Best Stock Trading Apps for Beginners—Top Picks
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Best Investment App for Beginners
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Free Futures Paper Trading App With Educational Resources
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Best Stock Trading App for Beginners
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Popular Micro-Investing and Financial App
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4.6
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4.5
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4.5
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4.2
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Free to access, no commissions on stocks and ETFs.
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Free. Reduced commissions with monthly account: $99/mo. Greatly reduced commissions with lifetime account: $1,499. Data fees separate.*
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Get free stock worth $5 to $200
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Acorns Bronze: $4/mo. Acorns Silver: $8/mo. Acorns Gold: $12/mo.
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Best Stock Trading Platforms for Beginners
| App | Apple App Store Rating / "Best For" | Fees | Promotions |
|---|---|---|---|
 Plynk | ☆ 4.6 / 5 Beginning and intermediate investors | Free to access, no commissions* on stocks and ETFs. | Earn up to $250 annually with a 25% cash match on your dividends. |
 NinjaTrader | ☆ 4.2 / 5 Futures and forex traders, beginners looking for free sim trading | Free, $99/mo. (reduced commissions), or $1,499 one-time payment (greatly reduced commissions); data fees may apply | None |
 Robinhood | ☆ 4.3 / 5 Beginners | Commission-free trades | Free stock with signup and linked bank account ($5-$200 value) |
 Acorns | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Automated investing | Bronze: $4/mo. Silver: $8/mo. Gold: $12/mo. | $20 bonus when you set up recurring investments and make your first successful recurring investment |
 Webull | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Self-directed investors and intermediate traders | No-commission stock, ETF, and options trades. Webull Premium: $3.99/mo. or $40/yr. | Frequently changes but typically involves free stock or deposit bonuses. See Webull box below for latest bonus. |
 SoFi Invest® | ☆ 4.8 / 5 Active trading and robo-investing | No-commission stock and ETF trades. SoFi Robo-Investing: 0.25%/yr. AUM advisory fee. SoFi Plus: $10/mo. | Fund a new account with at least $50 within 30 days of opening an account, and get up to $1,000 in stock.* |
 moomoo | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Advanced traders | Commission-free equities trading | New users get up to $1,000 in free NVDA stock when they sign up using our link and make a qualifying deposit. |
 Public.com | ☆ 4.7 / 5 Investors seeking traditional and alternative investments | Public: Zero-commission U.S.-listed stock, ETF, and options trades. Premium: $8/mo. (free w/ balance of $50,000 or more) | None |
 CIBC | ☆ 3.8 / 5 Canadian traders | U.S. and Canadian stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds: $6.95 per trade for investors (150 or fewer trades per quarter); $4.95 per trade for active traders (150+ trades per quarter). Money market mutual funds: $0. Mutual funds: $6.95. Options trades also include a $1.25 contract fee.** | Trade 200+ ETFs commission-free. Free fractional trading of hundreds of stocks and ETFs until Oct. 31, 2027.* |
 E*Trade | ☆ 4.6 / 5 Options traders | Commission-free trades | Free account bonus commensurate with contributed funds |
| Note: Apple App Store Rating is as of Oct. 7, 2026. | |||
1. Plynk (Best Investing App for Beginners)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Beginner investors
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Plynk® is an investing app designed to not only help you start putting your money to work, but teach you about the markets and your money along the way—and now it will help you grow your dividend income.
The Plynk app charges no account opening fees and lets you start investing with as little as $1. It offers commission-free trades on 5,000 stocks and nearly 2,000 ETFs, and also provides access to more than 50 mutual funds and four cryptocurrencies. You can use the app as a traditional brokerage account, but if you’d prefer the potential tax advantages of retirement accounts, the Plynk app also allows you to open traditional IRAs and Roth IRAs.
One of the app’s newest features is a dividend match. Plynk will provide a cash match of 25% on dividends generated within the account, allowing you to earn up to $250 extra annually.
