Without investment trading app

Similar to betterment and other robo advisors, wealthfront invests in passive portfolios and charges a management fee of just 0.25%.

Free forex bonuses

The 15 Best Investment Apps For Everyday Investors, without investment trading app.

Though the investing app requires a $500 account minimum, it does support daily tax-loss harvesting or realizing losses to offset taxes on capital gains. The value of tax-loss harvesting is limited for everyday investors, but it remains popular among robo-advisor apps. 15. Best investment app for couples: twine

The 15 best investment apps for everyday investors

Until recently, investing was a pain. If you were lucky, you’d spend an hour on the phone with a financial advisor. Then, you’d cross your fingers until the quarterly report arrived.

With today’s best investment apps, all it takes is a few taps. You can receive a tailored portfolio or trade your own stocks, check your portfolio’s performance, and shift money around without ever talking to a human being. And because both traditional brokerages and fintech startups offer investing apps, you’re likely to find one perfect for you.

These 15 apps provide a painless route to investing for everyday investors.

15 best investment apps

Here are 15 of the best options for everyday investors:

1. Best investment app for high-end investment management: round

Investment apps are increasingly turning to robo advisors. Although round uses an automated questionnaire to generate its users’ portfolios, it works with fund managers like guggenheim partners, doubleline, and gabelli to provide individual investors with access to institution-grade investments.

Round’s institutional managers lean heavily on alternative assets and strategies, including asset-backed securities, real estate, and merger arbitrage. No matter the account value, round charges a 0.5% management fee. In the event of a negative return, however, round waives its monthly fee.

2. Best investment app for minimizing fees: robinhood

For investors who want to do it themselves and pay as few fees as possible, robinhood is one of the best investment apps. With no commissions and a $0 account minimum, robinhood cuts out most of the costs typically associated with investing apps.

Unfortunately, robinhood users do make some sacrifices. Robinhood doesn’t offer any retirement accounts or managed portfolios, meaning all investments made through the app are taxable and self-managed. It’s relatively bare-bones for an investing app, but it’s the best way to trade individually for free.

3. Best investment app for student investors: acorns

Every investor has to start somewhere. To cater to the fledgling demographic, acorns provides free management for college students. Unlike most investing apps, it also offers a “spare change” savings tool, which rounds up purchases users make at select retailers. The difference between the balance due and the next dollar is then invested in the user’s acorns account.

But be warned: acorns’ flat fees can be stiff for those with smaller account balances. For $1, $2, or $3 per month — depending on the user’s account balance — acorns offers a passive portfolio of etfs.

4. Best investment app for data dissectors: E*trade

Through the power E*trade app, do-it-yourself investors can buy into a wide range of assets. E*trade’s stocks, mutual funds, etfs, futures, and options are backed by its best-in-class research library. There, E*trade provides interactive charts and expert studies. Users of the investing app can dig deep into earnings, dividends, company news, and metrics like debt-to-equity ratio.

In exchange for that data, E*trade does charge steeper commissions, at $6.95 per trade, than many providers on this list. Due to its educational tools and array of assets, this investing app is a smart pick at the poles: beginning investors will appreciate the help building a risk-aligned portfolio, while veterans will like its professional-grade investment options.

5. Best investment app for banking features: stash

Like acorns, stash is one of the best investing apps for beginners. Where stash stands out is its account options: for a flat $3 monthly fee, users get brokerage, bank, and retirement accounts. At the $9-per-month level, they also receive two custodial accounts, monthly investment research, a stronger rewards structure, and an upgraded debit card.

Stash requires just $5 to open an account, and users can purchase fractional shares in stocks and etfs. Unfortunately, though, stash only offers about 150 stocks and 60 ETF options. To make their holdings more obvious to beginners, stash renames etfs with monikers, such as “clean & green” for the ishares global clean energy ETF.

6. Best investment app for customer support: TD ameritrade

Another brokerage competing in the investing app space, TD ameritrade doesn’t require a minimum investment. It does, however, charge a comparatively expensive $6.95 per trade. Options cost even more, with a $0.75-per-contract upcharge.

Why would users pay TD ameritrade’s fees? Because its asset options and customer support are second to none. Traders can choose between stocks, bonds, etfs, mutual funds, futures, foreign currencies, adrs, and more. If they need help, they get 24/7 phone, text, and instant messaging support. And if that’s not enough, they can stop into one of TD ameritrade’s 364 branch locations.

7. Best investment app for parents: stockpile

Founded by a CEO who wanted to give his nieces and nephews something more substantial than toys for the holidays, stockpile lets investors buy blue-chip stocks and etfs via gift cards. Although this investing app makes sense for parents who want to pique their kids’ interest in investing, beware its fee structure.

For a standard trade, stockpile charges $0.99. Gift cards, however, cost $2.99 for the first stock and $0.99 after that. And if you buy the gift card with a credit or debit card, expect to pay an additional 3%. Although kids may not care, stockpile users can’t see company balance sheets or portfolio performance projections.

8. Best investment app for overspenders: clink

If you’d rather shop than save, clink may be the best investment app for you. By linking your credit card and bank account to the app, you can invest a percentage of recreational purchases. Alternatively, you can schedule a fixed amount to be transferred into your clink account on a monthly or daily basis.

Clink investors currently pay no fees, nor do they need a minimum deposit. Instead, clink collects receives kickbacks from the ETF sponsors offered. Etfs are currently clink’s only asset option, unfortunately, and they’re only available in bundles based on the user’s risk tolerance.

9. Best investment app for total automation: wealthfront

Similar to betterment and other robo advisors, wealthfront invests in passive portfolios and charges a management fee of just 0.25%. Though the investing app requires a $500 account minimum, it does support daily tax-loss harvesting or realizing losses to offset taxes on capital gains. The value of tax-loss harvesting is limited for everyday investors, but it remains popular among robo-advisor apps.

To make the most of wealthfront, though, your balance needs to fall in its sweet spot. Unlike many robo-advised apps, wealthfront doesn’t deal in fractional shares. Serious investors should look elsewhere, too: although it does offer extras like the wealthfront risk parity fund to six-figure accounts for an extra fee, there’s no human management option or bonus for large balances.

