5 Best Stock Trading Apps for 2023 (2024)

The best stock investing apps must stand out across all categories: They must be easy to use, have excellent design, deliver a fully featured online trading experience and manage to pack powerful tools on those small screens without navigating to finding what you need a nightmare. The app also needs to be reliable. Trust me on that; I’ve had a screen freeze in the middle of a futures trade and it’s not fun.

For our 2023 Annual Review, we meticulously tested 24 top stock trading apps from 17 brokers and reviewed each one across more than 25 different features. To score high marks, a broker needed to provide an excellent stock trading experience across many scenarios. Testing was conducted using an iPhone 12 Pro.

Here’s how our top five finishers measure up.

» Looking for forex trading apps? See our picks for best forex trading apps on our sister site, ForexBrokers.com.

Feature
Market Movers (Top Gainers)info	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Stream Live TVinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Videos on Demandinfo	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes
Stock Alertsinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Option Chains Viewableinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Watch List (Real-time)info	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Watch List (Streaming)info	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Watch Lists - Create & Manageinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Watch Lists - Column Customizationinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes
Watch List - Column Filteringinfo	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Visit Site	Visit Site		Visit Site		Visit Site

Comparison Tool: Compare 100+ features side-by-side

Note: TD Ameritrade was bought by Charles Schwab in 2020. After years of preparation, as of August 2023, Schwab is migrating TD Ameritrade accounts to Schwab in batches. We will update our rankings shortly.

A top contender among mobile apps in 2023 for both iPhone and Android devices, TD Ameritrade offers two powerful apps and $0 commissions when you trade. The suite consists of TD Ameritrade Mobile, which closely resembles the client web portal; and the powerful thinkorswim app, whose tools and advanced charting mirror what’s found in its web and desktop counterparts.

TD Ameritrade Mobile is great for everyday investors, with features such as news, price alerts, syncing watch lists and basic charts, along with ratings and research reports from third-party providers.

The thinkorswim mobile app comes with some of the most advanced charting packages available via mobile, with over 400 indicators — that’s significant for technical analysis pros. The ability to prepare complex order types is also made easy thanks to an intelligent layout and design. Traders can access news headlines and TV streams from CNBC alongside the TD Ameritrade Network, with nonstop broadcasting throughout the trading week. Read our full review of TD Ameritrade.

TD Ameritrade Mobile app gallery

TD Ameritrade thinkorswim app gallery

Interactive Brokers is a perennial standout for its powerful flagship platform, desktop-based Trader Workstation. It offers three apps: the flagship, do-almost-everything IBKR app, GlobalTrader, which caters to beginner global stock investors, and Impact, which focuses on environmental, social and governance (ESG) investing.

IBKR Mobile, though perhaps not best suited for beginners, puts just about any tool or feature an investor may want at their fingertips. Highlights of the app include lightning-quick streaming data, full-featured order entry, portfolio management, and robust charting, with 70 optional indicators and easy customizations. One puzzling drawback is that stock alerts cannot be delivered via push notification and come via email instead.

Interactive Brokers also offers one of the best stock apps for investors who screen for social and environmental issues. Its Impact app is aimed at the growing interest in ESG (environmental, social and governance) investing. Users choose personal values, such as clean water, and identify corporate practices they consider objectionable, such as animal testing or carbon emissions. The app identifies companies that support those values and investors can even “swap” portfolio positions with a single trade.

GlobalTrader, though it’s new enough to be a bit of a work in progress, is a delight in simplicity. It offers the same ease of use as industry disruptor Robinhood, while providing Interactive Brokers’ tremendous capabilities as your investing interests and knowledge grows. GlobalTrader allows fractional shares, crypto trading, and lets you access 90 markets worldwide. Read our full review of Interactive Brokers.

IBKR Mobile app gallery

IBKR Mobile Global Trader app gallery

E*TRADE ranks at the top for its mobile app suite for both iPhone and Android devices. The E*TRADE package consists of the E*TRADE Mobile app, optimized for everyday investing, and the feature-rich Power E*TRADE app, which is geared more toward trading.

E*TRADE Mobile has many features tucked away and is great not just for beginners, but more demanding investors as well, with a surprising amount of depth and variety of tools. There are advanced research reports, and charts come with 10 indicators. It’s easy to navigate the app and discover new features.

Power E*TRADE, in comparison, is the best trading app for very active traders. It offers complex orders for trading, including advanced options orders, and more than 100 charting indicators. It’s a high-powered platform with sophisticated tools for active traders, but its modern design and interface make the app easy to use. Read our full review of E*TRADE.

E*TRADE Mobile app gallery

Power E*TRADE Mobile app gallery

A demo of E*TRADE Mobile, the broker’s more beginner-friendly mobile app.

Fidelity, our 2023 Best Overall broker, offers multiple mobile apps for Android and iPhone devices, with its investing app the primary offering for trading and everyday investing. Whether you’re doing your banking, transferring money between accounts, managing orders or placing trades, Fidelity’s investing app is excellent for everyday investors, while novices will appreciate Bloom and Spire.

