10 Best Investment Apps for 2023 – With Lowest Fees

The best investment apps offer a user-friendly interface, robust investment tools and real-time market data, making it easy for beginners and seasoned investors to manage their portfolios.

We compared multiple trading platforms and selected the top 10 that offered the best combination of perks for all investors.

Best Investing Apps for Beginners Reviewed

We explore top-tier investment apps designed with beginners in mind. From user-friendly interfaces and educational resources to copy trading and automated portfolio management, these apps aim to let investors start building their financial future right away.

1. eToro — Best Investment App for Hands-Off Investors Who Want to Copy Successful Traders

eToro is one of the most popular trading apps and best online stock brokers due to its simplicity, the number of assets offered and especially for its social trading features.

With the eToro app, you get pretty much all the features of eToro’s web-based platform, such as trading fractional shares, watching trending stock lists, trading from advanced charts, a virtual currency practice account, as well as copy trading. The latter makes it an excellent choice for beginners, especially for those who want to follow successful traders.

Even if you decide not to copy other traders, you can still see what they trade or say directly in the app.

Advanced traders who do the analysis themselves can find TipRanks analyst ratings and price targets, as well as insider transactions. This can be a useful tool because when insiders buy or sell, they probably know something.

eToro offers stocks, ETFs, forex, cryptocurrencies, indices and commodities. Traders interested in options will need to download a separate app for that, called eToro Options. Stocks and ETFs come with 0% commission, while crypto comes with a 1% fee per trade.

If you hold a balance of at least $5,000, you get instant access to the eToro Club. There are five tiers in the Club membership. Silver is the first tier and it goes up to $250,000 for the Diamond tier.

Club membership gives you access to lower fees, discounts, crypto staking rewards, as well as a debit card, which is available in select regions. You also get personal assistance via WhatsApp.

Depending on your tier, you get complimentary subscriptions to leading financial publications and content, like the Wall Street Journal. That perk alone means $348 per year saved on the Journal’s subscription.

From the Gold tier and higher, you get interest on an uninvested balance and you pay no withdrawal fees. The highest tiers get you access to live sporting and financial events where you can network with like-minded individuals.

To keep your mind at ease, eToro is regulated by nine financial authorities, including CySEC, FCA and ASIC. 

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. Crypto assets are highly volatile and unregulated. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

2. XTB — Leading Investment App With High Leverage for Stocks and ETFs

European-based XTB is a full-fledged trading platform that offers forex and CFD (contract for difference) indices, commodities, cryptocurrencies, stocks and ETFs. CFDs are contracts that allow traders and investors to trade an asset without actually owning the asset, meaning what you trade on the platform is a contract whose price moves the same as the real asset.

Because of that, you get access to 10:1 leverage on stocks and ETFs. This lets you buy shares worth $10,000 with $1,000 in your account. This is a risky practice, of course, but in the hands of experienced traders, it could be a valuable tool.

Stocks and ETFs have 0% commission, while crypto comes with a 0.22% spread. Forex trading has a competitive spread of 0.1 pips for the most popular currency pairs, which is in line with competitor forex brokers.

XTB offers the xStation trading app only on Android devices. iPhone holders will need to wait to get their hands on a XTB mobile app, although everyone can trade on the XTB’s desktop platform.

Via the app, you get access to advanced charts with multiple indicators, you can gauge market sentiment, access the economic calendar or read the news, and you can set price alerts.

Forex and CFDs are leveraged products and can result in losses that exceed your deposits. Please make sure you fully understand all risks.

3. Interactive Brokers (IBKR) — Top Investing App With Access to the Most Assets Globally, Including Bonds, Mutual Funds and Futures

Interactive Brokers is probably one of the most popular stock brokers you can find. It offers access to 150 markets worldwide, you can trade stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, futures, cryptocurrencies, currencies and even bonds.

Aside from a professional and unrivaled desktop trading platform, you get access to a mobile app for both iOS and Android.

The app gives you access to advanced charts with hundreds of indicators. Options traders will enjoy the Options Wizard, where IBKR has simplified the process of selecting trading strategies based on aggressiveness and probability of profit.

You can scan for stocks based on parameters that you select, set watchlists and alerts or use the app for news access. The app can stream Bloomberg TV US directly, or you can read research reports from Refinitiv and other financial agencies.