10. Best investment app for human customer service: personal capital

Personal capital’s minimum balance may be high, but its featured savings tools are robust. Those who can meet its $100,000 minimum get a combination of human and robo advisors. Accounts over $200,000 are assigned to dedicated financial advisors. Although personal capital’s management fee is a stiff 0.89%, investors with large balances may pay as little as 0.40%.

What do users get for those fees? A pile of financial planning tools, including ones to track spending, net worth, retirement progress, portfolio performance, and more. Two new features include personal capital cash, a savings-like account with a 2.3% interest rate, as well as a retirement paycheck planner, which lets investors project their withdrawals during retirement.

11. Best investment app for data security: M1 finance

Claiming to be “one finance account that does it all,” M1 finance might be the toughest-to-categorize investing app on this list. A hybrid broker and investment management app, M1 allows for both self-serve and robo-advised investing.

Although M1 does have some drawbacks, as a free platform with no account minimum, its data security measures are strong. In addition to the typical two-factor authentication, M1 uses 4096-bit encryption for data transfer and storage. On the downside, M1 doesn’t provide tax-loss harvesting, nor does it offer as many asset types as traditional brokerages.

12. Best investment app for introductory offers: ally invest

Catering to both new and experienced investors, ally invest has a solid selection of educational materials and a fair fee structure. But the reason it’s on this list of top investing apps is its bonuses: with only a $10,000 deposit, investors earn $50, plus 90 days of commission-free trades. For larger deposits, that bonus amount goes as high as $3,500.

Although ally’s fees are higher than many app-first tools, they’re lower than the other online brokerages on this list. Stock and ETF trades are subject to a $4.95 commission, plus $0.65 for options contracts. If you’re an active or wealthy trader, though, those fees drop to $3.95 with an additional $0.50 for options. That’s not bad, especially given ally’s intuitive app and resources.

13. Best investment app for socially responsible investing: betterment

Young investors, in particular, like to support socially responsible companies. To reach them, betterment offers a best-of-breed socially responsible investing (SRI) portfolio. Compared to its core portfolio, betterment’s large-cap SRI holdings score 42% higher on its social responsibility index. The other assets in this investing app’s SRI portfolio are mostly broad-market etfs.

With $15 billion in assets under management, betterment recently split its services into betterment digital — with no account minimum and a 0.25% management fee — and betterment premium. For a $100,000 minimum and a 0.40% fee, betterment premium provides unlimited phone sessions with certified financial planners.

14. Best investment app for index investing: vanguard

One of the oldest and lowest-cost investment providers, vanguard’s investing app could admittedly use some work. If you can handle a confusing interface, though, you’ll find few better options for buying into mutual funds and etfs.

Vanguard charges no commissions for trading but does receive fees on its own etfs. Plus, users who receive their account documents electronically pay no account service fees. And believe it or not, vanguard doesn’t require a minimum balance, either.

15. Best investment app for couples: twine

Saving as a couple that doesn’t completely share finances can be tough. If you’ve got a wedding or vacation ahead but still want to keep separate bank accounts, check out this investing app. Backed by john hancock, twine charges $0.25 per month for every $500 invested.

Although that fee structure is on par with other digital investment providers, twine’s investment options are not. Twine gives users just three portfolio choices: conservative, moderate, or aggressive. Even more limited is its all-ETF asset mix, covering stocks as well as bonds. Twine is a fair pick for short-term savers who are new to investing.

Investing apps can be a godsend for individual investors who need a painless way to invest in stocks. Not all apps are created equal, but these 15 offer a good place to start.

Best stock trading apps

Leading software analyst in fintech, crypto, trading and gaming. An active trader and cryptocurrency investor.

Disclosure:

We may receive compensation when you click on links. Neither our writers nor our editors get paid to publish content and are fully committed to editorial standards .

Following the expansion of online businesses, people are given an opportunity to try themselves in just anything they are interested in. In case you’ve always wanted to be a stock trader but starting this type of business was too expensive and required a lot of effort, now it’s the right time to start earning with great and easy stock trading apps you will learn about in this article.

Best stock trading apps

Warning: cfds are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. Between 71-89% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds. Also some parameters like margin can be volatile according to market trends.You should consider whether you understand how cfds work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Warning. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading with etoro. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Plus500

Plus500 is a recognized by its comprehensive trading screen with detailed information about past and current positions of the stock. The app is very rich visually and includes expansive charts. The fees and commissions are affordable and variable so investors of all skill levels should try it out.

How it works: plus500 is a proprietary platform with a strong focus on technical analysis and stock trading. The app allows the users to multitask within the program; trading in several markets and tracking the real-time quotes.

Cool features: demo account, risk management, a variety of trading assets, E-mail alerts, mobile alerts, guaranteed stop loss, available for all mobile OS.

User tip: integrate all your trades in several financial markets by using the same screen of the plus500 app.

Business model: €100 minimum deposit for standard funding methods / €500 minimum deposit for bank. €10 inactivity fee.

Risk warning: 76.4% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Etoro

With millions of installs and leading positions in finance category of both app stores (google play / app store), etoro is an online trading platform that fits in a hand and is always with you. With over 2,000 financial instruments, etoro mobile app offers access to the same features as the web portal.

How it works: open an account and trade stocks, cfds, cryptoassets, indices, etfs, etc. Aided with real-time data, analytical tools and stop-loss on account, traders build up their portfolio. You may also find etoro among top CFD platforms to know more.

Cool features: virtual (demo) account with $100K for beginners to practice, insights from experts and community, 1-click trading, offline trading for selected orders.

User tip: when not sure where to start, make use of copytrader feature, replicating bids and investments of a specified trader. Also, don’t skip setting a stop-loss, a minimum sum on account, not to lose money.

Business model: free to install, minimum initial deposit for US clients is $200 (for australian – $50), withdrawal fee, inactivity fee.

Warning. 71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Capital

A web platform and a mobile app, capital.Com is a top global and free stock trading app with 788,000+ active users and counting. Even beginner traders can use it and learn without risks – via a demo account to practice commodity trading, cryptocurrency trading, CFD trading, stock exchange. There are standard, plus and premier accounts in 2 tiers (retail, professional).

How it works: a user opens an account of choice on capital.Com (web or mobile), makes a deposit is US dollars/UK pounds/euros/polish zloty ($20 minimum), trades on any of global markets, makes profits or loses on trading, withdraws funds whenever he wants. Capital com is registered in the england and wales and is regulated by the FCA (license number 793714). And capital com SV investments is regulated by cysec under license number 319/17.

Cool features: 75 technical indicators, free demo account, no commission on day trades, 1:200 maximum leverage, stop-loss option, crypto-trading (bitcoin, ripple, ethereum), over 3000 markets, forex, trading guides and webinars.

User tips: you may set a stop-loss to prevent negative balance. Withdrawal of funds into a credit card may actually take 2-3 business days or more, depending on user’s bank operations.

Business model: 20 EUR/USD/GBP minimum deposit, or 250 EUR via wire transfer, spreads.

Warning: cfds and spread bets are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly because of the use of leverage. Around 75 % of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds and spread bets with this provider.

Robinhood

Free, basic, simple to use and of the best stock trading apps. Apart from the standard plans, the app offers premium memberships for golden features. The absence of commissions makes it extremely suitable for new investors.

How it works: after signing up and making a deposit, you can search for a specific firm within the app search bar and, similarly to all the trading platforms, monitor the flux of the company’s revenues and invest accordingly.

Cool features: no minimum investment, no maintenance fee, no commissions. Scheduled deposits, company watch list, day-trade tracking, advanced order support. Newly added feature robinhood instant allows you to access the deposits (under $1000) instantly instead of typically waiting for three business days.

User tip: deposit your funds immediately so you can catch a great deal once it appears. Have patience. If you see a growing potential of your stock, do not rush to sell it and lose money before even gaining it.

Robinhood gold (large amount of instant deposit, after-hours trading, credit line)

Cryptocurrency trading (bitcoin, litecoin, dogecoin, etc)

Business model: free app, no commissions. Although it may seem too good to be true, robinhood actually offers an opportunity to earn without taking any commissions from you and that’s the key component of the app’s official advertisement campaigns.

TD ameritrade mobile

Toronto-dominion bank’s app is ideal for advanced traders and inclusive simplified features for the beginners and training for investors. The software enables easy external money transactions and can be used on four different platforms.

How it works: download the TD ameritrade mobile app from the store and register an account (in case you haven’t registered on tdameritrade.Com). With $0 account minimum, start investing and monitoring the stock market by remaining logged into your application.

Choose the initial investment amount and start earning money by trading. Advanced:

Retirement account (traditional, roth, or rollover IRA)

Education accounts (tax-free coverdell, UGMA/UTMA accounts, 529 plans)

Specialty accounts (advanced features)

Managed portfolios

Margin trading

Cool features: transferring the funds between TD ameritrade and external accounts, $0 account minimum, taxable brokerage account, in-depth account monitoring, price alerts, charts with indicators, customization of screens and lists, news and research, back testing, earning calendars.

User tip: you can track the real-time quotes on your apple watch, without using your smartphone. TD ameritrade has four different platforms; web platform, trade architect, thinkorswim, and TD ameritrade mobile app. Although you can use all of them, you must know the difference.

Business model: $0 minimum stock.

E*trade

Stock trade app suitable for skilled traders with large investments and profitability. The app is available on all mobile OS systems and a web platform. It offers powerful monitoring and analyzing tools.

How it works: investors can buy and sell stock, options, future, bonds, mutual funds, forex, and trade online without interacting with the broker directly. To start trading, you need to invest the minimum of $500 as a deposit.

Cool features: margin analyzer tool, margin calculator tool, both updated frequently. Advanced customer service, 24×5 trading on most active etfs. Real-time news and quotes, bar code scanner, comparison and performance charts, the customization of watch lists, voice recognition system.

User tip: click the complete view page to see all your assets and E*trade account on one screen. It will also show you the investments overview. Analyze the data as fondly as you need and extract all the relevant information.

Business model: $500 minimum investment. In order to buy the stocks, you must pay $6.95. The price decreases to $4.95 in case you make over 30 trades per quarter. Other plans are brokerage accounts, retirement accounts, managed portfolios, small business retirement accounts. The app is known as the one with the highest fees in comparison to their rivals.

Fidelity

Low-commission stock trading app. Users can customize most aspects of the software, including its appearance and functionality. Upon registration, you can adapt your features depending on your skill level.

How it works: upon registration, you must complete a questionnaire that will let this stock trading app determine your goals and investment methodology. Fidelity app provides you with etfs and mutual funds you can use for your investments.

Cool features: personalized feed, account review, and management, customizable alerts, adjusted tax schedule, ability to pay bills automatically, deposit money to the roth or traditional IRA. By connecting fidelity to echo, the voice response device by amazon, you can get any answer about the stock changes immediately.

User tip: find feed preferences and adjust your feed according to your needs. Use the learning center and select the financial area of your interest. Keep learning and listening to qualified sessions that will expand your trading knowledge.

Business model: $4.95 registration. Over 90 commission marked as “free” etfs that aren’t exactly free as you must pay the expense ratio between 0.10% and 0.50% of the total balance you invested.

Sigfig

Sigfig is a stock trading app with a well-organized asset management and simplified, easy-to-track portfolio. Due to a moderately high account minimum in comparison with other low-cost apps, this program is more suitable for experienced traders.

How it works: sigfig is a specific platform as it utilizes third-party accounts of the users who must be previously registered on TD ameritrade, fidelity or charles schwab. It monitors and enhances the portfolio of the user, balances the investments and reduces the fees.

Cool features: add-on app, third-party account sync, free adviser, advanced portfolio tracker. Sigfig automatically reinvests your dividends; automatically rebalances the funds on all the accounts for free.