The app features streaming TV from Bloomberg, consistent with Fidelity’s Active Trader Pro desktop platform, in addition to a personalized feed, news headlines and research. Drawbacks: Charting is basic, and the app is not optimized for day trading or more demanding traders. The layout, however, is excellent; and with innovative features continually being added, users can also toggle to a Beta Experience for a more simplified version. Read our full review of Fidelity.

Fidelity Mobile app gallery

Fidelity Bloom app and Spire app gallery

Merrill Edge provides a unique client experience that makes checking your portfolios or researching stocks and funds a pleasure. Merrill strikes the perfect balance between providing enough information to make informed decisions without drowning users in detail – though there’s plenty of information available when needed. We think it’s a game changer. Customers of Bank of America (Merrill’s corporate parent) will find Merrill Edge a convenient way to add self-directed investing to their banking relationship, too. Read our full review of Merrill Edge.

Merrill Edge Mobile app gallery

Merrill Edge Mobile app Stock Story tool gallery

In addition to our top five mobile brokers in 2023, we reviewed 12 others. Here are the highlights of our mobile app testing.

Ally Invest — Ally Invest scored well in our review for ease of use, and offers a number of essential trading features on its mobile app. However, as a stand-alone broker, we find it trails industry leaders overall. Read full review.

Charles Schwab — Schwab, a leading full-service broker, provides a consistent and generally enjoyable experience for mobile trading, but it lacks core functionality in two key areas for active traders: alerts and quotes. Read full review.

Firstrade — Firstrade’s mobile app is appealing and easy to use and provides good charting, but overall, its tools are lacking and trail the offerings of industry leaders. Read full review.

J.P. Morgan Self-Directed Investing — The bank-brokerage’s mobile app provides clean access to investing as well as education and market news, but it’s very basic and navigation could be cleaner. Read full review.

Robinhood — Robinhood’s mobile-forward ease of use makes it very beginner-friendly, but its tools are extremely limited and leave it well behind industry leaders. Read full review.

SoFi Invest — SoFi’s app is easy to use and navigate, but overall its tools and features are limited. Read full review.

TradeStation — The mobile app is meticulously designed and provides a high degree of functionality. Thanks to Matrix (ladder trading) and complex options trading support, full day trading functionality is incorporated. Traders can also now access their TradeStation Crypto account directly through the app. Charting on mobile is robust, clean, and extremely thorough. Read our full review of TradeStation.

Tradier — Tradier’s app is straightforward and easy to use, but lacks advanced functionality and is not beginner-friendly. Read full review.

Vanguard — As a broker focused on long-term, buy-and-hold investing, Vanguard’s mobile app, like its desktop platform, is limited in its functionality. Read full review.

Webull — A disruptor in the field, Webull just missed making our winners list for 2023. Its mobile-first focus and ease of use make it one to watch. Read full review.

A walkthrough of Webull's mobile app.

Mobile apps have become an increasingly competitive area for online brokers. The table below shows how our top picks for mobile apps in 2023 have ranked over time in the Mobile Trading Apps category of the StockBrokers.com Annual Review, now in its 13th year. Ratings are out of a total of 5 stars.

Pros

• Can invest and check your portfolio on the go.
• No need for elaborate trading setups.
• Setting up trade alerts can allow you to react quickly when the market moves.

Cons

• Charts and research are often hard to read on a smaller screen.
• Many apps have far fewer features than what’s available on the brokers’ websites or desktop platforms.
• Connectivity can be an issue.

Every investor is different, so there’s no one-size-fits-all stock trading app. Beginning long-term investors will love Merrill Edge’s Stock Story feature, which presents important stock information in a friendly but very informative format. New traders will appreciate Webull’s ease of use. Fidelity offers long-term investors a wealth of information. If you want a torrent of educational tutorials and webinars, TD Ameritrade has you covered. If you’re focused on foreign stock investing, Interactive Brokers is able to buy and sell stocks in many foreign markets.

• Best overall: TD Ameritrade
• Best stock app for investors: Fidelity
• Beginning chart traders: Webull
• Beginning long term investors: Merrill Edge
• Foreign stock investors: Interactive Brokers’ GlobalTrader

In our extensive analysis of brokers for 2023, we found the best free stock trading app, as well as the best app experience overall, to be that of TD Ameritrade. The broker offers $0 commissions on trading and two powerful apps: TD Ameritrade Mobile and the powerful thinkorswim app. See our full review of TD Ameritrade.

For beginners in 2023, the best stock trading apps are TD Ameritrade and Fidelity. Between the two brokers, TD Ameritrade has the edge for educational resources and trading tools. Meanwhile, Fidelity stands out for ease of use.

Some popular trading apps that earned high marks on StockBrokers.com are:

• Fidelity Investments
• Power E*TRADE
• Global Trader by Interactive Brokers
• tastytrade
• TradeStation
• thinkorswim, now transitioning from TD Ameritrade to Charles Schwab
• Merrill Edge
• Webull

Professional traders — the ones who trade for funds and other investment managers — use highly specialized and very expensive downloadable applications that cater to the type of trading they do. They also subscribe to professional data and research providers, such as the Bloomberg Professional Service, which costs $27,000 per year for the first terminal.