Beginners may find the app overwhelming at first, but after a while, it will become second nature and you won’t even need the desktop platform.

Trading assets is easy and straightforward and you can even set recurring investments if you want to use a dollar cost average strategy. All these factors make it one of the best apps for stock investments.

If you still find it too complicated, download the Global Trader, a separate app designed for beginners.

4. Robinhood — Leading Investing App for Beginners Who Want a Streamlined Experience for Trading Stocks, Options and Cryptocurrencies

Robinhood became popular during the Covid pandemic when people stayed at home and played video games or invested in stocks and crypto. Its app gave users what they needed — simplicity.

Options trading, which is a complex trading derivative, was made so simple by Robinhood that beginners started to use it. There are over 10 million active users, as of June 2023.

Robinhood was one of the first trading platforms to introduce no-commission trading, which is why stocks, ETFs and crypto have $0 fees and commissions on this platform. You can even trade 24 hours five days a week and you can buy fractional shares, meaning you can still buy a piece of the $1,000 stock you had your eye on with just $100. Of course, you would only own 1/10 of the stock in that case. This makes it one of the best stock investment apps you can find.

Robinhood pioneered another feature for retail investors — initial public offering (IPO) access. This allows retail traders and investors to buy stocks when they first go public at IPO prices. This was typically reserved for high net-worth investors and funds in the past.

If you’re into crypto investments, Robinhood gives you full ownership over your coins, which isn’t the case with brokers that offer CFD cryptocurrencies. This means you can withdraw your Bitcoin or other crypto directly into your crypto wallet. But you will need to open a separate app called Robinhood Wallet to store them first.

5. Acorns — Top Investment App for Saving, Perfect for Hands-off Investors Looking for Automatic Rebalancing and Investing

Acorns offers something that a lot of other free investment apps don’t — a round-up feature on purchases that you make with your debit or credit card. This means every time you buy a coffee for $1.35, the spare change of $0.65 (rounded up to $2) gets set aside until it reaches a total of $5 and then Acorns automatically invests it on your behalf.

You have to link your debit or credit cards to your Acorns account for this to work, though. To simplify it even further, your investment options are pre-built portfolios with popular ETFs from Vanguard and BlackRock, and you can even choose a Bitcoin ETF to allocate 5% of your portfolio.

These portfolios are so-called robo-advisors, which automatically rebalance your portfolio based on parameters that you set, making it even easier to invest.

But unlike most investment apps that have no monthly costs, Acorns’s fees start from $3 per month for its services.

Despite that, all the simplicity designed for hands-off investors who want to maximize savings for their future may be worth the cost.

6. TradeStation — Competitive Investment App for Active Traders Who Want to Use Advanced Tools or Automate Their Trading Strategies

As the name suggests, TradeStation offers an advanced platform with charting and some of the best research tools designed for active and experienced traders. That said, its investment app is simple enough for beginners to start trading.

Buying and selling stocks is intuitive on mobile where you can find educational resources and courses to help you become a better trader and investor, especially if you’re just starting out.

Choose from a variety of assets including stocks, ETFs, options and cryptocurrencies. The latter, though, only comes with Bitcoin, Ether and the stablecoin USDC. If you’re looking for the best cryptocurrencies, consider other platforms like eToro or Robinhood.

Stocks and ETF purchases come with no commission, which makes TradeStation one of the best apps for stock investments.

With TradeStation, you can write your own program to back-test and automate your own trading strategies, or you can hire someone to do that for you. This is a feature of some of the best trading software.

7. Wealthbase — Free Investment App for Beginners Who Want To Learn and Improve Via Trading Games

Want to learn how to trade? Look no further. Wealthbase is a fun, shares investing app where you can learn how to trade by playing games either solo or with friends.

The way it works is you download the app, create a game and set the rules, including which assets are available to trade and how long the game lasts — typically up to 15 days. And then start trading and investing with virtual money. By the due date, whoever has the most success wins.

This is similar to the practice accounts you get with many brokers with virtual currency, except Wealthbase has added a social twist to make it fun and engaging.

Up to five players it costs nothing to play. But if you’re more than that it costs $20 per game. This upgrade can let you host a game of up to 1,000 users and lasts for up to 30 days, which makes it an excellent choice for learning groups and schools.