User tip: you cannot manage your credit card on sigfig. In case you want to associate different financial accounts apart from the ones registered at its partners’ platforms (TD ameritrade, fidelity or charles schwab), you will not be allowed to.

Business model: 2,000 account minimum. Manage your first $10,000 for free. After passing the limit of $10,000, the annual management fee is 0,25%. The fee for diversified income portfolio is 0.50%.

Stash

Undemanding app for new, inexperienced investors seeking for the best way to start their trading career. Each user has the ability to own a retirement and standard account at the same time, on the same platform. Stash is very popular worldwide because it offers a range of flexible investing options.

How it works: similarly to sigfig, stash isn’t a direct manager of the registered accounts. However, you can link it to your bank account and invest in a wide range of stocks and funds – over 3.000 listings. Literally 1 cent is enough to start trading. Dowload the app, set it up, choose a plan, make a deposit and start investing.

Cool features: retirement and custodial accounts, partitions – to allocate funds in a smart way, auto-stash suit – including scheduler to set aside certain amount of income, save on round-ups, etc.; retirement calculator, personalized financial recommendations, portfolio diversification analysis.

User tip: make use of $1/month pricing plan to try out all the basic actions as a beginner. Instead of using several apps to monitor and manage your finances, you can open a retirement account on stash at the same time as operating your regular account.

Business model: $1 monthly fee for accounts under $5,000, 0,25% annual fee for accounts over $5,000. Stash retire ($15 account minimum), custodial accounts (available for users under the age of 18, registered by the custodian).

Stockpile

This is an extremely rare stock trading app with the ability to provide small purchases with the gift cards. The whole company is based on fractional shares and does not require large investments. Stockpile is primarily created for new investors, including children.

How it works: stockpile offers “fractional shares”, minimized stocks (instead of buying a whole share, user can buy 0.10 of it) and enables the users to invest in household-name companies. To complete the process, user must purchase a gift card and exchange it for the stock.

Cool features: gift bundles, wish list, redeem for retail, credit card funding, physical gift cards validity. Ios and android stockpile app has all the features of the web stockpile version.

User tip: this stock trading app developed an expert learning system. Access its affordable education courses and learn everything about investing. E-gifts cost less than physical cards.

Business model: 0% minimum investment. Taxable and custodial accounts, $0.99 fee per trade, $2.99 fee for the first gift card stock, $0.99 fee for every extra stock.

Schwab mobile

Schwab mobile (charles schwab) is one of the leading stock trading apps, created for investors of all skill levels. The app design is very simple, making it easy for first-time users. It also includes a long list of advanced features for experienced investors, making it appropriate for every trader.

How it works: schwab has over 4,000 mutual funds and 250 etfs, both are transaction and commission free. The app has an exceptional industry research and is marked as highly efficient.

Cool features: advanced industry research, available on web and mobile platforms, custom layouts, news and analysis, watch list, real-time quotes, association with apple pay.

User tip: stick to funds found on the schwab’s no-transaction-fee list. In case you want one that you cannot find on the mentioned list, you will need to pay $76 for it.

Business model: 0% service fee / $1,000 account minimum. $4,95 trade commission, $100 gift for the first-time users, $76 fee for the transaction fund off the list.

Acorns

Acorns is a user-friendly investment app associated with the bank account of the user. It automatically saves minor percentage off your daily credit/debit card purchases in your portfolio. Due to the simplicity and basic features, it is recommended for the first-time investors.

How it works: with the “round-up” system, acorns monitors your bank account and keeps the minor changes from your purchase until saving $5 into your investment portfolio; then, it invests automatically to a certain portfolio you previously chose.

Cool features: quick deposit options, no minimum investments, “potential” tab that allows the user to see the growing potential, round-up multiplier.

User tip: by recommending the app, you receive $5 per every registered person. At the beginning, do not constantly check the app and monitor every spent dollar. Keep purchasing with your linked credit card/s and get surprised by the amount acorns collected for you.

Business model: $1/month for users with the total balance under $5.000. 0.25%/year for users with the total balance equal to and over $5.000. The better the portfolio, the less affected you will be by the fees.

Wealthfront

If you are an investor seeking automated investing and moderately low fees, wealthfront is surely worth a try. The app has an integrated tool that creates the best strategy to help you achieve a certain goal. Although you can create a diversified portfolio, wealthfront does not support fractional shares.

How it works: after registering, setting your goals and risk assessment, wealthfront classifies the money you invested into etfs (exchange-traded funds) and acts as your expert financial adviser.

Cool features: portfolio review, tax location, index funds, automatic re-balancing, smart beta, risk parity. Path – saving system helps you set the goals and save efficiently towards achieving them.

User tip: in case you need advice and answers to some questions you cannot find in wealthfront’s FAQ, visit the official web blog of the company where you can find many interesting, educational posts and tips.

Business model: free registration / $500 account minimum. $250 minimum withdrawal, %0,25 annual fee for accounts with total balance over $5,000. Portfolio line of credit for accounts with total balance equal to or over $100,000.

5paisa

Extremely popular indian app for users of all skill levels. It is great for first starters as it offers a no-fee first year upon registration. 5paisa is a low-cost stock trading app with robo-advisory and online share market, including most features the leading financial apps provide.

How it works: standard stock trading apps where you need to send an application and wait for a few hours until getting approved. Afterward, you can invest in stock of your preferences and use integrated tools of 5paisa to monitor all your finances.

Cool features: demat account, immediate transfer of the funds, quick order, auto-investor, real-time quotes, synced watch list, exceptional charting.

User tip: do not rush with big investments in small-sized and middle-sized companies even when the offer seems very attractive. Do your research and if the firm actually seems stable, invest. If not, it is better to prevent a failure than deal with consequences.

Business model: first free year / free mutual fund account. Annual $400 ($5,80) membership / 18% GST for individual users. Annual $1,000 ($15) membership / 18% GST for non-individual users. $10 ($0.15) per trade.