Now that almost 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 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.

Follow these steps to make a mobile stock purchase. There may be minor variations between brokers for these steps.

• Open an account with a broker. Most brokers have no minimum deposit or investment minimum, so you can try them out for free. See our top picks above.
• Once you have opened an account with a broker, deposit money. Some give instant credit for deposits via e-checks.
• Choose a stock. You may have to search for its symbol. Once you have it, there will be a “trade” or “buy” and “sell” buttons. Tap “buy.”
• Select the number of shares or dollar amount you want to buy.
• Choose either a market order or a limit order. A limit order specifies the maximum you are willing to pay for the stock.
• Select time in force, either for the day, or good-until-canceled.
• Hit confirm, check for any errors, then send the trade.

Yes, several mobile apps allow you to practice stock trading without risking real money. Here are several brokers with simulated trading:

• eToro
• Interactive Brokers
• E*TRADE
• TradeStation
• Tradier
• Webull

Many brokers today offer commission-free trading, also known as zero-dollar commissions. Our picks for the best apps for trading stocks for free come from the following brokers in 2023:

• Fidelity - Fidelity mobile app for Android and iOS devices
• Interactive Brokers - IBKR mobile and IMPACT app for Android and iOS devices
• Charles Schwab - Schwab mobile app for Android and iOS devices
• TradeStation - TradeStation mobile app for Android and iOS devices
• TD Ameritrade - TD Ameritrade app and thinkorswim mobile for Android and iOS
• E*TRADE - E*TRADE app and Power E*TRADE mobile app for Android and iOS
• Tastytrade - tastytrade app for Android and iOS

Trading apps from established U.S. based brokerage firms are safe against theft and broker insolvency. Brokers in the United States are among the highest-regulated financial service providers in the world. They go to enormous lengths to protect your privacy and you are protected against the loss of cash and securities by the Security Investors Protection Corporation if, for some reason your broker is financially distressed (up to $500,000 in securities and $250,000 in cash per customer). Many brokers buy additional coverage to insure even larger amounts.

Remember, SIPC insurance does not cover against losing money from your investments going down. Your investing decisions will play a far bigger part than the risk of fraud or theft in determining whether your portfolio is safe.

The safest stock apps come from the overall best and most trustworthy brokers. The following brokers offer the safest stock apps in 2023:

• E*TRADE: Best stock app for traders
• Tastytrade: Best app for options
• Fidelity: Best stock app for investors
• Interactive Brokers: Best for professionals
• TradeStation: Great for tools and technology

The best apps allow login with biometrics (fingerprint or retina, for example) and other features such as two-factor authentication to reduce the chance of accounts being hacked.

Most importantly, a broker that has proper security measures across its websites, platforms and applications will have you covered in the event of a compromise.

Apps from brokers like Webull and Robinhood may give you a small amount of a stock of their choice — usually one or two shares — as a way to incentivize you to trade and invest, subject to certain terms and eligibility conditions.

Often the free shares will be given after you first open and fund a new brokerage account, or when you complete certain actions for the first time, such as linking your bank account.

Our thorough product testing of stock trading apps includes evaluation of iPhone functionality. Here are StockBrokers.com’s top choices for 2023, alongside their user ratings from Apple’s app store:

• TD Ameritrade: TD Ameritrade Mobile — user rating 4.5 stars | thinkorswim app — user rating 4.7 stars
• Interactive Brokers: IBKR mobile app — user rating 3.9 stars | IMPACT app — user rating 4.5 stars | GlobalTrader – 3.8 stars
• E*TRADE: E*TRADE Mobile — user rating 4.6 stars | Power E*TRADE — user rating 4.5 stars
• Fidelity: Fidelity mobile app for iPhone — user rating 4.8 stars | Fidelity Bloom – user rating 4.7 stars | Fidelity Spire – 3.4 stars
• Merrill Edge: Merrill Edge app – user rating 4.6 stars

StockBrokers.com thoroughly tests mobile stock trading apps. For 2023, these are our top picks for mobile functionality and ease of use, along with the apps’ user ratings on Google Play.

• TD Ameritrade: TD Ameritrade app — user rating 3.6 stars | thinkorswim app — user rating 3.9 stars
• Interactive Brokers: IBKR mobile app — user rating 4.3 stars | IMPACT app — user rating 4.4 stars | GlobalTrader – 3.9 stars
• E*TRADE: E*TRADE Mobile — user rating 4.6 stars | Power E*TRADE — user rating 4.5 stars
• Fidelity: Fidelity mobile app for Android — user rating 4.2 stars | Fidelity Bloom – user rating 4.7 stars | Fidelity Spire – 3.4 stars
• Merrill Edge: Merrill Edge app – user rating 3.9 stars

Yes. Nowadays, most online brokers offer no minimum deposit to open an account, commission-free stock and ETF trades, as well as the availability of fractional shares. As a result, new traders can start trading with a small investment such as $100. To compare features and pricing, use our online broker comparison tool.

Your level of experience with investing and your areas of interest in stock trading will help you identify the best investing app for you. Based on our extensive testing by industry professionals, here are StockBrokers.com's recommendations: