Best free trading apps in 2024

There are a lot of trading apps to choose from, so to save you time, we selected the best free trading apps for you. Apps providing free stock and ETF trading are gaining popularity, so it is worth taking a look at them if you don't want to spend a fortune on your trading fees!

Popularity of the best free trading apps

Interested in what others think? Here's how many people chose these brokers at BrokerChooser in the last 6 months.

The promise of free stock trades can sour quickly if you need to deposit a fortune just to get started or pay a hefty fee simply to retrieve your funds. Here's what, if anything, the best free stock trading apps will charge you for services other than stock trading.

The rapid spread of mobile trading has revolutionized the world of finance, empowering individuals to engage in real-time stock market transactions with unprecedented ease and convenience. Enabled by user-friendly trading apps offered by various brokerage firms, this trend has democratized investment opportunities, allowing people from all walks of life to participate in the stock market from the palm of their hand.

Here's what you need to do if you want to be part of the action:

• Choose a broker: you'll need to have an account with a brokerage firm that offers a mobile trading app. You can usually download their mobile apps from your phone's app store (Apple App Store for iOS or Google Play Store for Android).
• Set up your account: after downloading the app, you'll need to create your account in this app. This typically involves providing your usernbame/password and other credentials that you obtained from the broker when you opened your account.
• Fund your account: before you can buy shares, you'll need to deposit money into your brokerage account. This can usually be done through a bank transfer, credit/debit card or e-wallet, depending on the brokerage's options.
• Research and choose stocks: use the app to research and select the stocks you want to buy. You can usually search for stocks by name or ticker symbol and view important information like the current stock price, historical performance, and company information.
• Place an order: once you've decided which stocks to buy, you can place an order in the app with the exact number of shares you want to buy. You can place a market order (buys the stock at the current market price), a limit order (specify the price at which you want to buy the stock and the order will only be executed if the stock's price reaches or falls below the limit), or a stop order (buy or sell a stock once the price of the stock reaches a specified price).
• Sell shares: if you decide to sell your shares, you can use the same app to place sell orders following similar steps.

With a smartphone in your pocket, you can easily become an investor or trader. However, this convenience also comes with a need for increased financial literacy and awareness, as you must navigate the complexities of the market and exercise caution to make informed decisions in this era of mobile trading.

Trading stocks or viewing charts on a tiny screen can be awkward unless you have the right trading app - so user-friendliness was a key factor when we reviewed mobile trading platforms. Here's how our top brokers fared:

And now, let's see the best free trading apps in detail one by one, starting with the winner, Fidelity.

Recommended for investors and traders looking for solid research and great trading platforms

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Recommended for traders interested in social trading (i.e. copying other investors’ trades) and zero-commission stock trading

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eToro USA LLC; Investments are subject to market risk, including the possible loss of principal

Recommended for investors and traders looking for zero-commission trading and easy platforms

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Recommended for investors and traders looking for solid research, low fees and great customer service

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Recommended for investors and traders looking for low fees, quick account opening and simple platforms

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Recommended for beginners and buy-and-hold investors focusing on the US stock market

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Recommended for investors and traders looking for zero-commission trading and focusing on US markets

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Recommended for beginners and investors looking for zero-commission trading, focusing on the US market

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Recommended for investors and traders interested in commission-free trading and a focus on US stocks and options

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Recommended for investors and traders looking for solid research and a great mobile trading platform

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Mobile trading apps are key for staying up to date when you are on the go. We tested the mobile trading apps of more than 100 online brokers. We selected those that provide free trading for stocks on the US market, are user-friendly and have great functionalities.

When we tested the mobile apps we looked at:

• User-friendliness
• Two-step (safe) login
• Good search function for markets and products
• Great variety of order types
• Availability of price alerts and order confirmation

Save hours of research!

Our expert team has done all the work for you, and reviewed brokers based on BrokerChooser's unique methodology.

BrokerChooser evaluates 9 key areas for all brokers, including fees, safety, ease of account opening, education and trading platforms. We check more than 600 criteria for each broker and fine-tune our methodology every year based on our own and our users' experiences. We have more than 100 brokers reviewed on our site and our team of analysts examines more than 60,000 data points overall.

What are trading apps great for?

Trading apps can be used for trading, learning, charting, finding trading ideas, and also for market data and news. Some of the apps offer all of these features, while others only a few.