Trading 212

Another globally recognized app with enormous trade possibilities for active traders, trading 212 merges with all the major markets. The system emphases educational programs and apart from the mobile platform, you can access it from the web as well.

How it works: as a new user, you can try a demo account that will help you learn about this stock trading app and get familiar with it. Trading212 uses a segregated tier-1 bank account for all the money of their users.

Cool features: user-friendly app, content-rich educational program, automated trading, web and mobile platform, trading signals, market analysis, chart monitoring, one-click execution.

User tip: after winning once or repeatedly, do not start increasing the size of your trade rapidly. Users usually have this reaction and invest all their gainings, thinking they will keep winning and eventually they lose most of it. Balanced investment is the key of the success.

Business model: minimum deposit $150 (€100, £100). 1:200 maximum leverage, monthly reward of 10 commission-free deals. After the spent 10 commissions, each commission varies from 1.95 ($, €, £) + 0.05% to 1.95 + 0.08%.

Investing for everyone

Break free from commission fees

Make unlimited commission-free trades in stocks, etfs, and options with robinhood financial, as well as buy and sell cryptocurrencies with robinhood crypto. See our fee schedule to learn more about cost.

Introducing fractional shares

Fractional shares disclosure

Learn as you grow

Our goal is to make investing in financial markets more affordable, more intuitive, and more fun, no matter how much experience you have (or don’t have).

Our products

Earn 0.30% APY* on your uninvested cash and get more flexibility with your brokerage account.

Variable APY and debit card disclosures

Robinhood means robinhood markets and its in-application and web experiences with its family of wholly owned subsidiaries which includes robinhood financial, robinhood securities, and robinhood crypto.

All investments involve risks, including the possible loss of capital.

Securities trading is offered to self-directed customers by robinhood financial. Robinhood financial is a member of the financial industry regulatory authority (FINRA) .

The best investing apps that let you invest for free

Updated: january 4, 2021 by robert farrington

There are thousands of financial products and services out there, and we believe in helping you understand which is best for you, how it works, and will it actually help you achieve your financial goals. We're proud of our content and guidance, and the information we provide is objective, independent, and free.

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Investing is risky. It comes with few guarantees. The only investing guarantee I can offer is this: everything held equal, the less you pay in fees, the better your returns. And investing apps are making it easier than ever to invest commission-free.

Fees don’t have to stop you from making wise and lucrative investments. Thankfully, we live in the 21st century, and there’s never been a better time to be a small investor.

And now, in today's mobile world, investing is becoming easier and cheaper than ever. Plus, with the investing price war that's been going on, it's cheaper than ever to invest!

Here are the best investing apps that let you invest for free (yes, free). You might also check out our list on the best brokers to invest.

Bonus offer: right now acorns is offering a $10 bonus when you open a new account. Get started at acorns here and start rounding up to invest. Open an account here >>

Best stock trading apps

The best stock trading apps combine low costs and useful features

A stock trading app user reviews charts and balances with a mobile app in a crowded shopping and dining district.

Some investors are happy putting their money into a boring fund and letting it simmer for the long term. Others are more interested in taking a hands-on approach to managing their money with active stock trading. Whether you buy and sell once in a while or want to enter a trade or more every day, there’s definitely a stock trading app for you.

The best stock app for your unique needs depends on your experience and trading goals. After reviewing fees, tradable assets, and more across several brokerages, we rounded up the best stock trading apps for both beginner and advanced investors to consider.

Best stock trading apps of 2021

stock trading app	why we picked it
TD ameritrade	best overall	open account
fidelity	best for beginners	open account
webull	best free app	open account
sofi	best for learning about trading	open account
tastyworks	best for options trading	open account
ally	best with banking products	open account

TD ameritrade mobile: best overall

TD ameritrade gets the top spot because it offers something for everyone and excellent pricing. The basic TD ameritrade mobile app is great for beginners and casual stock traders who want to manage their investments on the go. Advanced and expert traders can use the upgraded thinkorswim mobile app for a professional-style experience.

You get access to both apps with a TD ameritrade brokerage account, which has no minimum balance requirements and no fees to trade stocks and etfs. The fully-featured apps combine important account management features and trading features regardless of which one you choose. Thinkorswim also includes a live CNBC feed inside the app.

In november 2019, charles schwab announced that it is acquiring TD ameritrade. The acquisition is expected to close by the end of 2020. Once closed, it’s likely that TD ameritrade trading platforms and charles schwab trading platforms will be combined into one.

Key features

App names: TD ameritrade mobile and thinkorswim

Account minimum: no minimum deposit required

Fees: $0 commission for online stock, ETF, and options trades, but there is a 65 cent flat fee per options contract; $25 for broker-assisted trades; $49.99 for no-load mutual funds; additional fees may apply

Tradable assets: wide range, including stocks, options, etfs, mutual funds, bonds, and more

Account types: supports standard, retirement, education, and other types of accounts

Beginner and advanced mobile apps

Support for a wide range of assets and account types

Extensive research resources

Uncertainty of future after schwab acquisition

Fxdailyreport.Com

The internet has opened a sea of job opportunities for people who previously had nothing to do. A lot of people are now making a living online either part time or full time. Many of the jobs done online do not require you to make an initial investment to start working. Some of them such as blogging may need you to make a small investment but nothing significant enough to stretch your budget. Below are some of the online job ideas that require little or no investment to begin:

1. Forex trading with no deposit bonus

Forex trading is growing rapidly and attracting new investors every day. In fact, the forex market is now the largest in the world with transactions totaling an average of over 3.98 trillion daily. There have been a lot of developments in the market since the invention of forex trading, making it the most exciting business to venture in.

One of the recent development that is changing the forex market and attracting more investors is the emergence of no-deposit bonus programmes. This means that you can create and operate a forex account without making an initial deposit. Your account will be funded by a broker, and all you have to do is fill a sign-up form.

A few dollars will then be deposited into your account to help start trading. With this arrangement, you will gain some skills in forex, and you have nothing to lose in case the business fails.