8. Public.com — Leading Investment App for Investors Who Want Trade Alternative Assets, Such as NFTs and Fine Art

Public.com is a beginner-friendly app that offers access to traditional assets like stocks and ETFs, but also to alternative assets such as fractional shares for works of art, NFTs and collectibles. This means you can drop $100 and own fractional shares of Banksy art that cost north of $400,000 or a CryptoPunk, which is one of the best NFTs where each costs over $100,000. 

This innovative concept is ideal for investors who want to further diversify their portfolio beyond traditional assets. What’s more, its investment app is simple enough that everyone can get on board and start trading right away.

Public.com’s standard account costs nothing to open and invest. But if you want to get advanced charts, data and analysis, it’ll set you back $8 per month. This could be a small price to pay to optimize your portfolio.

With the recent rise in interest rates, you can invest in Treasury bills and earn interest with a high-yield savings account, or you could dedicate funds to Public.com’s automated investing portfolio and let the robo-advisor do the investing for you.

Whichever way you want to invest, Public.com has you covered.

9. Ellevest — Popular Investment App for Women Investors Who Want to Learn How to Invest or Use a Robo-Advisor to Manage Their Portfolio

Ellevest is a robo-advisor service run by women and marketed to women. Being a robo-advisor means investors select a portfolio based on their goals and risk profile and Ellevest takes over to invest and automatically rebalance their portfolio.

This portfolio consists of low-cost ETFs and offers education services and access to advisors for a fee. This makes it well-suited for beginners who want to set their goals and learn more about investing as they go.

This doesn’t come cheap, though. Ellevest starts with a $12 per month where you get 

up to five goal-specific accounts and portfolios, retirement planning, tax minimization and automatic rebalancing and a discount on financial guidance, which can cost more than $1,000 annually.

Choose from two pre-built portfolios: Ellevest Impact and Ellevest Core. The latter is designed for reaching your goal while the former is for reaching your goal and having a positive impact by investing in companies with high ESG (environment, social and governance) scores.

Ellevest’s mobile app has a high rating score and is loved by its users. It’s simple to use and helps beginners learn about investing via in-app articles. You can also easily find your accounts and see where your money is invested and learn more about the companies.

10. Fundraise — Unique Investment Apps for Diversifying Your Portfolio in Real Estate, Private Credits and Start-ups

Fundraise lets you further diversify your portfolio by investing in real estate, private credits or tech companies. The way this works is you invest as much as you want, with a minimum of $10, in the assets provided by Fundraise as you would invest in the stock market.

The Fundraise app is intuitive and lets you browse through the available assets. When you find what you like, you can invest. Your real estate options include family homes and industrial or office buildings. Where there are tenants you get paid in the form of dividends. You can choose to have the dividends invested back into your portfolio.

Fundraise recently introduced new investment options, such as private credits and starting tech companies. For the first option, you provide funds for someone to lend and you collect the interest. The second investment option gives investors access to new tech companies before they go public on the stock exchange.

Currently, Fundraise only invests in AI and machine learning companies, as well as companies focused on modern data infrastructure, development operations, financial technology and real estate and property technology companies.

How to Pick the Right Investment App for You

Select the investment app that best suits your financial goals by keeping your eye out for regulation, range of trading assets, fees and tools among other things.

Regulation

Selecting the right investment app starts with ensuring that the platform is regulated by government authorities. This is the most important factor to consider when choosing an app because regulations are meant to protect clients from fraudulent activities.

The most important aspect that comes with regulation is money protection. For example, in the US there is something called Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) where regulated brokers insure their clients’ funds. This is typically up to $250,000, meaning if the broker goes bankrupt, you are guaranteed that you’ll get your deposited money back up to $250,000.

A similar body in the UK is the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS). The compensation limits are different than in the US, though. For example, you can get up to £85,000 per eligible person in the unfortunate event that the brokerage platform goes down.

Prioritize apps that are regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) or the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) in the United States, or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom. Typically, the safest investment apps are regulated by one more few regulatory bodies.

Range of Assets

Diversification is a fundamental principle of investing. The best investment apps for beginners typically offer multiple asset classes such as stocks, ETFs, options, commodities or even cryptocurrencies.

