Moreover, many of these companies also increase the dividend value every few years. Coca-Cola (KO), Colgate-Palmolive (CL), Procter & Gamble (PG) are all considered dividend aristocrats.

Growth Investing

The second strategy that you can use is growth investing. This strategy involves investing in new companies that are constantly investing in new technologies and expanding their business. Since they are new, these companies have relatively cheap stock prices, but you would have to wait for a few years until you start seeing some serious growth.

These companies continue to increase in value even after becoming industry leaders and are still considered top picks. Amazon (AMZN), Facebook (FB), and Netflix (NFLX) are all considered growth stocks.

Value Investing

Value investing is a strategy more suited for experienced investors. This strategy focuses on finding undervalued companies, buying that stock, and selling it once it has reached its true value. To determine if a stock is undervalued or not, you have to do a financial analysis of that company to determine the real share value.

Methodology - How we find the best trading apps

Our comparison tool was designed to help you choose the best trading app for you! We know that each trader, or investor, has specific characteristics and needs when it comes to buying and selling securities. This is why we've created one of the most advanced comparison algorithms available today – to help you pick the best stock market app that gives you the best chances to succeed as a trader.

To help you find the best online stock trading app, we considered all of the most important features a platform must-have.

Security

Security is by far the most critical feature. All of the platforms recommended by us are regulated by top-tier authorities. When signing up with any of the brokerages that you find on our website, you can rest assured that your personal information is protected.

Fees

Fees are also significant when choosing the online investment apps that you want to trade on. We know that high fees cut into your returns. Because we want to help you become as profitable as possible, we will almost always prioritize brokers with the lowest fees.

Of course, depending on your goals, some other platform features might be more important than fees.

Support

Every new trader or investor gets stuck at some point when dealing with a platform for the first time. This is why having a good support department is essential. To be amongst the best trading apps for beginners, a broker must offer its clients support 24/7 and various contact methods.

Platform features

Features are just as important as fees when considering which trading app to use. Our complex algorithm takes into account the important platform features that the brokers have to offer. Platform features and tools are key when determining the best stock trading app for beginners or advanced users.