The app is more than appropriate for seasoned investors, but it’s also extremely friendly to beginners. It’s light on jargon and instead uses straightforward, easy-to-understand language to explain investing concepts in its tips and how-tos. The Plynk app also offers expert ratings on stocks and funds that novice and experienced investors alike can use to identify high-quality opportunities, and it allows you to browse stocks and ETFs using thematic categories, such as AI, gaming, and dividend stocks.
Want to start building good investing habits right off the bat? The Plynk app offers automatic investing—you choose how much you want to invest, in which securities, and how often, and the app processes the trading from there. Want help building a consistent habit? Plynk’s Steady Start feature is a 52-week ramp-up program that starts your contribution at $1 in the first week, then ups that contribution by a dollar each week—so by the time you’re done, you’ll have contributed $1,378 in a year. Want to see how much you’ve been paid in interest and dividends? Check out Plynk’s Income Hub.
The Plynk app’s educational tools are among the best from the apps we’ve reviewed:
- Beginners will want to check out Plynk’s simulated trading feature, which lets you use virtual money in a real-market environment as you learn how to make trades, test strategies, and gain experience.
- Curious about how certain investments would’ve worked? Plynk’s virtual portfolios let you “invest” virtual money to see how any portfolio you can think up would have performed depending on when you started investing in its underlying stocks and ETFs.
- The Plynk website’s “Learn With Plynk” section teaches investors about important basic concepts such as diversification, dividends, and dollar-cost averaging.
Plynk’s customer support is staffed by knowledgeable professionals, and your account is backed by encryption, multifactor authentication, and 24/7 fraud monitoring.
Begin today: Sign up with Plynk using our exclusive link to kick-start your investing journey. Or if you want to learn more, check out our Plynk review.
- Plynk® is an effective yet beginner-friendly way to start investing in thousands of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and cryptocurrencies.
- Plynk charges no account opening fees, and you can start investing for as little as $1.
- Enjoy commission-free trades* on 5,000 stocks and more than 3,400 ETFs. Plynk also supports mutual funds and cryptocurrencies.
- Boost your yield with a cash match of 25% on dividend income.**
- Earn a 3.48% APY on uninvested cash.
- Track dividends and interest with Income Hub.
- Put your investing on autopilot with automated investing or Steady Start.
- Just getting started? Simulated trading and virtual portfolios help you get your feet wet and build experience without putting any money at risk.
- No account fees
- Smart design and smooth user experience
- Fractional shares
- Designed for beginning investors
- Virtual portfolios and simulated trading
- Earn interest on uninvested cash
- One of the best automated investing programs we've seen (Steady Start)
- Elite educational resources and tools
- Lacks features such as options trading and advanced charting that more experienced traders prefer
2. NinjaTrader (Best for Free Paper Trading for Beginners)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Active traders specializing in day trading futures and forex (and other assets through third party brokers)
- Platforms: Desktop app (Windows), web, and mobile app (iOS and Android)
NinjaTrader is one of the oldest and best known trading platforms on the market.
Specializing in technical analysis tools, real-time analysis, and a clean, fully customizable charting experience, NinjaTrader allows you to employ a fully automated trading strategy through its own brokerage service for futures, options on futures, and forex trading. And while that might seem like a limited set of assets (especially for being mentioned as a stock trading app and platform), NinjaTrader’s other core strengths are its ability to integrate with other brokers like IBKR, Schwab (TDAmeritrade), and others for an add-on fee and its NinjaTrader Ecosystem.
This community of vendors and plugins enrich the NinjaTrader experience through offering education-rich content for free and, among other things, allows you to attach NinjaTrader to several supporting brokerages to give traders access to other markets, including options on futures, contracts-for-differences (CFDs), and equities.
NinjaTrader’s platform offers advanced charting with more than 100 technical indicators, advanced order types, automated trading, order flow analysis, streaming historical market replay, the SuperDOM (depth of market) tool, and more. The NinjaTrader desktop app is the most customizable of the platform’s versions, offering access to “thousands of trading apps and add-ons,” you can still enjoy most of NinjaTrader’s functions via its web and mobile apps.
