Stock market software for beginners. Learn about best trading platforms online and trading websites. Read reviews to find a stock trading platform that is right for you. Start trading stocks, options, futures and forex today!
Searching for the best stock trading software to help you become a smarter investor? Whether you’re looking for free stock trading software or the best stock market software , we’ve got you covered.
Webull
Webull came into the stock trading world in 2018 when it started challenging Robinhood for market share. This stock trading app offers commission-free stock trading as well as commission-free trades on ETFs, options and cryptocurrencies.
Like most investing apps available, the company provides access to trade on your smartphone, tablet or desktop.
As touched on above, it charges no commissions for the trades because Webull makes money on other actions you take, like Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), margin loans, interest on cash and service fees for their Nasdaq TotalView Level 2 Advances quotes subscription.
Webull also provides you access to several powerful tools you can use for in-depth trading analysis. These low-cost or free services easily make the stock trading app one of the best stock research and analysis apps for conducting technical analysis.
If these account features sound attractive, you’ll also be happy to learn your Webull stock trading app and brokerage account comes with no account minimum you must meet or maintain. Finally, to de-risk your sign up, Webull also runs frequent promotions that give free stocks.
Public.com
Public.com is a commission-free investment app for beginners that allows stock and ETF trades. The stock market app targets Millennials and Gen-Zers who have attuned their senses to social media and have interest investing in the stock market.
While the company previously followed the lead of apps like Robinhood with monetizing Payment for Order Flow (PFOF), or receiving kickbacks from clearinghouses for routing trades to them, they’ve recently abandoned this practice.
Instead, they now rely on other revenue streams as well as a “tipping” system.
This places this beginner investing app firmly on the side of retail investors and not pledging allegiance to Wall Street clearinghouses.
Why is Public.com the Best Investing App for Beginners?
What Public.com is really about is making investing like an investing social network, where members can own fractional shares of stocks and ETFs, follow popular creators, and share ideas within a community of investors.
What Public.com aims to do above all else is make the stock market an inclusive and educational place, with social features that make it easy to collaborate as you build your confidence as an investor—for free.
For younger investors who want to align their investing with their social preferences, as well as keep good company to socialize and learn from others, Public.com might be the app for you.
For those interested in starting to trade on Public.com, the online brokerage platform for beginners offers a free $10 signup bonus if you make an initial deposit. Further, you can share your special link with others and gift them free stocks (fractional shares) as well.
If this sounds like an interesting investing app, open an account and make an initial deposit (no account minimum needed to meet, so any amount will do) to see if the app meets your social and investing needs.
M1 Finance
M1 Finance offers commission-free stock and ETF trades but also provides automated stock trading according to your predetermined investment decisions as this site’s top robo-advisor pick.
What we like most about this app is the ability to make recurring deposits that automatically get invested into your portfolio.
M1 Finance acts as a singular personal finance app to assist with building wealth through automating your investments into diversified portfolios, having a bank account and linked debit card that provide market-beating interest rates and have access to valuable personal finance literature.
Most importantly, investing with M1 Finance can be as simple as depositing money, setting your stock and index fund selections and having the platform automate your investments on your behalf.
I’ve said it before, but this truly automates your investments if you set up recurring deposits, allowing your wealth to build.
From there, M1 Finance automatically rebalances your portfolio in line with your stated asset allocation targets. Doing this at regular intervals has been shown to improve overall portfolio performance.
It does so by moving outperforming funds into underperforming ones, capturing a value effect over time as returns revert to the mean.
Consider opening an investment account with M1 Finance. If you deposit $1,000, you can even earn a free sign up bonus. The app has no account minimum unless you choose to open an IRA, for which you’ll need to deposit at least $500.
TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade is beloved by beginner and seasoned traders alike for one reason: It has absolutely everything you need to trade stocks with success. The brokerage offers traders real-time quotes, 3rd-party research, Yahoo! Finance news streaming, social sentiment tracking and planning tools on its web platform.
Outside of its web platform, thinkorswim packs a mighty punch. It gives traders access to advanced tools like market scans, thinkManual and tutorials to make sure you get the most out of the platform.
You don’t even have to pay for another subscription service for thinkorswim model. And no, it’s not another freemium model masquerading as a free service, it’s absolutely free for account holders. You might consider TD Ameritrade‘s stock trading costs as steep — a flat $6.95 per stock trade with 0 volume discounts.
TradingView
TradingView’s takes the cake in this category. The charting package offers 100+ built-in technical indicators for market analysis, which covers most popular trading concepts and indicators. It also offers 5,000+ custom-built indicators.
The programming language TradingView allows you to create and share custom studies and signals, as it facilitates modification of any study’s code and can create any custom indicator from scratch.
Apart from fundamental data on companies, TradingView also provides economic data, both domestically and globally, and also facilitate a comparison of economic data.
Socially, it also has a fully-integrated chat application, chat forums and a provision for sharing your analysis with others that work with a single click.
The platform allows you to connect to millions of traders from all over the world. Price-wise TradingView costs per year are $9.95, $19.95 or $39.95, depending on whether you purchase Pro, Pro Plus or Premium. But, you can join for free.
Zen Trading
From proven, prebuilt strategies and indicators to professional consulting for advanced traders who build their own trading scripts, Zen Trading Strategies offers services for algo traders of all skill levels. With free trials, tiered pricing options, and a wide variety of plans, this company aims to offer something that fits every budget and every trading style.
For algorithmic trading or any kind of high frequency trading, having a solid, backtested trading strategy, complete with entry and exit signals and a risk management framework, is key to success. Most traders spend years learning the markets and learning how to build trading scripts—and lose a bunch of money in the process—before finding one that works consistently.
With Zen Trading, investors can make use of professionally developed strategies, built by a quantitative algorithmic fund that’s successfully trading the markets with those same strategies. Zen Trading does all the leg work for you, so you can simply customize it to the timeframe and assets you trade.
Conclusion
Free stock trading software offers a necessary learning ground for novice traders who want to learn the workings of the stock market without using real money. Stock brokerage firms may also offer free software as a bonus, along with their no-fee trading services. This type of software comes in several forms, such as amateur and professional versions designed for use by beginners and experts respectively.