In recent years, there have been more stock trading options and Robo-advisors. Investors are excited about the increased competition and innovation, but it cannot be easy to choose which platform is best for you. We have extensively researched these U.S-based platforms to help you evaluate the best options.
With user preferences’ development, investment apps’ proliferation has coincided. Many people choose to manage their money primarily through smartphones or tablets. This transition has been embraced by stock trading and Robo-advisor platform platforms. They are now focusing on mobile app experience improvements. Although brokers’ desktop trading platform has historically offered more capabilities and features than mobile, the experience and functionality are increasingly interchangeable. Investors have a better experience on mobile and desktop with more consistent alerts, watchlists, and updates. This allows them to manage their money more efficiently and helps them achieve their investment goals.
Wealthfront and UBS announced on Friday, September 2, 2022, that they had decided to end the pending acquisition. Wealthfront will remain independent. 1
You can trade with virtual money.
Learn how much a hypothetical investment today would cost.
Wealthfront: Best Automated Investment App
Get $50 off your first taxable investment account.
Why We Choose It
Wealthfront is a digital-only investment platform that allows users to manage their money in a simple, elegant way. The financial guidance, account aggregation, goal setting, and banking options are easy to use and intuitive. Wealthfront’s Self-Driving Money lets you automate your finances using a rules-based approach. This allows you to move money between accounts and optimize for your goals. You can even take control of your financial journey.
The iOS and Android mobile apps are excellent and comparable to the desktop experience in terms of functionality, features, and ease-of-use navigation. The app was thoughtfully designed to reduce data inputs and typing. Instead, it uses more user-friendly sliders, drop-down menus, and auto-fill functionality. Although you will still need to enter user IDs or passwords for linking external accounts, the workflows are consistent and intuitive. While E*TRADE’s Core Portfolio Robo-Advisor won our Best Roboto-Advisor in the Mobile Experience category for its offering, Wealthfront was our overall best overall roboadvisor. It offers an innovative, polished user experience and exposes you to many money management tools.
Pros & Cons
- ProsFinancial planning tools that are comprehensive
- The path offers the best digital-only financial guidance
- Designed to minimize errors and maximize functionality, this mobile experience is thoughtful.
- Your smartphone can be used to manage your finances with Self-Driving money
- ConsExternal account sync can be inconsistent
- There are no discounts on more significant balances
- No human, financial advisors
TD Ameritrade: Best Stock Trading app
Why We Choose It
TD Ameritrade is a leader in mobile trading. It offers a more intuitive experience than the desktop version and still has a rich feature set. The menus and functionalities of mobile trading are well-organized. The simple design includes watchlists, orders, and the ability to manage positions, options, customize charts, and other features such as appointments, monitoring, customizing, and managing classes. The workflow for the TD Ameritrade App is simplified to allow you to concentrate on the things you need to buy and sell and monitor your overall portfolio. Thinkorswim will enable you to create charts and analyze positions.
No matter which app you choose, you will find the mobile experience of TD Ameritrade has everything you need to manage your money anywhere you go. These apps offer a powerful and dynamic alternative to full-featured desktop versions. Although thinkorswim users will continue to prefer the desktop version, the TD Ameritrade apps can be used by its users as their primary trading platform.
Pros & Cons
- ProsMobile apps are designed with more precision than desktop versions.
- Users of all backgrounds will love the option to choose between two apps
- Mobile and desktop platforms seamlessly sync charts, updates, customizations
- Trading functionality and extensive investment options
- ConsOnly thinkorswim mobile allows you to draw on charts
- TD Ameritrade does not offer fractional-share trading
- Hybrid users face challenges because some tools are only available on some platforms.
TD Ameritrade: Best App for Beginners
It’s Why We Choose It
TD Ameritrade was also awarded the best app for the beginner’s category. It has a clear educational focus, which empowers users to understand and invest in the markets. TD Ameritrade offers a variety of educational opportunities that can be used to match investors from all backgrounds. TD Ameritrade’s app provides less information than the website. The academic angle has been simplified to focus on learning how to invest on the move. Even though the educational experience has been reduced, it is still much more extensive than other providers. TD Ameritrade draws from the largest library of content.
TD Ameritrade allows investors to start trading without committing to it. This is possible by opening a paper account. This helps investors understand the market and how it works without risking capital. You can trade paper on your mobile device using the thinkorswim app. It is an excellent feature that aspiring traders can use, but it can be overwhelming for those only looking to invest in essential areas. The mobile experience is intuitive and easy to use, with the ability to select features that best suit your needs. This makes TD Ameritrade an excellent choice for beginners who want to learn more about investing.
Pros & Cons
- ProsThe mobile app was designed to be easy to use and educational.
- A wide range of educational tools is available to help investors gain knowledge.
- A mix of investment platforms and trading platforms for a variety of users
- You will find extensive learning opportunities that cover everything from the basics to the most advanced strategies for investing.
- ConsNo fractional trading
- Uninvested cash earns low interest.
Interactive Brokers – Best App for Active Traders
- Minimum Account: $0.00
- Fees$0.00 Commissions on equities/ETFs are available on IBKR’s TWS Light. Low costs, scaled by volume, for active traders who want to access advanced functionality like order routing. TWS Light users pay $0.65 per contract for options. TWS Pro users get scaled rates based on volume. Futures contracts are $0.85
Why We Choose It
Interactive Brokers (IBKR), while TD Ameritrade’s app is the best for self-directed trades, comes in second to TD Ameritrade for the best app for active trading. The mobile app carries all core functionality from the desktop Traders Workstation’s (TWS) functionality. This makes it easy for sophisticated traders to use the mobile experience. All asset classes, including cryptocurrency, will be available to users, along with unparalleled research, analysis, and strategy tools.
For traders with excellent working knowledge of TWS, the overall mobile experience flows well. The mobile app offers synchronized functionality, with watchlists created in the app being available on the desktop. The core functionality of IBKR’s app retains almost all of its functionality, but there are some limitations due to the breadth and depth of TWS. The desktop version offers more options for trading strategies and analysis. Despite these limitations, the Interactive Brokers app is still the best option for active traders. It provides a wide range of markets and assets.
Pros & Cons
- ProsMobile experience mimics the core functionality of the desktop version with great success
- Screener for app stock and options strategies to match web offer
- Mobile charts provide detailed and intuitive information that can be used to identify valuable indicators
- Outstanding order execution processing
- Low margin, attractive interest rates
- ConsMobile phones do not have a fixed-income screener
- The learning curve for platforms with extensive capabilities can be steep.
Why We Choose It
Tastyworks specializes in an options trade, emphasizing seamless design, education, and intuitive tools. We are proud to have tastyworks as the top choice for the best options traders app. It is designed with seamless order management in mind. This allows for a quick and efficient trading experience. The mobile app offers order types, asset classes, and quote streaming capabilities, which mirror the desktop version.
Although tasty works’ workflow optimization makes it stand out in this category, there are some mobile limitations, such as a need for more news, research, and drawing tools. Mobile graphs cannot be rotated horizontally on mobile devices, which is the main drawback of the mobile platform. The bottom line is that tastyworks is a great broker to trade options, and most traders will use the desktop as much as possible. The mobile app of tastyworks is primarily focused on options trading. Other brokerage apps must balance more commonly used asset classes with options features. The mobile app of tastyworks is much simpler than other brokerage apps, but it still does the job for options traders who cannot access the desktop version.