Today, mobile phones are used not only for communication but also as a robust business tool. Online trading apps have become important tools for businesses to ease the process of trading stocks and shares with other financial workers from anywhere, at any time. It saves the time and energy of the investors because now they are not required to visit brokers' offices and do meetings for hours before making a final decision.
With lower commission rates and no minimum account requirements, popular trading apps are significantly more affordable than traditional brokers. It brings the opportunities of investing for a more significant number of people, including those with low financial means. We have prepared the list of 5 best online trading platforms, highlighting their benefits and drawbacks, which can help you kickstart your trading journey. Also, read about the development process and cost of the trading app development.
Top 5 Online Trading Platforms
Fidelity Investments
Fidelity is a leading all-around online trading platform that offers a broad range of investment options, including, ETFs, bonds, mutual funds, low-margin rates, and commission-free trades for stocks.
Fidelity provides people with several investing opportunities. Those who are interested in managing their own portfolios can create self-directed brokerage accounts, and those with more extensive portfolios can select from two different wealth management plans adviced by personal investment advisors. Fidelity Go is an affordable robo advisor for investors who prefer hands-off investing. Along with its beginner friendly tools, you will also get financial services such as financial coaching and planning.
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TD Ameritrade
TD Ameritrade stands as one the best online trading platforms in the USA by providing free real-time data, simulated trading, charting, and over 400,000 economic indicators. These educational resources help the new traders to master the basics of investment.
Being the largest online stock trading platform, TD Ameritrade offers unique investment options, including free Forex trading in 21 currencies. Customers can easily purchase IPO stocks either on the primary or on the secondary market. Users can access all trading information as well as the company's research, planning, and educational resources via TD Ameritrade's website and mobile app. It includes social sentiment analysis from Twitter, the TD Ameritrade TV network, and daily market commentary.
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Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab is a popular reading platform that provides access to 2,000 commission-free ETFs from several asset classes and fund companies, securing its place in the list of top online trading platforms for ETF traders.
Charles Schwab allows investors to register for a brokerage account without having to meet any minimum requirements, and they can take advantage of zero-commission trading on online-listed stocks, mutual funds, ETFs, and options. They also provide regular, Roth, and rollover IRAs in addition to broker-assisted trading. In addition to options for self-directed trading, Schwab offers automated trading and expert advisor-assisted investment planning.
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Webull
Webull is a mobile app-based brokerage integrated with in-depth analytics tools and trading paper functions, making it a robust investment app for active trading. It encourages users to make their own investment strategies by offering them advanced order types, charting, and bulk stock research data.
Unlike other top online trading platforms, Webull provides trading simulators that act as the greatest tool for beginners who want to practice with digital cash rather than directly risking their own money. Though it is a bit difficult to use for beginners, traders using the Webull web platform and mobile app can select more straightforward reporting options and personalise the dashboard layout, including chart settings.
It also updates users about the latest market news, corporate actions of stock, and other users' posts by uploading news feeds on the app.
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Robinhood
Robinhood is an innovative and convenient web and mobile platform that is gaining popularity among new investors. It combines games with investing strategies to make it enjoyable for users, delivering a seamless experience. Just like other online platforms, Robinhood also features no commission fees and provides access to ETFs, IPOs, fractional shares, crypto, etc.
But compared to other brokers, Robinhood's research and education materials aren't as extensive. It also only provides real-time market data and expert analysis to Gold plan subscribers, who pay $5 a month.
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Key Features of Online Trading App
Easy Sign-up/Login
User registration and profile management are the most essential requirements of any stock trading app. Users can register or log in to the application through a phone number or email ID.
Attentive UI
The UX/UI of the trading app should be attractive and interactive for better user experience. It should be easy to navigate, even for beginners.
Real-time Market Update
Top online trading apps keep their users updated about real-time stock prices, charts, news, and other financial data to help them make informed decisions.
In-app Notifications
Notifications alert the users about market stats, news, and investment updates.
Investment Tracking
Users should be allowed to monitor their investments and performances in real time.
Payment Gateway
integrating a secure payment gateway into the trading app, enabling safe, fast, and easy payment processing.
Customer Support
Users can contact the support team in the case of an emergency or issue. Users can access this service via email, chat, or call.
Security best online trading platforms
Trading apps should always encompass all the advanced security features to ensure secure user information and investments.
