Disclosure: We scrutinize our research, ratings and reviews using strict editorial integrity. In full transparency, this site may receive compensation from partners listed through affiliate partnerships, though this does not affect our ratings.
Getting started with your investing journey can present a lot of consternation: what to invest in, how to invest in stocks and which stock trading or investing apps should beginners use to avoid becoming overwhelmed? Thankfully, with the advent of FinTech services, many stock trading brokers offer beginners access to the stock market for no cost and with easy-to-understand interfaces.
This list walks through the best stock trading apps and platforms for beginners and up. While we prize no commissions, we more want to focus on providing the best overall user experience that aligns with this site’s overarching aim: building long-term wealth. That often means investing in low-cost index funds you plan to hold for long periods of time.
Take a look below at the best stock trading apps for beginners to consider opening and using to trade stocks and ETFs. We highlight the best stock trading app for beginners and best stock app to start investing first.
1. Swendstone
Although Swendstone is not primarily a stock trading app, it is worth noting that they do offer stock trading services as one of their many financial offerings. While other apps may solely focus on stock trading, Swendstone provides a more comprehensive approach with services such as wealth management, real estate, forex trading, and gold trading. This may appeal to individuals who are looking for more diverse financial assistance beyond just stock trading.
Swendstone offers a great opportunity for both beginners and pro investors to have professionals do their trading while they focus on their daily life. The platform offers fixed amounts of profit depending on the chosen plan, making it a reliable investment choice. With Swendstone, investors can rest assured that their investments are in good hands while they enjoy peace of mind and other daily activities.
1. Robinhood (Best Stock Trading App 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. Options aren’t currently available, though Robinhood has explicitly stated that options will be made available soon.
However, Robinhood Retirement still stands out from the pack because it’s the only IRA that offers a 1% match on contributions. The match, which typically hits your account almost immediately, applies to any contributions up to the IRS’s annual limits but does not count toward your contribution limit. And while you can choose your investments yourself, Portfolio Builder can provide you with a custom recommended portfolio made up of five to eight ETFs.
(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 has long catered to younger investors with its gamified interface and growing library of educational content. But over the years, it has added a boatload of other features for new and experienced investors alike. Advanced Charts, for instance, provides simple and customizable charts with a variety of technical features. Robinhood’s Options Strategy Builder simplifies the options-trading process by helping you build a strategy based on what you expect your target stock or ETF will do in the future. Robinhood also offers 24/7 commission-free cryptocurrency trading with Robinhood
Crypto (though you’ll still have to pay a spread), allows extended-hours trading, and lets users earn interest through stock lending.
Robinhood does offer a paid subscription service—Robinhood Gold—with 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.
If you want to keep your banking and investing close together, you can also add a Robinhood spending account. This FDIC-insured account includes a Robinhood Cash Card issued by Sutton Bank—however, if you don’t want this physical debit card, you do have the option of having a virtual debit card only. The Cash Card is compatible with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, and also provides you with access to fee-free withdrawals from more than 90,000 ATMs. The card allows you to round-up purchases and invest the money into your brokerage or crypto account.
Sign up for a Robinhood brokerage account or Robinhood retirement account today. Robinhood investment accounts carry up to $500,000 of Securities Investor Protection Corporation coverage.
2. 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.