2. Affiliate marketing

Affiliate marketing is a digital marketing arrangement whereby a marketer promotes or advertises products from an online retailer for a small commission. An affiliate marketer is a given a unique ID by the retailer, which is used to track the sells made by traffic from the marketer’s affiliate link.

Every time a customer buys something from the online retailer using your affiliate link, you are paid a certain commission, for example, 11% of the total product price. Some of the most popular affiliate marketing programs include:

Forex affiliate programs

Amazon associates

Clickbank

Ebay partner network

CJ affiliate

Target affiliates

JVZOO

Walmart affiliates

Warrior plus

3. Freelance writing

Best Online Business ideas Without Investment

Freelance writing involves writing articles or blog/website content for clients without being permanently employed by them. As a freelance writer, you are not an employee of the company, organization or the individual you write for. All you have to do is complete their writing assignments and move on.

You do not get to enjoy the benefits enjoyed by the employees of the company you work for as a freelance writer. Your contract is to strictly write content, submit them, get paid and that’s all.

There are different types of freelance writing jobs, including:

Newspaper articles

Blog content

Research reports

Speeches

Press release

Business plans

Magazine articles

Case studies

Annual company reports etc

There are a lot of websites on the web where you can sign up and start getting freelance writing jobs. Some of the best are:

Upwork

Iwriter

Fiverr

Freelance

Guru

Peopleperhour

Elance

Freelance writing gigs

4. Virtual assistant

A virtual assistant is someone who is skilled in a particular job and offers their services remotely to companies, private entrepreneurs, and businesses. This means that you work as an assistant to your employer in the comfort of your home. As a virtual assistant, there are a lot of services you can offer based on your training or the skills you possess. These may include:

Making and receiving phones calls

Content writing

Making appointments

Graphic design

Project management

Email correspondence

Data entry

Tech support

Customer service

Planning events

Managing social media accounts

Some of the great websites that you can find virtual assistant jobs include:

Upwork

Freelancer

People per hour

Fiverr

Freelancer

Eahelp

Vava virtual assistants

Zirtual

Virtual staff finder

Flexjobs

24/7 virtual assistant

5. Dropshipping

Dropshipping is a type of retail business where a merchant orders and sells products to consumers without physically owning or stocking them in their stores. What happens is that the merchant purchases inventory from a wholesaler or manufacturer and have them shipped straight to the consumer.

This means that the merchant does not physically come into contact with the products they sell. All they have to do is make arrangements with the manufacturer to ship the products to the consumer without the merchant’s involvement.

Some of the advantages of drop shipping are:

You don’t have to handle the product personally, so you don’t incur shipping expenses or cases of spoilage

It is easy to set up and start selling

You can start the business with a small investment

You can do it from anywhere. You only need a computer and internet connection, and you are good to go

6. SEO service / consulting

Most content creators are beginning to appreciate the role of SEO in helping websites grow. Companies and huge organizations are investing a lot of money into ensuring that their SEO techniques are competitive enough. To effectively do this, they need SEO consultants.

As an SEO consultant, your job is to critically analyze websites and give expert guidance regarding search engine optimization. Some of the basic responsibilities of an SEO specialist include:

Doing keyword research and analysis

Doing on-page SEO optimization

Assigning keywords to specific pages, which is also known as keyword mapping

Troubleshooting any SEO issues such as broken links or missing pages

Doing exhaustive website audits to determine SEO strengths and weaknesses

Ensuring that the site, in general, is SEO friendly

Giving content ideas that improve website SEO

Optimizing existing content to comply with current SEO strategies

Supervising web design and development to ensure SEO compliance

7. Blogging / publisher

A lot of people around the world are making a living from their blogs. To start earning as a blogger, you first create a blog on a specific niche and monetize it. However, before monetizing your blog and start making real income, you have to put in a lot of work.

You have to create high quality content around your specific niche. Then, do keyword research and other SEO strategies such as link building to make your content rank well in the search engines results page (SERP). From there, you have to share your content widely to attract a huge reader base. Some of the most effective ways to monetize and start earning from your blog include:

Selling a product or services such as ebooks or online courses

Selling affiliate products

Signing up for advertising programs such as google adsense

These are some of the most common online business ideas that do not require any investment. You can analyze your options and settle on one that you would feel most comfortable doing. However, do not try to do all of these jobs at once as you will simply get confused and give up before you earn anything.

Best day trading apps

Sarah horvath

Contributor, benzinga

Jump straight to webull! Now open to ALL stocks.

Day trading is a type of stock trading where you buy and sell securities in short periods of time. Day traders don’t care if the overall market moves up or down. As long as the stock market experiences volatility, a day trader can make money by purchasing assets when they dip in price and sell them off when they rise in value.

Learn more about day trading and find the best day trading apps with our guide.

Best day trading apps

Best for mobile apps: TD ameritrade

Best for execution: E*TRADE

Best for beginners: robinhood

Best for tracking account positions: fidelity

Best for all-in-1 solution: charles schwab

Best for active traders: tradestation

Table of contents [ hide ]

Many day traders value the freedom that comes along with their profession but being stuck at a computer for hours on end can be limiting. With the spread of smartphones, a number of day trading apps have popped up to help execute on-the-go trades from the world’s most prominent brokers.

We’ve rounded up some of the best day trading apps currently available for iphone and android, along with some additional tips and tricks to help get you started .

What do you need to start day trading?

Put a handful of things in your back pocket before you start trading. Check out our list.

1. Capital

You’ll need capital in your accounts to buy your 1st set of stocks. Though most brokers with account minimums allow traders to start buying and selling assets with as little as $250, you’ll need more capital to see significant profits once you consider the costs associated with commissions.

Most professional day traders recommend that new users start with a small $1,000 deposit to test your trading strategy — you can always put up more later on if you see success. New day traders should be particularly aware of the SEC’s pattern day trading rule; accounts with less than $25,000 at the end of the day are limited to 3 round-trip trades per 5-day period.

Once you exhaust your 3 round-trip trades a week, your broker must cut off your trading privileges until the next 5-day period begins or you make a deposit into your account to bring your account to $25,000. The pattern day trading rule means that it’s important for low-level day traders to be very selective about what you buy and sell because your accounts are limited.