Unfamiliar with futures trading? Anyone with an account can use NinjaTrader’s free futures trading simulator, which includes a backtesting engine that lets you use historical market data to simulate automated trading strategies and see how they would have performed.
You can download and use NinjaTrader’s platform for free, but you can reduce your commissions by subscribing to a monthly or lifetime account. Additional data does carry additional costs, however. For instance, for CME Level I top of book data (CME, CBOT, NYMEX, and COMEX), it’s $12 per month and Level II costs $41 per month for non-professional users. Professional users pay $135 per month per exchange. ICE Market data also costs $140 per month per exchange for all users.
NinjaTrader’s robust community and suite of tools have established it as a leading charting software—be it for stocks, futures, forex, or other assets. The burgeoning educational guides, video library and free ongoing webinars provide ample access to the understanding traders need to hone their craft. Plus, the platform offers an easy (and free) way to learn what the platform can offer through its SIM trading environment. Consider signing up for a NinjaTrader account and taking the service for a test-drive.
- NinjaTrader is a brokerage account offering access to futures and forex directly, and several other asset classes through integration with third-party brokers.
- The robust charting tools, technical analysis capabilities, and real-time full depth of market data empower active traders to make informed decisions.
- The NinjaTrader Ecosystem offers access to thousands of vendors and plugins and includes a comprehensive educational offering for traders to improve their understanding and execution of trades.
- NinjaTrader offers a free SIM trading environment designed to employ what you've learned from their ecosystem's educational content without risking your own money.
- If you open and fund a NinjaTrader account, you'll receive up to $250 in commission rates for trades placed within 30 days of your funding date.**
- Excellent charting and technical analysis tools
- Partial and full strategy automation
- NinjaTrader Ecosystem offers apps and add-ons
- Free SIM trading environment suitable for beginners
- Robust educational guides, videos and webinars
- Trading equities requires using a supporting broker
3. Robinhood (Best Trading Platform for Beginners)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Beginner traders
- Platform: 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.
However, Robinhood Retirement still stands out from the pack because it’s the only IRA provider that offers matching funds. If you open up an IRA with Robinhood Retirement, Robinhood will match 1% of any IRA transfers, 401(k) rollovers, and annual contributions to your account—and 3% if you pay for the Robinhood Gold service ($5 per month)—typically almost immediately after you make your contribution. Better still: Any matches made on annual contributions don’t count toward your contribution limit.
(Friendly message from your Young and the Invested tax expert: The reason the IRA Match doesn’t count toward your annual IRA contribution limit is because Robinhood treats it as interest income in your IRA.)
Robinhood Gold, which I mentioned above, is a monthly subscription service that offers several more features mostly geared toward advanced traders. Benefits include Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, a lower charged rate on margin investing than regular accounts, higher interest on uninvested brokerage cash via the cash sweep program, and bigger Instant Deposits.
Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today.
- Robinhood is a pioneer in the investing app world, offering commission-free trades on stocks, ETFs, options, and cryptocurrency, as well as one of the deepest libraries of investing educational content.
- Investing for retirement? Robinhood will match 1% of any IRA transfers or 401(k) rollovers, as well as any annual contributions*, made to your Robinhood Retirement account—and you can get a 3% match on any new contributions if you subscribe to Robinhood Gold.
- Want more advanced trading tools? Download Robinhoold Legend—a desktop trading platform with real-time data, customizable layouts, deeper asset analysis, and more—for free.
- Robinhood's robo-advisory service, Robinhood Strategies, will build you a custom portfolio of stock and bond ETFs (and individual stocks for accounts with at least $500), for a low 0.25% in AUM, which is capped at $250 annually for Robinhood Gold members.
- Robinhood Gold also includes Level II market data provided by Nasdaq, higher interest rates on uninvested brokerage cash, lower margin trading rates, bigger Instant Deposits, and access to the Robinhood Gold Card (a 3% cash-back Visa credit card).
