Best Trading Platforms & Apps [Stocks, Futures, Options & More]

Best Trading Apps and Platforms—Top Picks

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Best Trading Platforms & Apps for Stocks, Futures, & More

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1. Interactive Brokers (High-Powered, Multi-Asset Discount Broker)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Platforms: Desktop (PC, Mac), web, iOS, Android
• Best for: Intermediate and advanced investors

Interactive Brokers (IB), founded in 1978, is the largest U.S. electronic trading platform, offering traders access to stocks, bonds, funds, options, cryptocurrencies, foreign exchange, futures, and more.

IB’s Trader Workstation (TWS) is Interactive Brokers’ flagship desktop program—a trading platform with roots back to 1995. But since then, the company has launched a number of other access points for brokerage accounts, including:

• IBKR Mobile: A powerful app for iOS and Android that allows people to trade on the go
• IBKR GlobalTrader: A simplified app for iOS and Android that targets global traders, allowing deposits in up to 23 different currencies
• Client Portal: A lighter web-based platform allowing clients to manage their account, evaluate performance, and read market news
• IBKR EventTrader: A web-based platform allowing investors to trade “event” contracts (yes-or-no questions like “Will the S&P 500 Index close above 5,300 today?”)
• IBKR Impact: A mobile app that helps investors select holdings most in line with their values.

But Workstation remains the workhorse. The platform supports investments across 150 global markets, and offers a wide variety of features, including real-time monitoring, risk management tools, paper trading—all packaged under a heavily customizable layout.

While TWS users can still select the original view, they can build their own bespoke view through Mosaic. Functions such as stock monitoring, order entry, charts, and more appear as “tiles,” sized and arranged however you want them, and you can save custom layouts designed for one or more monitors.

Trader Workstation also lets investors:

• Create example watchlists
• Use preset scans or build your own
• Create real-time trading alerts using price, time, margin, and volume
• Access more than 100 order types and algorithms to execute better trades
• Read breaking news from Reuters, Dow Jones, and other news outlets
• Access research from Morningstar, Zacks, and other firms

Interactive Brokers offers two primary plans—IBKR Lite and IBKR Pro—and both have no account minimums and zero maintenance fees. They also provide investors with access to many of the same features, including the Client Portal, Trader Workstation, and IBKR Mobile platforms; advanced order types; fractional shares of U.S. and European stocks and ETFs; paper trading; and Risk Navigator, which evaluates your risk in single positions or across your entire portfolio.

IBKR Lite is most suitable for beginner and intermediate investors, offering unlimited commission-free U.S.-listed stock and ETF trading, and fixed pricing for non-U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, mutual funds, options, and futures. 

IBKR Pro, meanwhile, is meant for advanced investors and active traders. While it does charge commissions on even U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs, it provides better execution for trades via its IB SmartRouting, which seeks out the best available prices for stocks and options across exchanges and dark pools. 

Pro also offers some features not available on IBKR Lite, including higher interest paid on idle cash balances, lower interest charged on margin loans, backtesting, and access to IBKR APIs, which allow you to build your own custom trading applications and even develop commercial trading software—features often used by hedge funds, Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs), and proprietary trading firms.

You can visit Interactive Brokers to sign up or learn more.

 

2. Robinhood (Best Simple Stock Trading App for Beginners)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Beginner traders
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Robinhood is a pioneer of commission-free trading, jumping into the investing public’s consciousness in 2013 when they rolled out commission-free trading. They remain a standout option for cost-minded investors thanks to their continued $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs, and options, as well as for its fractional trading, which allows people to invest with as little as $1.

More importantly, though, Robinhood has evolved from a bare-bones app appealing to mostly beginner investors to a fuller-featured account suitable for a wider range of experience levels.

For instance, Robinhood now offers individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and Roth IRAs via Robinhood Retirement. Functionally, it comes up short compared to many other IRA providers because of its investment options. It offers just stocks and ETFs; like with its brokerage account, mutual funds aren’t available. Options aren’t currently available, though Robinhood has explicitly stated that options will be made available soon.