2. A source for live quotes

Unlike long-term investors, day traders buy and sell their stocks quickly. Some traders may even purchase a stock and sell it within the span of 15 minutes. Day traders need a reliable source for instantaneous stock market quotes to know when to buy and sell. Check out our list of the best free sources for stock market quotes on the web and bookmark options that appeal to you.

3. Realistic aspirations

If a day trading course or website claims that stock trading can make you thousands of dollars overnight or that you can follow “simple tricks” to wealth, they’re probably trying to sell you something.

Successful stock trading takes time. Many professional traders confess that it took them over 6 months to begin to see regular profits, as well as countless hours of practice with a dummy account. Have realistic expectations for the amount of money that you’ll earn and don’t be afraid to make mistakes — they’re an important part of the learning journey.

What you should look for in a day trading app

Ask 100 traders about their favorite feature in a day trading app and you’ll likely come away with dozens of different answers. However, the 3 most prevalent are an intuitive layout, low fees/commissions and full web functionality.

1. An intuitive layout

No matter how well it works or how many cool research tools it offers, the best day trading app in the world is useless if you can’t figure out how to use it. Check out youtube app tutorials and demonstrations before committing to an app to ensure that you like an app’s look and feel and that its functions are intuitive and quick to execute.

2. Low fees and commissions

You’ll probably find your day trading app through your stockbroker — you should already be familiar with the fees and commission schedule. However, if this is your first venture into stock trading, you’ll want to choose an app provider that offers low fees and commissions in order to maximize your trade profits.

Many brokers also offer deep discounts for professional brokers who execute many trades a month. Want to learn more about low-commission stockbrokers? Check out our guide to find the right choice for you.

3. Full web functionality

Some brokers severely limit an app’s functionality, encouraging traders to use their desktop versions. Before you commit to an app, make sure that it offers all of the features and functionality of its desktop counterpart.

The best day trading apps

Based on the criteria above, we compiled the best day trading apps of the year.

18 ways to earn money online from home without investment

Are you looking for the ways to earn money online?

Did you try to make money online before but did not get success? Then no need to worry anymore!

Because we have already trained more than 7,00,000 people across the world & they are successfully making $300 to $2000 (INR 20,000+) per month.

We are showing you below some of the best ways to earn money online. You can also download our training package which will help you to grow your income very fast.

And yes, everything in this website is absolutely free & without investment.

18 ways to earn money online

Check some of the best ways below & start immediately-

1. Make money with online surveys

Here you can make money by completing small surveys which takes 5 minutes to 20 minutes depending on the requirement of a particular company.

You need to write your feedback & opinion in a survey. You just have to select your choice from the question & there is no need to write anything.

You can make $1 to $20 depending on the length of the survey, your profile & the country you are living in. You can find more about paid surveys and join 20 best survey sites.

2. Earn money with blogging

I have been making money with blogging from the last 7-8 years. I have made more than 1 million dollar (almost rs. 7 crore+) with blogging. I was so confused when I started blogging.

I had absolutely no idea about blogging when I started in 2010. I worked very hard but made no money with blogging for almost 1 year.

But I never gave up! I was doing my research on topics like, ‘how to create a blog', ‘how to write on your blog' and ‘how to promote your blog'.

And things started in my favor after 1 year. I made my first $100 from blogging in 2011. Then there was no looking back. Today I am earning $25,000 (rs 15 lacs+) per month from blogging.

You can know more about my blogging journey, my income proofs and a complete guide on how to start a blog for FREE.

3. Become a captcha solver

If you have more free time (2 hours a day) then you can add further income in your pocket by working as a captcha solver.

This is one of the easiest way to earn money online. As a captcha solver, you need to read the captcha images & type the exact characters.

You need to be very fast in order to earn better income. You can get paid up to $2 for every 1000 captchas you solve.

If you are interested in this then you can check this list of 10 best captcha work sites.

4. Earn with affiliate marketing

If you are serious about earning money online & you are a hard working guy who wants to make big income then affiliate marketing is for you.

There is more scope for affiliate marketing than before because of the high growth of online shopping.

There are hundreds of online merchants like amazon, flipkart, ebay, clickbank, CJ etc. Where you can signup & promote their products.

In affiliate marketing, you are simply helping customers to buy the right product by creating a simple website & in return you can earn 4% to 20% commission.

You can signup for free training so that we can send you one of the best guide on affiliate marketing that can help you to earn great income.

5. Become a freelancer

Freelancing is another popular way to make money after blogging & affiliate marketing. As a freelancer, you can work with small or big companies on a temporary basis & provide them your services.

Freelancers can make $500 to $2000+ per month depending on the type of freelance jobs you will do for your client.

You can work as a content writer, web designer, graphics designer or provide services like SEO, data entry, video testimonials, digital marketing etc.

There are dozens of popular websites like upwork, freelancer.In , worknhire , and many more freelance sites that can give you the ready platform with ready clients.

6. Virtual assistant

A virtual assistant is like a personal assistant who can earn money by working online for someone without being physically present.

He can do variety of tasks like taking care of websites, counseling, writing & proofreading, publishing content, marketing, coding, website & app development, research etc.

There are dozens of companies like hiremymom , mytasker , zirtual , uassistme , 123employee where you can signup for virtual assistant work.

7. Writing job

Writing is another better way to earn money on internet through writing different types of content.

You can write for blogs, companies, institutions, individual people etc. Different types of writers get paid differently.

Normally people get paid $5 to $20+ for writing 500 words content.

If you don’t have writing skills then you can read this post and become a freelance writer.

You can go to the sites like upwork, iwriter, writerbay, freelancewriting, textbroker, expresswriters.Com, freelancewritinggigs.Com to find the content writing jobs.

8. Micro-working

There are more ways that can help you to make extra income by working in part time. You can easily make $200-$300 per month by doing simple tasks on different sites.

Here you can work on variety of different tasks like identifying an object, rating & commenting on different sites, visiting some websites, finding contact details, doing small research, writing small articles etc.