- Special offer: Sign up for Robinhood, link a bank account, and fund your account with at least $10, and receive a randomly selected cash amount between $5 and $200 to put toward certain fractional shares.
- Very good selection of available investments in brokerage accounts
- 1% match on rollovers, IRA transfers, and new contributions to IRAs and Roth IRAs (3% new-contribution match with Robinhood Gold)
- Automated recommended portfolios
- Intuitive interface
- Robo-advisory service (Robinhood Strategies)
- Extensive educational library
- No mutual funds in brokerage or IRAs
- Match doesn't apply to Robinhood Strategies accounts
4. Acorns (Invest Simply With Pre-Built ETF Portfolios)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Investors looking for simple, automated investing
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Acorns is an investing app geared toward young adults and millennials. It’s best known for “Round-Ups,” where Acorns rounds up purchases made on linked debit and credit cards to the nearest dollar, then invests the difference on your behalf.
The Acorns investment offering itself is a simple, automated platform that uses pre-built portfolios of ETFs to keep investors exposed to stocks and bonds, which is similar to many robo-investing offerings. Acorns’ basic approach makes it one of the best investment apps for beginners.
Here’s more about what you can expect from Acorns’ varying subscription options:
- Acorns Bronze: Includes an Acorns Invest investment account, as well as Acorns Later for tax-advantaged investment options such as Roth IRAs. Also includes Acorns Checking, a bank account that has no account fees, lets you withdraw fee-free from more than 55,000 ATMs nationwide, and is paired with a debit card that can go into your digital wallet; Smart Deposit, which allows you to automatically invest a bit of each paycheck into your Acorns accounts; and, of course, Round-Ups.
- Acorns Silver: Everything in Acorns Bronze (Acorns Invest, Later, Checking, etc.), plus Premium Education, which includes live Q&As with Acorns’ expert investment team, invite-only sessions with the Acorns Support Team, access to a quarterly market report, and more; Emergency Savings with a high APY; and a 25% bonus on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200 per month).
- Acorns Gold: Everything in Silver, plus custom portfolios that allow you to hold individual stocks; live Q&As with financial experts; a 50% match on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200 per month); $10,000 in life insurance; even the ability to set up a will for free. Parents also get Acorns Early access for up to four children. And Gold is the only way to unlock Acorns Early Invest: a custodial account for your child that lets you invest for them while they’re a minor.
Silver and Gold also feature a powerful way to accelerate your savings: Later Match. While most people are aware that employers will sometimes match funds you contribute to your 401(k), “matches” are virtually unheard of in retirement accounts like IRAs, where there’s no employer to kick in extra cash. However, Acorns itself will match 1% or 3% on new contributions to IRAs for Silver and Gold subscribers, respectively.
Learn more in our Acorns review, or use our link to sign up with Acorns today.
- Acorns allows you to sign up for investment, retirement, and checking accounts for you and your family, learn how to earn more money, and grow your investing knowledge.
- Famous for investing spare change automatically through Round-Ups, this all-in-one financial app helps younger generations start investing earlier.
- Invest in expert-built portfolios made up of diversified ETFs.
- Silver tier includes perks such as a 25% match on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200/mo.), generous APYs on Checking and Emergency Fund, and live Q&As with investing experts.
- Gold tier includes perks such as a 50% match on Acorns Earn rewards (up to $200/mo.), $10,000 in life insurance, and picking individual stocks for your portfolio.
- Gold also comes with a free Acorns Early account for up to four children. It's also the only tier to offer Acorns Early Invest: a UGMA/UTMA custodial account where you can save toward your kids' future and get a 1% match on up to $7,000 in contributions annually.