Trading Tools
Online trading apps are equipped with trading tools like limit orders, stop-loss orders, and other order types.
Research and Analysis
For the purpose of assisting users in making wise investment decisions, the best online trading platforms provide access to research reports, financial news, and other analytical tools.
Steps for Online Trading App Development
Market Research
It is the first and foremost step before starting the application development process. Through research, you get to know about the current market trends. It would help if you learned about your competitors and the mistakes they have made in their journey. All this insightful information about your competitors can help you decide your business strategy and also help you develop a better understanding of the best online trading app platforms.
Know Your Target Audience
Conducting precise research will give you essential insights about the target audience.
Firstly, you should know who your target users are and understand their browsing behavior. Through surveys, you can connect with your target audience personally and ask them about the difficulties they are facing while online trading. Your target users are what describes your business. From your app design to your revenue expectations, everything should be determined while keeping the target persona in mind. To make your trading application successful, take your every move from the buyer persona.
Plan a Strategy
Before kick starting the application development cycle, it is very crucial to decide on a plan of action for good results. Your action plan should cover all the features of the app development procedure.
Following are the key points that you must know:
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Purpose of your app
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Unique selling point (USP) of your app
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Key features of the app
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Uses of the app
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Key performance indicators of the app
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Expected return on the investment
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How is your app benefiting customers?
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Post launching strategy
Hiring of Mobile App Development Company
Now you have a bold action plan in your hand, it's time to hire an experienced fintech app development company that can turn your idea into a responsive application.
To develop a high-quality and innovative mobile app, you should consider collaborating with a platform-independent and high-performing company. Your partner company should be capable of aligning its business goals with the emerging technology. Hire online trading app developers who can design customizable apps using innovative and progressive technology that can be easily maintained afterward. You should prefer a company that has an experienced and skilled team of tech experts who can deploy all the basic and advanced features into your trading app.
Create a Mockup
After determining the development roadmap and assigning the project to the company, the next step is to ask the development team for an app mockup. It Mockup is a detailed representation of your app design, which comprises all the final UI elements such as typography, copy, colors, and visuals like icons and photos. Mockup will ensure that your app adheres to the guidelines of the Google or Apple Play Store. It can also identify the flaws of your online trading app.
The main advantages of creating mockups are as follows:
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Allow the developers to revise the app's appearance
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You can show it to the investors even before the coding process begins
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Clear the expectations of the development team
App Testing
Once the prototype of your app is ready, it's time for app testing. Testing the app with QAs throughout the development process would improve the proficiency of your project.
They must test the app for its usability, functionality, localization, performance, memory leak, security, speed, interruption, and other forms of testing to ensure it meets the requirements of criteria for mobile applications. They should run tests with real users to get genuine feedback for improvement. All the flaws must be rectified, and the app must be stabilized before deployment.
App Deployment
Lastly, submit your app to the Google app store or Apple app store for final approval. Developing a cross-platform application enhances the visibility and the potential for more users. Your submission will be reviewed on the basis of its safety, performance, business, designs, and legal guidelines. It may take days to weeks to approve your trading app submission.
How much does mobile App Development Cost?
The cost of developing an application can vary according to the different requirements that are considered during the mobile application development lifecycle, and some factors are pointed out below:
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Mobile app development framework used for app development. For instance, if cross-platform frameworks like Flutter or React native are used, then it reduces the production cost. It allows you to build apps for both iOS and Android using a single code base system.
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Simple online trading apps with basic features are cost-effective in comparison to apps with complex features that are integrated with AIML, AR/VR, etc.
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App testing and post-app launch facilities like marketing
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UI/UX designs of the application also impact the development costs.
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The experience and team size of a custom app development company should also be considered.
The average cost of mobile app development can lie somewhere from $15,000 to $25,000, which can even increase to $50,000 according to the variations mentioned above.
Final Words
Selecting the ideal online trading platform might be difficult, given the wide variety of options available. Nonetheless, you may sort through the open possibilities and choose a platform that supports your financial path by carefully evaluating your unique needs, degree of experience, and investing objectives. Recall that the most excellent platform is the one that offers the resources, tools, and user experience that correspond with your unique goals, regardless of experience level. Before committing, do your homework, evaluate features, and don't be scared to test out several platforms.