Trading apps are usually offered by financial companies such as online brokers or banks. These apps can be a great add-on to your web or desktop trading platform, but they can also be the flagship product of a company.

We see trading apps as excellent complementary tools to desktop-based trading platforms and other financial portals. When you want to buy a stock, you can make fundamental or technical analyses on a computer more conveniently, but it's easier to follow the price of the stocks you've already bought through a trading app. You can also intervene faster via an app, when, for example, you quickly need to sell your stocks.

What kind of investments can I buy with free trading apps?

Many free trading apps offer a range of investment options, allowing you to buy and sell various assets. Nearly all free trading apps offer stocks as a form of investment. Depending on the product selection of the broker that owns the trading app, the range of available assets may also include Exchange Trade funds (ETFs), currencies, cryptocurrencies, mutual funds, bonds, fractional shares, options or futures.

Are free trading apps safe?

Although most free trading apps are safe, definitely not all of them are. The safety of a trading app depends on several factors, including the app's security measures, the brokerage firm behind the app, and your own responsible use of the app. Here is what you should do to ensure that you choose a safe trading apps:

Select a well-established and reputable brokerage firm that offers the trading app. Look for firms that are regulated by top-tier financial authorities, such as the SEC or FINRA in the US or the FCA in the UK. Ensure that the app uses strong encryption and authentication methods for logins. Look for apps that offer two-factor authentication (2FA) to add an extra layer of security. Check that your personal and financial information is encrypted when transmitted over the app.

Make use of account protection features offered by the brokerage, such as account insurance or guarantees against unauthorized transactions. Ensure that you regularly update the app to get the latest security patches and improvements. Be cautious of phishing attempts. Don't click on suspicious links or provide personal information in response to unsolicited messages or emails. Only use the app on secure, trusted Wi-Fi networks or cellular data. Avoid using public Wi-Fi networks for trading.

Finally, use strong, unique passwords for your trading account, and consider using a reputable password manager to keep track of your credentials securely.

What are the best trading apps for market data and news?

Using the right information sources and building your trading strategy on the right data is really important. And it's not easy to do. We selected the best apps for market news and data:

• Bloomberg provides high-quality news, and you can also watch videos or listen to audio reports.
• Investing.com offers a wide range of market data and news.

To be up to date on the latest information and data you need to read news portals, watch videos, follow investors, analyze data, and so on. We tested 9 apps that provide these services:

• Benzinga
• Bloomberg
• CNBC
• Finimaze
• Investing.com
• MSN Money
• Seeking Alpha
• Simply Wall Street
• Yahoo! Finance

We evaluated them considering the following criteria: user-friendliness, design, watchlists and alerts, and special features like stock screener or chart analysis.

What are the best apps for charting and trading ideas learning?

If you want to invest or trade, you have to start by finding a trading idea. Then you can take a look at a chart and do some technical analysis. To do this, you need a great interactive charting tool with several functions and technical indicators. The handier the interactive chart is, the more opportunity you have to find the right trading patterns. We selected the best apps for learning:

• TradingView has excellent charting and analyzing functions and it has a great design.
• Stocktwits is a great app for sharing and watching others' trading ideas.

We tested the following 7 charting and trading ideas apps:

• Market Trends
• NetDania Stock & Forex Trader
• StockMarkets
• StockSpy
• StockTracker
• Stocktwits
• TradingView

From this group, we selected the best charting apps based on: user-friendliness, design, availability of technical indicators, and trading ideas.

What are the best apps for learning?

If you don't have a clue what a stock is and how it works, you better deepen your knowledge first. Fortunately, you have countless opportunities to do that. You can watch films and videos, read books, participate in webinars and, of course, use apps. We think that learning is more efficient if it is combined with gamification. We selected the best apps for learning:

• Invstr has a great and easy-to-use platform where you can easily learn the basics of trading.
• Trading Game provides well-illustrated educational texts.

We tested 7 apps providing learning services:

• Best Brokers
• ForexHero
• Invstr
• Learn
• Stock trainer
• Tradehero
• Trading Game

We rated them considering the following three criteria: gamification, availability of educational texts, and availability of virtual trading.

Want to read more?

Check out these articles written by our broker and trading experts:

• How to buy shares online
• How to buy ETFs online
• Best stock trading apps
• How to choose your stock order type
• When to buy stocks
• Brokerage fees, commissions and costs explained