- Earn even more with Later Match: Acorns will match up to 1% (Silver) or 3% (Gold) of all new IRA contributions in your first year.*
- Special offer: Get a free $20 bonus investment when you sign up with our link and start making recurring investments.**
- Robo-advisor with affordable fees (on larger portfolios)
- Fixed fee model
- Round-ups
- FDIC/SIPC insurance
- IRA match (Silver and Gold)
- High fixed fees for small balances
- Limited investment selections
- Must subscribe to Gold for any self-directed investing options
5. Webull (Best Stock Trading App for Intermediate Traders)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Self-directed investors and intermediate traders
- Platforms: Desktop app (Windows, Mac, 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.
Read more in our Webull review, or sign up at Webull today.
- Webull is a low-cost trading and investing app that allows you to invest in stocks, ETFs, options, futures, commodities, and crypto, and even participate in initial public offerings (IPOs).
- No-commission stock, ETF, and option trades (and many options have $0 contract fees).
- Trading features such as charting tools, technical indicators, customizable screeners, real-time stock alerts, and group orders.
- Let Webull manage your money for you with Webull Smart Advisor, which combines Webull's in-house investment expertise and artificial intelligence to build, manage, and rebalance an ETF portfolio for you.
- Sign up for Webull Cash Management to earn up to a 3.6% APY on uninvested cash.*
- New users get one free month of Nasdaq TotalView's Level 2 Quotes service. (That subscription costs $2.99/mo. thereafter.)
- Subscribe to Webull Premium and receive a premium APY on uninvested cash in individual and joint cash accounts, premium margin rates, a 3% match when you transfer or roll over your IRA, and an extra 3.5% match on qualifying IRA contributions.
- Special offer: Open an account and get one free month of Premium, make an initial deposit of at least 1¢ to unlock a one-month 1.4% APY boost*, and deposit $100 to receive 10 free fractional shares worth between $3 and $300.**
- Good selection of available investments
- Fractional shares
- Powerful technical analysis tools
- Offers robo-advisory services
- Accessible to beginning and intermediate users
- Voice commands
- Offers highly competitive APY through Webull Cash Management
- Does not support mutual funds
6. SoFi Invest® (Best for Personal Finance-Focused Investors)
- Available: Click “Start Today” below.
- Best for: Traders looking for an all-in-one personal finance experience
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
SoFi is a multi-faceted financial company that offers everything from credit cards and insurance to student loans and mortgages … and they also allow you to trade and invest through its SoFi Invest app.
With SoFi Invest, you can invest as actively or as passively as you’d like.
The SoFi Active Invest Brokerage Account has no required minimum balance, charges no commissions on stock, ETF, and options trades, and its options trading is free of contract fees, too. Want to put your portfolio on autopilot? SoFi’s robo-advisory services will create a portfolio for you for an annual 0.25% assets under management fee (that can be designed to address one or several goals) and auto-rebalance it for you as necessary over time.
The interface is still very much geared toward younger, less experienced investors—everything is focused on simplicity and ease of use, rather than an expanse of sophisticated tools. SoFi also offers budget-friendly features such as fractional shares, which allow you to invest for as little as $5. And SoFi even provides a social element, such as bringing SoFi members together at exclusive events.
Unlike many brokerage companies that might have more limited offerings, SoFi’s app allows you to manage a much wider range of financial services and products, such as banking, student loans, insurance, and mortgages.
Want to put your portfolio on autopilot? SoFi’s robo-advisory services will create a portfolio for you for an annual 0.25% assets under management fee (that can be designed to address one or several goals) and auto-rebalance it for you as necessary over time.
While SoFi Invest is free to use, you can also subscribe to SoFi Plus—a $10-per-month subscription tier that can unlock more than $1,000 per year in extra value. SoFi Plus perks include a match on recurring investment deposits, preferred access to initial public offerings, higher cash-back rewards on certain SoFi credit cards, home mortgage discounts, rate discounts on student loan refinancing and new personal loans, and a temporary boost on SoFi Savings APY, among others.
SoFi also occasionally has sign-up bonuses attached to its brokerage accounts, which you can read about in the box below. Want to open an account? Click “Start today.”
- SoFi Invest allows you to trade or invest in stocks, ETFs, and options with no commissions and no account minimums. You can also participate in some initial public offerings (IPOs).