Robinhood has long catered to younger investors with its gamified interface and growing library of educational content. But over the years, it has added a boatload of other features for new and experienced investors alike. Advanced Charts, for instance, provides simple and customizable charts with a variety of technical features. Robinhood’s Options Strategy Builder simplifies the options-trading process by helping you build a strategy based on what you expect your target stock or ETF will do in the future.

If you want to keep your banking and investing close together, you can also add a Robinhood spending account. This FDIC-insured account includes a Robinhood Cash Card issued by Sutton Bank—however, if you don’t want this physical debit card, you do have the option of having a virtual debit card only. The Cash Card is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, and also provides you with access to fee-free withdrawals from more than 90,000 ATMs. The card allows you to round-up purchases and invest the money into your brokerage or crypto account.

Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today.

 

3. Moomoo (Advanced Stock Trading App With Low Margin Rates)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Advanced traders
• Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, Mac), web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Moomoo is a commission-free trading platform for stocks, ETFs, and options. While Moomoo is best for advanced traders, offering powerful tools to empower your trading insights and strategies, it takes a different approach from other similarly targeted platforms, favoring simple interfaces and high ease of use. The desktop platform is highly customizable, while the mobile app is straightforward, allowing you to search for stocks and trade with minimal hassle.

Still, Moomoo has more than enough under the hood for advanced traders to get the job done. Its charting system, for instance, includes 62 technical analysis indicators and 22 drawing tools. You can set up alerts based on changes in price, bids, turnover ratio, and more. Free Level 2 market data helps you get a greater understanding of a stock’s value, determine how liquid a stock truly really is, and better time your trades. You can even enjoy 24/7 financial news handpicked by Moomoo’s editorial team. The trading platform provides these features to empower investors to make better investing decisions.

One Moomoo feature worth noting is its mobile charting, which allows traders to take advantage of more than 60 investing indicators and 38 drawing tools. And any drawings or annotations you make are saved and synced with your profile so you can view them from either the app or your desktop.

While Moomoo isn’t as suitable to beginner traders, the trading platform does include some useful educational tools. For instance, paper trading functionality with real-time data simulates the investment experience without committing any of your real money. (This feature is also helpful to advanced traders, allowing them to test out strategies and hone their skills.)

Moomoo also boasts relatively low rates for trading on margin. The annualized interest rate on financing, as of this writing, is 6.8%—one of the most competitive rates among its peers.

The app pays you for giving it a spin by offering free stocks when you make a qualifying deposit after signing up. Specifically, you can get free stocks if you sign up for a Moomoo account and make a qualifying deposit.

If you want a professional-grade system for research and trading, but with a simpler user experience, Moomoo is among the best trading platforms to consider.

 

4. Webull (Best Stock Trading App for Intermediate Traders)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Self-directed investors and intermediate traders
• Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, macOS, Linux), web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Webull first hit the investing world in 2018 and made a splash by offering free stock trading, as well as commission-free trading of exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and options. And since then, it has become one of the best stock trading apps for intermediate traders, though many of its features are helpful to beginner investors as well.

For one, Webull remains friendly to wallet-conscious traders today. It costs nothing to open a Webull account. Stocks, ETFs, and options still trade commission-free. Many options have $0 contract fees. And Webull has no deposit minimums. On top of that, it offers fractional shares, which allows investors to start buying for as little as $1.

Webull also is available across just about every platform, allowing you to research, trade, and track your stocks on your smartphone, tablet, or desktop.

Why choose Webull to trade stocks?

Webull provides traders with a number of useful features and tools, including:

• Customizable screeners for both stocks and ETFs
• Preset lists–including Top Gainers, Top Losers, Most Active, and Best-Performing Industries—traders can use to identify opportunities
• Free real-time stock quotes
• 12 charting tools and more than 50 technical indicators
• Real-time stock alerts you can set to notify you of events such as significant price action or certain technical conditions
• Numerous order types—simple orders such as limit and market orders, sure, but also group orders such as bracket, OTO, and OCO orders
• Quant ratings that help you to evaluate stocks through numerous lenses, such as growth, value, income, quality, and momentum

These tools make Webull one of the best stock research and analysis apps for traders.