An app that offers a variety of assets is often the best choice because you don’t have to swap between different apps and platforms to monitor your assets. This makes tracking your portfolio much easier.

Of course, some investors want to diversify further with apps that offer alternative assets such as fine art, NFTs, collectibles, real estate, private credits or investing in tech companies before they go public. In this case, your primary investment app is likely to not have all the assets you want available to trade.

Fees

The fee structure is typically make or break for most investors. Luckily, the best investment apps come with $0 commission on stocks and ETFs and some even offer no commission or low commission on crypto.

Here’s what to look for when comparing fees between investment apps.

• Commissions. The best app for investing in stocks typically comes with a $0 commission on stocks and ETFs.

• Spreads. This is the difference between bid and ask price, which is typically what you will pay when placing market orders. The best investment apps typically have high liquidity which makes the spread narrow. This is ideal for active traders.

• Management fees. This is what you’ll pay for robo-advisors or when holding ETFs. Both typically cost less than 1% annually and it often depends on the specific fund or the robo-advisor.

• Platform fees. These are often fees charged by the trading platform and include fees for using a certain service, like access to research or access to a more advanced platform.

• Other fees. This includes deposit and withdrawal fees as well as fees for inactivity after not logging in for more than 12 months.

Tools and Analysis

Robust tools and analysis features are valuable tools for seasoned traders and investors. If that’s you, look for apps that offer real-time data and access to research resources that otherwise cost a lot to subscribe to.

For example, the best investment apps will have various chart options, such as bar charts or candlestick charts. They will also have hundreds of indicators like moving averages, stochastics and more. Some platforms even let you customize and build your own indicators.

Some of the best stock investment apps, like eToro and IBKR, provide complimentary access to TipRanks analysts, which otherwise costs around $350 annually.

Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit requirement varies across investment apps. Most platforms have no minimum deposit requirements, while some require $10 or $50 to start investing. This is a cool feature of shares investing apps because you get to test the platform and brokerage, including deposits and withdrawals without risking a large amount of money.

For example, you can see how long it takes to send or receive money from the platform or test a certain feature like copy trading. That said, if you like a certain stock investment app, try it out and see how it sits with you before you go all in.

Demo Account

Beginners can learn best by being thrown into the proverbial fire. Most platforms offer demo accounts, also known as paper trading accounts, with virtual currencies where you can learn how to trade without risking your real money.

This is not only useful for beginners who are just starting out, but season traders can use virtual accounts to test their trading strategies or to improve their skills.

Moreover, demo accounts can also serve as a litmus test for assessing the investment app, its user interface and its performance.

Payment Methods

Check the available payment methods for funding your account and withdrawing funds. The best investment apps typically have multiple options, including bank transfers and credit or debit card payments.

This also comes down to security against fraud. For example, credit cards often come with fraud protection and dispute resolution, meaning if the deposit isn’t in your trading platform’s account, you can dispute it with your card provider and get your funds back. Platforms like eToro let you deposit via PayPal.

Payment methods are also tied to convenience. You can choose a method with the smoothest financial transaction and lowest transaction fees for you, which is why choosing an investment app that provides that payment option is important.

Customer Service

This is one of the most important aspects when choosing an investment platform. That’s because customer service is the first channel where you would seek assistance. Good customer service can turn a negative experience into a positive one, but poor customer service can do the opposite.

You can also view customer service as a reflection of the company’s commitment to customer satisfaction. Moreover, it’s a valuable tool for collecting customer feedback, which can help the platform further improve its services.

Look for investment apps that offer multiple ways to reach out to customer service, including phone, email or live chat. eToro is one of the investment platforms where you can reach out to customer service 24 a day from Monday to Friday. And if you’re an eToro Club member, you can reach out to customer service via WhatsApp.

Types of Investment Apps

Each investment app is tailored to meet specific financial objectives and preferences. Here’s what to consider when choosing the right app for you.

Copy Trading

Hands-off investors will find the most value out of copy trading platforms like eToro. These platforms allow users to replicate the trades of experienced investors by copying their strategies. This way, novice investors benefit from the success of seasoned traders, while the latter get a commission from their investment success.

Aside from being a potentially profitable feature, copy trading can help novice traders learn the craft by looking at what the pros trade and when. This can exponentially increase the learning speed of beginners.

Another important aspect of copy trading is diversification to adjust your portfolio’s risk management. For example, a successful trader makes 50% annually. You can consider dedicating a small portion of your portfolio, planned for riskier investments, to copy this trader.

Finally, copy trading provides convenience as you don’t have to watch the screens every day to identify a good entry or exit position, you can simply outsource this to other traders with proven track records.

Robo-Advisors

Similar to copy trading, robo-advisors let users automate their investments. Except with robo-advisors, it’s a computer algorithm that does the investment and rebalancing often on a daily basis. Typically, these are platforms that already have pre-build portfolios for you to choose from.

This makes robo-advisors an excellent option for investors who don’t have the time to learn this skill or monitor their investments daily. Being a cost-effective alternative to traditional financial advisory services, it can be an ideal option for beginners with smaller accounts as well, given that most robo-advisor platforms charge around 0.25% while a financial advisor may charge over 1%.

As an algorithm-managed investment tool, you may worry that it’s not reliable. However, there are certain parameters, like risk tolerance, that you can set to further minimize potential losses if something goes wrong. Most robo-advisors invest in popular ETFs, though, so the performance should be similar to the broader market.

Platforms like Public.com and Acorns are one of the leading robo-advisor platforms.

Other Investment Types

Beyond automated trading, there are investment apps that offer alternative asset classes. For example, with Public.com you can invest in fine art or NFTs without ever opening a crypto wallet. Fundraise is another platform where you can invest in real estate or private credits.

Given that diversification is one of the fundamental principles of investment, alternative investments can be a good addition to any portfolio. These assets can give opportunities for capital appreciation, especially in the real estate sector, but they can also serve as a hedge against inflation.

Of course, it doesn’t always have to be an exotic asset class. Diversification can be made with bonds, especially in a high-interest-rate environment, as well as with stocks in other countries.

How to Get Started with a Regulated Investment App

Starting to invest is a simple process especially if you choose an investment app like eToro. Here’s how it goes:

Step 1: Download the app

The eToro mobile app is available for both Android and iOS devices. Once you have it installed, run the app.

Step 2: Open an account

If you haven’t already opened an account, select Get Started and enter your email address and password. Verify your email address with the code you’ll receive.

Step 3: Deposit funds

Log in to your account and tap the menu button. Select Deposit Funds. Choose the amount and the method you want to deposit from, including PayPal or debit card.

Step 4: Trade

Now that your account is funded, you can start trading or copying other traders.

To do this simply tap on the menu button, then hit Discover and browse through the thousands of financial assets, picking whatever suits your investing goals and risk tolerance.

Remember to only invest what you can afford to lose.

Conclusion

The right investment app can be your gateway to building wealth and securing your financial future. That’s why it’s important to compare the fees, tools and analysis, and responsive customer service, as well as to make sure the app is regulated by a financial authority.

Consider eToro, which is one of the best investment apps you can get. It’s a great option for beginner investors who want to learn how to trade or copy other traders. However, it’s also a good choice for seasoned traders who want to use advanced charts or earn some extra money by letting other investors copy their trades.

eToro is a multi-asset investment platform. The value of your investments may go up or down. Your capital is at risk. Crypto assets are highly volatile and unregulated. No consumer protection. Tax on profits may apply.

References

• https://www.bloomberg.com/live/us
• https://investors.robinhood.com/overview/default.aspx
• https://www.sec.gov/
• https://www.fca.org.uk/
• https://www.fca.org.uk/firms/copy-trading
• https://www.nasdaq.com/glossary/c/contract-for-difference
• https://techcrunch.com/2013/12/18/zero-commission-stock-trading-robinhood/
• https://www.nasdaq.com/glossary/i/initial-public-offering
• https://school.stockcharts.com/doku.php?id=technical_indicators:moving_averages
• https://ibkrcampus.com/glossary-terms/paper-trading-account/
• https://www.investor.gov/introduction-investing/investing-basics/glossary/copy-trading

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Kliment Dukovski

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Kliment Dukovski

Kliment Dukovski is a cryptocurrency and investments writer. He's written over 1,000 articles to help readers understand complex crypto and investment subjects, as well as to find the best cryptocurrency products to meet their needs. His expert commentary has been featured in Fox Business, MSN Money and MediaFeed.

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