- Invest for as little as $5 with fractional shares.
- Robo-advisory services, including goal planning and auto-rebalancing, available for annual 0.25% AUM fee.
- Subscribe to SoFi Plus to unlock more than $1,000 per year in extra value, including a 1% match on recurring investment deposits, preferred IPO access, higher cash-back rewards on certain SoFi credit cards, a six-month APY boost, and more.
- Special offer: Get up to $1,000 in stock when you open and fund a new Active Invest account.*
- Good selection of available investments
- No options contract fees
- DIY and robo-investing options
- Fractional shares
- No mutual funds
- Limited trading tools
- No tax-loss harvesting
- No socially responsible robo-advisor functionality
7. Moomoo (Stock Trading App With Low Margin Rates)
- 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, thus why we believe it merits a mention on this beginner stock trading app article. 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 as some of the other apps on this list, 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.
For Moomoo disclaimer, please see the fine print at the bottom of this article.
- Moomoo is an all-in-one investment app geared toward stock, ETF, and options traders who want to work with real-time market data at the ready.
- The service offers free Level 2 market data, offering more insight into the trading activity below the NBBO surface shown on many financial data sites.
- Use the service's powerful stock charting software capabilities to find trading opportunities.
- Get a great return on uninvested cash: Moomoo currently offers a 4.1% APY from its cash sweep program, though current promo offers 8.1% for a limited time.
- Special offer: New users get up to $1,000 in free NVDA stock when they sign up using our link and make a qualifying deposit,* as well as a three-month APY boost (to a total 8.1% APY on uninvested cash).
- Additional special offer for transfers: New customers who transfer assets into a Moomoo account can also receive a 3% match on their transfer up to $20,000 (for a reward cap of $600). New users who transfer in $50,000 or more and maintain for three days will also receive two suite tickets to a New York Mets game.
- Free Level 2 market data
- Free powerful stock charting software
- Free paper trading
- Low margin rates
- Fewer features than peers
- No robo-advisor functionality
8. Public.com (Best Stock App With Alternative Assets)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: New investors with limited capital
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
Public.com, which is geared toward Millennials and Gen-Zers, is different from many other investing apps.
Yes, Public has the basics: Users can trade individual stocks and ETFs with no commissions. It’s also a micro-investing app thanks to its fractional shares feature, which allows users to spend as little as $5 to invest. But Public has also been widening its investment lineup—while it still doesn’t offer mutual funds, it does provide access to options, individual bonds, 40 different cryptocurrencies, and even alternative assets, from art to sneakers.
That last point really sets Public apart. Alternative assets are a relative rarity among investing apps. They can be difficult to research (and thus difficult to properly invest in), but they can provide uncorrelated returns compared to the stock and bond markets, so many savvy investors like to diversify into these assets.
The “Public” part of the name nods to the platform’s social aspect. You can make your portfolio holdings open to other users, and conversely, you can look through other Public users’ portfolios. Investors can also connect with corporate founders and CEOs through live “Town Hall” meetings.
Users can also upgrade their experience with the $10/month Public Premium subscription.
Public Premium offers some features that are included in some free brokers’ services, but other features help to justify the cost. For instance, Premium offers extended-hours trading (8 to 9:30 a.m., and 4 to 8 p.m. EST) and stock price alerts—several competitors, such as TradeStation and E*Trade, offer these services at no charge. However, Premium also provides:
- Advanced data on companies—Public.com’s examples include Tesla quarterly deliveries by model or Apple’s annual sales by continent
- Institutional-grade research provided by Morningstar
- Members-only analysis about events including major economic report releases, earnings announcements, and more
- Up to four years’ worth of companies’ earnings calls, decks, and reports
- Exclusive audio programming by Public.com’s expert analysts
You can read more in our Public.com investing app review, or sign up today using our exclusive link.
For Public.com disclaimer, please see the fine print at the bottom of this article.