Also noteworthy: Webull provides one month of free Level 2 Quotes powered by Nasdaq TotalView. Per Webull: “It provides the best 50 levels of bids and asks for all NASDAQ-, NYSE- and regional-listed stocks on NASDAQ Market Center. It includes the prices and quantities of displayed quotes and orders, allowing investors to better determine the availability or demand for a stock at a certain price.” Experienced day traders can use these quotes to try to determine where the stock market is headed in the very short term. (Note: Level 2 Quotes cost $2.99 per month after the free trial.)

And traders can even get paid for stocks they’re sitting on. Webull’s Stock Lending Income Program allows you to receive interest, accrued daily and paid monthly, for allowing Webull to borrow certain stocks. The interest rate varies widely depending on demand for a particular stock.

Webull also has a couple other fun (and still useful!) features. For instance, you can set up voice commands that will allow you to simply speak to buy, sell, or look up information on a ticker. There’s also “Big Button Mode,” which, as you’d guess by the name, populates giant buttons on your screen that allow you to quickly make trades with just a push.

We’ll point out that while Webull allows for many types of commission-free trades, other costs will still apply to a few transactions. For instance, a 55-cent contract fee applies to certain options trades. Webull doesn’t directly charge fees for trading cryptocurrencies, but it does build a 1-percentage-point markup into the price of cryptocurrency when you buy or sell crypto. And Webull’s margin rates, which are variable depending on the debit balance, are currently roughly middle-of-the-road.

You should also know that you can’t buy mutual funds on Webull, though that’s more of a concern for long-term investors and less so for traders.

Regardless, Webull remains one of the best, and most cost-friendly, trading platforms you can come across. And on top of all the free features mentioned above, Webull also runs frequent promotions that allow investors to collect free stocks.

Consider signing up at Webull today.

 

5. Schwab (Best Stock Trading App and Platform for All Trading Experiences)

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• Available: Sign up here
• Best for: Intermediate investors
• Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)

Investors looking for maximum flexibility and low (or no) trading costs should explore a brokerage or retirement account with Schwab.

Schwab offers commission-free stocks, ETFs, thousands of mutual funds (from Schwab Mutual Fund OneSource), and even Treasury trades. Additional investment selections include corporate bonds, options, money market funds, futures, E-mini futures, and foreign exchange (forex), and you can even participate in some initial public offerings (IPOs) through the Schwab platform.

Want to learn more? Check out the review here, and from there, click the “Visit Site” button to visit Schwab and sign up.

 

Related Questions on Stock Investing Apps

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Below you will find several frequently asked questions related to free investing apps.

Can I trade stocks for free?

Nowadays, it’s common to pay nothing to trade stocks. But that hasn’t always been the case. It wasn’t until 1975, when President Gerald Ford signed the Securities Acts Amendments of 1975, that brokers could even adjust the price of their commissions—they were fixed. For comparison’s sake, shortly after that, commissions per trade were in the $40-$50 range. By the 1990s, brokerage commissions had fallen to anywhere between $5 and $30 per trade.

Trading costs continued to decline until hitting a new frontier in 2013, when brokerage app Robinhood offered the first zero-commission trades. To stay competitive, almost every major U.S. brokerage began to provide the same.

Now, by and large, most outlets commission-free stock and ETF trades at a minimum, with some also offering commission-free options and/or mutual fund trades.

Fees aren’t completely gone, however.

Many brokerages still charge contract fees on options, for instance, and others charge for mutual fund trades. They also tend to charge for trading more complicated assets, such as futures, forex, and cryptocurrency.

Brokerages also make money in other ways, such as interest on margin loans, fees for premium services, and lending user-owned securities.

The good news for casual/beginner traders: You typically won’t be impacted by these fees. However, frequent traders, or those who trade more exotic assets, will have to deal with them—but they sometimes can access premium accounts that cut down on these particular fees.

Can you invest for free?

Just like trading, yes, you can invest for free.

If you’re a long-term investor, commission-free stock and ETF trading is really all you need to be able to build a buy-and-hold portfolio. If your preference is for long-term investing only, you should also focus on a platform that offers fee-free mutual fund trades as well, which you can pair with ETFs (or use them on their own) to build a diversified set of holdings.

Also pay attention to the type of investment accounts you’re allowed to open within a platform. Webull, for instance, allows not just taxable brokerage accounts, but also tax-advantaged traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs.

What are free stock trading apps?

A stock trading app is simply the software you use to buy and sell stocks and other securities through a brokerage. So, for instance, if E*Trade is your broker, then the stock trading apps you could use to access that would include the E*Trade mobile app and the Power E*Trade mobile app.

Virtually all brokerages have mobile apps, as well as web apps (versions of the software you access through a browser). Some platforms, such as Interactive Brokers and Moomoo, have desktop apps—apps that live on your computer and operate separately from your browser. Most of the time, desktop apps are the most powerful version of a brokerage’s software.

For the most part, “free stock trading apps” is simply another way of saying “free brokerage accounts.” A brokerage won’t have you sign up for an account for free, but then charge you for their mobile account. However, in a few instances—such as Axos Self-Directed Trading, with its Elite subscription—a trading platform might offer an additional premium subscription that provides additional benefits.

What are the best stock trading apps?

We feel all of the following apps have something to offer prospective stock traders. In no particular order …

• IBKR
• Robinhood
• SoFi
• Webull
• E*Trade
• Schwab
• Vanguard
• Moomoo

What is the best stock trading platform?

Based on our review of all the available stock trading apps in the market, we believe Webull offers the most compelling stock trading app overall. It offers an intuitive interface and design, useful analytics tools, easy trading and charges nothing for commissions.

Because this app likely covers most retail investors’ needs, we rate it as the best stock trading platform for beginning to intermediate traders.

How do I teach myself to trade stocks?

Despite what you might have seen in certain movies, you shouldn’t trade stocks based on guesses or gut feelings. You need to learn the basics—how to evaluate a stock’s fundamentals, read charts, place orders, etc.

Ideally you can take classes or have a mentor teach you. But it’s also possible to learn how to trade stocks all on your own.

You can study the practices and teachings of successful investors such as Warren Buffett. You can also immerse yourself in investment websites, books, articles, videos, and news segments.

Of course, some people prefer homework, while others prefer labs. So for some, one of the best ways to teach yourself stock trading is to practice. But … how do you trade stocks to gain experience without spending your hard-earned money?

For those nervous about spending your hard-earned money, you’re in luck. It’s possible to build up your confidence by first practicing stock trading through a simulator.

Webull, Interactive Brokers, and Schwab are among brokers and trading apps that offer “paper trading”—a free simulator that allows you to try out hypothetical trades to see what your profit or loss would have been based on your decisions.

Can I start trading with $100?

There has never been a better time to start investing with little money—even a solitary Benjamin. With a little focus, you can really stretch $100 into quite a powerful starter portfolio.

For one, start with a brokerage or trading app that has no minimum required deposit and no commissions on at least stock and ETF trading—which is basically just about every product we mentioned above. That keeps more of your money out of the brokerage’s pocket, and more of it buying stocks and funds.

We’d also suggest going with a company that offers fractional shares on stocks at the very least, if not also exchange-traded funds.

While the dollar amount a stock trades for typically doesn’t say much about the quality of a stock—a $50 stock isn’t necessarily any better than a $100 stock, for instance—uber-cheap stocks (those that trade under $5, but especially “penny stocks,” which trade under $1) tend to be riskier than most. So, if you have to buy whole shares, $100 won’t get you very far—maybe three or four companies—and you’ll be locked out of many popular stocks that cost triple-digits for just one share!

But with fractional shares, you can typically invest as little as $1 in each individual company, allowing you to spread your money around many different companies. This is called “diversification” and helps protect you against a decline in any single stock.

