Individual investing has taken off thanks to apps that allow you to trade stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds (EFTs), and cryptocurrency with ease.
That doesn’t mean that a single investing app can be a “one-size-fits-all”. Depending on your personal finance goals and the investing features that you find valuable, you may find one app that you prefer over the others.
With so many apps out there, we know it’s difficult to choose. That’s why we’re providing a summary on the most popular investing apps to help you decide.
Robinhood/Webull/Moomoo
First up are ones that mainly focus on individual stock trading. Robinhood, Webull, and Moomoo are three of the most downloaded stock trading apps on both Apple and Android smartphones.
It’s not hard to see why. All three offer commission-free trades, advanced stock charts, and the ability to chat with other stock traders. They seen as more modern and nimble than entrenched players in this space like Fidelity, E*Trade, and Charles Schwab.
They also offer free shares of stock for new users. For instance, currently you can earn a free fractional share of stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood for simply downloading the app.
Webull is giving away 12 shares of stock; two for completing account registration and 10 more once you fund your account with $100 or more.
Moomoo offers free stocks for opening an account and making a deposit within 30 days. You get free stocks for opening an account, more shares of stock for making total deposits of $100 or more, and even more once your total deposits reach $2,000 or more.
eToro
eToro started as a crypto investing platform but has recently expanded to allow customers to trade stocks.
It’s also the world’s leading social investment community that allows people to grow their knowledge. Out of all the platforms we write about in this post, eToro is the winner when it comes to social integration – and it’s not even close. You can follow your favorite traders, copy all of their investing moves, and engage with them directly. All this is done right on the app!
One interesting aspect of eToro is that it offers you a unique virtual portfolio, where you can play around with $100,000 in virtual money to explore, learn, and hone your skills — before you put actual money in play. This helps newer traders a chance to try out eToro’s platform and get a feel of how investing works.
Just like Robinhood, Webull, and Moomoo above, eToro offers a sign-up bonus as an incentive to try out their trading services. New users who use a referral link to open an eToro account and trade at least $100 will get a $10 cash bonus.
Fidelity Spire
Fidelity Investments is a powerhouse and a well-known investing brand. They recently launched a new platform called Fidelity Spire.
Fidelity Spire is a free, goal-based app designed to help people plan, save, and invest smarter. The app lets you set your goals and track your progress. It can also connect to your other Fidelity and non-Fidelity accounts to provide a complete picture of your financial progress.
This is a popular one with users with great reviews on the Apple Store and Google Play. Spire doesn’t have account or investment minimums, which is great for new starters who are perhaps a little nervous about spending money on stocks and shares.
Fidelity offers its customers many free ways to improve their investment knowledge. You can read Fidelity’s investing blog, browse through numerous articles made for beginner and advanced traders, and opt-in to their email newsletter for “quick hits” or little bites of knowledge.
Fidelity Spire has an interesting promotion for both new and existing customers where you can receive $100 for downloading the Spire app and opening a new Cash Management Account with Fidelity.
Betterment
Betterment is a robo-trading app where you set your investing goals and risk appetite, and Betterment’s robot will automatically invest and rebalance your portfolio based on the parameters you saved.
The reason some people are favoring this app over something like Ellevest (robo-investing for Women) or Wealthfront is because Betterment doesn’t charge you an annual fee for use. Instead, it charges you a certain percent of what you have invested.
A flat fee or flat commission based on your portfolio’s balance removes the tendency of companies trying to “sell” you on a more expensive investment plan. Flat commissions removes that motive and help you invest in a way that you’d like.
This may not sound great, but if you are the sort of person simply looking to buy stocks from the same investing app or the sort of person who doesn’t want to maintain a high balance, then this is the investment account for you.
Plus, the flat fee percentage only gets assessed once you go over $5,000 in assets. Betterment allows you to have up to $,5000 invested before it starts changing you maintenance fees and such.
Binance
Back in the old days when cryptocurrency services and exchanges were being managed by sketchy entities, there was a little company called Binance that was trying to make the whole process respectable.
They exceeded all expectations. Today, Binance is one of the biggest players in the crypto space and offers over 50 cryptocurrencies to trade with.
Cryptocurrency hacks worry many people, but this platform takes security extremely seriously and has invested a lot of money to combat theft. They also offer ultra low fees. In fact, Bianance recently eliminated all Bitcoin trading fees making this platform the best place to trade BTC.
Keep in mind Binance has two different sites to satisfy financial regulations. Binance.US serves people residing in the United States while Binance is for everyone else.
There’s also a welcome bonus of $10 that will be deposited into your account. To earn the bonus register for an Binance account using a referral code and buy or trade $100 or more. Don’t have a referral code? Try entering the Binance referral code 5799914 (h/t to Mr. Pham for providing a referral code.