- Public.com offers zero-commission trading on thousands of stocks and ETFs, available as fractional shares. The app also allows you to invest in cryptocurrency, options, and bonds as well, and it's one of the rare brokerages that allows its users to buy alternative assets.
- Lock in a 5.3% yield with Public.com's Bond Account, which allows you to invest in a diversified portfolio of investment-grade and high-yield bonds.
- Use a social feed where members can share why they believe in certain companies (or don't) and can post comments on others' trades.
- Invest in curated lists of stocks and ETFs for people to aggregate investments by interest area or values.
- Subscribe to Public Premium for features such as advanced company-level data, Morningstar insights, and exclusive audio content from Public.com's expert analysts.
- Special offer: Receive an uncapped 1% match on transfers into a Public IRA.
- Fractional shares
- Good selection of investible assets
- Allows you to trade alternative assets
- No payment for order flow (PFOF)
- Creative social investing features
- Doesn't support mutual funds
- Limited investment research and other tools
9. CIBC Investor’s Edge (Best for Canadians)
- Available: Sign up here
- Best for: Beginner to intermediate investors
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
CIBC Investor’s Edge is a workhorse online broker that provides a satisfying experience for investors across the proficiency spectrum while charging relatively modest and transparent fees.
Investor’s Edge allows you to trade not only U.S. and Canadian stocks and ETFs, but also options, mutual funds, and bonds. And you can do so from non-registered accounts, as well as a variety of registered accounts, including FHSAs, TFSAs, RRSPs, RESPs, and more.
The Investor’s Edge platform also provides a variety of screening and charting tools, analyst reports, customizable watchlists and alerts, Regular Investment Plans, and more. You can also stay informed and up to date through CIBC’s investor learning center—which includes topics such as Investing 101, How to Trade Options, and (as you’d expect) how to trade using the Investor’s Edge platform—as well as expert videos and webinars, and various newsletters.
Note that, in addition to flat commission fees (listed below), CIBC Investor’s Edge does sometimes charge an account fee. Specifically, you’ll pay $0 when the balance of all CIBC Investor’s Edge accounts is greater than $10,000, but $100 annually if the balance is $10,000 or less. That said, CIBC requires no minimum account balance.
And CIBC is a screaming deal for younger investors. Anyone age 18 to 24 can start trading stocks and ETFs online for free—no annual fee, and no commissions—if they first open a CIBC Smart Account with CIBC Smart Start.
Whether you’re looking to get started, or are an experienced investor who just wants to lower their commissions, check out CIBC Investor’s Edge today.
- CIBC Investor's Edge is a straightforward, easy-to-use brokerage platform that allows access to a variety of investments—including stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, and more—at reasonable and transparent costs.
- Modest commissions. U.S. and Canadian stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds: $6.95 per trade for investors (150 or fewer trades per quarter); $4.95 per trade for active traders (150+ trades per quarter). Money market mutual funds: $0. Mutual funds: $6.95. Options trades also include a $1.25 contract fee.**
- Enjoy commission-free trading on more than 180 ETFs.
- Available account types include: Non-registered, FHSA, TSFA, RRSP, RESP, RRIF, LIRA, LRSP, LRIF, PRIF.
- Suite of investing and trading tools includes screening, charting, watchlists, alerts, news, education center, and more.
- Very good selection of available investments
- Large selection of registered accounts
- Modest commissions
- Fractional-share investing
- No minimum account balance
- Trading tools not as advanced as many other competitors' offerings
- $100 annual fee for low-balance accounts
10. E*Trade (Best for Options Traders)
- Available: Click “Open Account” below
- Best for: Intermediate investors
- Platforms: Web, mobile app (Apple iOS, Android)
E*Trade has long been seen as a leading stock trading app for retail investors. It allows you to invest in a wide array of assets, and it provides educational resources that will help you with investment research, portfolio analysis, and building a diversified set of holdings.
E*Trade, like most of the best stock investing apps, offers zero-commission stock, ETF, and options trading (though options still incur a 50- to 65-cent contract fee). It also has a leg up on some platforms by offering $0 commissions on mutual fund, Treasury, and new-issue bond trading. Investors also have access to futures, micro futures, and futures options, among other investment types.