Another option is to invest in an indexed ETF or mutual fund (or two, or three). Index funds are typically cheaper than their actively managed counterparts, but they still allow you to own numerous stocks, bond, or other assets for very low annual fees—often just a few cents per year on that $100 you’re investing. That said, a few of the most popular index funds trade for more than $100 per share, so using an app or brokerage that offers fractional ETF shares is a great way to maximize your money.

Are stocks trading apps safe?

Absolutely.

That’s not to say you can’t/won’t lose money from investing in stocks. While stocks typically go up in the long term, many people experience losing years, and some overly aggressive investors can lose a lot by making just a few bad choices.

But if you do lose money, it shouldn’t be because of the brokerage service itself. These accounts offer Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) insurance on any cash held in them, as well as a variety of other investor protections.

How do I choose the best stock trading apps?

The best stock trading app for me isn’t necessarily the best stock trading app for you.

Maybe you’re more experienced with options. Maybe you’ve only started investing. Maybe you want as many research tools as possible. Maybe you rarely trade, so all you care about is a clean, simple interface that’s easy to use when you need it.

Your preferences are ultimately what will determine which app or brokerage account is best suited for you.

When we compiled this list of the best stock trading apps, we considered a number of features that are important to traders of varying experience levels. Among them?

• Commissions and other fees
• Account minimums
• Margin rates
• Stock charts
• Stock screeners
• Stock alerts
• Fractional shares
• Breadth of assets to invest in (stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, bonds, etc.)
• Educational materials
• Robo-advisory services
• Access to news and research
• Real-time market data
• Trading programming languages
• Intuitive interfaces
• Social experiences
• Other noteworthy features

Naturally, our best stock trading apps naturally include a large number of these features. But even then, a few of them are subjective.

For instance, one person’s easy-to-use app might be a chore to someone else. A library of educational articles might be attractive to you, but your best friend might prefer video lessons. Access to Reuters news might not appeal to you, but you might want to tap into Morningstar’s research.

Thus, we encourage you to base your decision on what’s important to you—not just on what we’ve deemed the best.

What are the advantages of using an investing app to trade stocks?

When we say “investing apps,” we’re talking about platforms that either prioritize long-term investing or have plenty of trading features but still have everything that long-term investors need.

The biggest advantage of using investing apps to trade stocks is they often have lower fees on more basic trading functions, and/or have a wider variety of basic trading functions that are low- or now-cost. They’ll also often have stronger educational libraries for those just getting started.

Many investing apps are attractive to both beginner and experienced traders. Firstrade, Webull, and TD Ameritrade stand out—yes, they have plenty of features that very much make them attractive investing apps for long-term investors, but they’re also teeming with features that are appropriate for intermediate and advanced traders.

What are the disadvantages of using an investing app to trade stocks?

The downside of some investing-focused apps is that they either have higher costs for advanced trading, or their tools aren’t as robust as active traders want/need. Mobile investing apps in particular are designed for simplicity, often intentionally narrowing options for better ease of use, while mobile trading apps might be a little clunkier but offer far more functionality.

This might raise the question: “Should I use a stock trading app and an investing app?”

It depends on what you need, and how much more added complexity you want in your day. On the one hand, using two apps would give you one platform with, say, lower options contract fees, better margin rates, and excellent tools that help you shape your stock trades—and another that, say, allowed you to easily search and research long-term holdings, and buy mutual funds for free.

But while you absolutely want to practice diversification in your portfolio, do you necessarily want to diversify where your money is held? Spreading your investments across stock app after stock app makes it even more difficult to keep track of your overall portfolio.

The Best Stock Trading Apps and Platforms

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Free stock trading apps are becoming more and more popular. No surprise here. For one, being able to trade fee-free, with a small amount of money, and from the convenience of your smartphone, has made stock trading accessible to more people than ever before.

And thanks to pushes in financial education, more people want to invest than ever before.

Whether you’re a beginner trader or more of an expert, there are stock app options to fit your needs. So, take one or more of the stock apps above for a spin, and start investing toward your future.