If you use E*Trade, you’ll do so via one of two platforms—both of which are free, and both of which have web and mobile versions:
Power E*Trade
Power E*Trade is a trading platform designated for more intermediate-to-advanced traders. Features include:
- Advanced charting that includes intraday and historical options; more than 100 studies; over 100 drawing tools; and the ability to automatically identify technical patterns
- Snapshot Analysis, which lays out risk-reward probabilities in your options trading
- Powerful stock and trade scanner; use preset filters or customize as you wish
- Paper trading to test out strategies without putting your money at risk
- Price ladder
- Ability to design exit strategies
Like with the Power E*Trade web platform, the Power E*Trade app is a more powerful version of its basic counterpart. This app allows you to use preset scans, work with interactive charts, place complex options trades, and more.
E*Trade
The “basic” E*Trade web platform might be more suitable for beginning-to-intermediate traders and investors, but in our opinion, that doesn’t mean it’s short on features.
E*Trade’s main web platform includes everything you need to keep up to date on your portfolio, including real-time quotes, charts, market commentary, and stock news. The latter includes free access to Bloomberg TV, Thomson Reuters, and TipRanks research. Meanwhile, you’ll have ample research tools at your disposal, including stock, mutual fund, bond, and ETF screeners; trade optimizers; backtesters; and more.
Other considerations
E*Trade also touts its educational resources, which includes articles, videos, and classes, as well as monthly webinars and live events. While we wish the educational content were a bit easier to sort through, it’s a high-quality collection that will benefit investors who want to learn along the way.
Want to keep it simple? E*Trade also offers an automated investing platform, called Core Portfolios, where you can let E*Trade manage as little as $500. Answer a few questions about yourself, your goals, and your risk tolerance, then E*Trade will provide you with a suggested portfolio that you can either accept or personalize more before putting it to work. From there, E*Trade will automatically invest funds for you and manage the portfolio. Fees are 0.30% annually, or $30 on every $10,000 invested.
Visit E*Trade and sign up by clicking “Open Account” below.
- E*Trade is one of the best online and mobile trading platforms among discount brokers, offering a full range of investments (including professionally managed accounts). It allows you to invest in stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, bonds, futures, micro futures, and futures options.
- $0 commission trading for online U.S.-listed stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, Treasuries, and new-issue bonds. (Options have a 65¢ contract fee, or 50¢ at certain volume thresholds.)
- Opening an account is easy and only takes a couple of minutes.
- Bonus: Get between $50 and $10,000* when you click the box below, then open and fund a new investment account using promo code "OFFER25."
- Excellent selection of available investments
- Commission-free mutual funds and Treasuries
- Automated portfolio builders and prebuilt mutual fund and ETF portfolios
- Separate apps for power users and casual users
- Limited availability of fractional shares (only in DRIP plans or robo-created portfolio)
- No direct cryptocurrency trading
Disclosures
Plynk
All Plynk disclosures can be viewed here.
Public.com
This does not constitute investment advice. Investing involves the risk of loss, including the potential loss of principal. Brokerage services for US-listed, registered securities available on Public are offered by Open to the Public Investing, Inc. (OTTP), a member of FINRA & SIPC, and a wholly-owned subsidiary of Public Holdings, Inc. Brokerage services for alternative investments are offered by the Dalmore Group, LLC, a member of FINRA & SIPC. Alternative investments are over-the-counter equity securities that have been issued pursuant to Regulation A of the Securities Act of 1933. Cryptocurrency trading is provided by Apex Crypto LLC (NMLS ID 1828849). Apex Crypto is licensed to engage in the virtual currency business by the New York State Department of Financial Services.
Moomoo
Moomoo’s parent company is Nasdaq-listed Futu Holdings Ltd (FUTU). Their subsidiaries are licensed and regulated in the United States, Singapore, Australia and Hong Kong.