There are many websites like mturk, microworker, seoclerk, clickworker, gigwalk where you can work as a micro worker & earn extra income. After signup, we will show you how to work as micro-worker and make money.

9. Become a youtuber

Youtube is one of the hottest trend in earning money online. You can start your youtube channel, upload some quality videos and then become a youtube partner to make money online on youtube.

You can create different kind of videos like prank videos, comedy videos, kitchen recipes, how-to-do videos, travel tips, or anything you think, is useful for people.

Once you get the videos views and subscribers for your channel then you can apply for youtube partner program.

Once you get the approval, people will see the ads along with ads in your videos. You will make money for each views your video receive.

You can shoot videos from your smartphone or any DSLR camera.

10. Become an online seller

Online selling is not like traditional selling. You don’t have much scope of selling your items outside your local market but in online selling, you can sell your product all over the country.

There are 2 ways to sell anything online.

Either, you can create your own website and sell your products from your website OR become a seller on any famous shopping portal like amazon, flipkart, ebay, snapdeal etc.

Second option is much better you will get existing customers of these popular portals.

Now you must be thinking that what can I sell when I don’t have any product?

I have seen many amazon and flipkart sellers who don’t have any product but still they are selling number of products on these sites.

What you can do is, roam around your city & check for the best products you can sell on these sites. You can find the wholesalers and distributors who can sell you these products at a highly discounted rates.

You can list these products on amazon, ebay etc. And make money by selling at a higher price.

You need to try the best products that you can sell at lower than market price. Trust me, its easier than your thought. Only thing you need to do is take action.

11. Domain trader

Domain trading is another high profit business you can do online. But here you need some investment for buying the domain.’

You must be an expert OR you should get detailed knowledge before you start this business.

You can buy domains from godaddy or other domain registrar for less than $10 & sell in future to the needy person for hundreds of dollars. Your skill here is to identify great domains that are not booked yet & companies in future can try to buy that domain.

When companies don’t find the domain of their choice, they contact the domain owner for the deal & it’s in your control to fix the price. You can even put your domains on auction so that people can buy directly at your desired price.

12. Website flipping

Like domain trading, website flipping is also a hot business to earn money online. Here you don’t deal with domains but websites.

You have to create a website, work on it for 3-6 months or more so that you can start making money from the websites.

After earning for 2-3 months, you can put that site on auction on flippa , empireflippers etc. You can easily get 15-20 times price of your monthly earning from that website.

It’s much easier to grow an old sites than creating a new site and the grow this new site.

Many experienced people buy websites from flippa, work for 3-4 months on these sites and make double or triple income.

13. Provide training & consultancy

There is a big scope of earning money online if you have some good skills that people need. Like you can provide training on spoken english, computer courses, any technical course, feng shui, medical treatment and any other things.

You can promote your business through a website or a facebook business page.

You need to promote your website or facebook page in order to get the potential leads.

You can get many customers through a good follow ups.

14. Stock & forex trading

Stock trading & forex trading is a very lucrative way to make money for those who has good idea of the market.

There are number of free or paid courses available on internet that can train you for online trading.

You can even read newspaper like economic times or watch TV channels like CNBC to become more expert in the field. Its risky to enter into this market without sufficient knowledge.

15. Earn money from your smartphone

There are various smartphone apps that can pay you some extra income by completing some simple tasks on your smartphone.

There are at least 20 money making apps that if you install in your smartphone, can give an extra income of $200-$300.

You have to take simple surveys, complete offers by signup on other websites, play games, watch videos etc.

You don’t need to take any extra time to earn from this as you can make money on the go.

16. Sell photos online

This is another use of your smartphone. You can take high quality images of nature, places, people, things, dishes, homes etc. & sell them online.

There are number of big sites like shutterstock, fotolia, , istockphoto, photobucket where you can submit your photos. Whenever some customer wants to purchase your photos, you will get paid as per the price you fix.

You can get paid multiple time for the same photos. Read this moneyconnexion post for more details.

17. Sell old stuff on OLX or quikr

I am sure there may be number of things in your home that are lying unused for months & if you take little efforts, you can earn some good money.

You just need to do 2 things, i.E. Find out all the items that you are no longer using, take high quality photos of these items from different angles & list these items on OLX & quikr for sale.

Not only this, you can also ask your friends & relatives for selling their old stuff. You can help them selling these items & make some commission.

So these 18 ways can provide a perfect answer for your query ‘how to earn money online” & yes, you can shoot an email to us in case of assistance.

Compare brokers in nigeria

For our nigeria comparison, we found 18 brokers that are suitable and accept traders from ukraine.

We found 18 broker accounts (out of 147) that are suitable for nigeria.

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About XTB

Platforms

Funding methods

82% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider.

Avatrade

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About avatrade

Platforms

Funding methods

79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider.

Forex.Com

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About forex.Com

Platforms

Funding methods

79% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider

Plus500

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About plus500

Platforms

Funding methods

76.4% of retail CFD accounts lose money

Axitrader

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About axitrader

Platforms

Funding methods

68.5% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you understand how cfds work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

Etoro

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About etoro

Platforms

Funding methods

71% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider. You should consider whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money.

XM group

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About XM group

Platforms

Funding methods

78.04% of retail investors lose money when trading spread bets and cfds with this provider.

Easymarkets

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About easymarkets

Platforms

Funding methods

83% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider.

Thinkmarkets

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About thinkmarkets

Platforms

Funding methods

Losses can exceed deposits

Trade.Com

Spreads from

What can you trade?

Forex

Crypto currencies

Indices

Commodities

Stocks

Etfs

About trade.Com

Platforms

Funding methods

71.36% of retail investor accounts lose money when trading cfds with this provider.

Between 54-87% of retail CFD accounts lose money. Based on 69 brokers who display this data.

The ultimate guide to

The nigerian financial market

Now africa’s largest economy, and home to almost 200 million people, nigeria has experienced an impressive period of growth over the last 10 years. This can be mainly attributed to the country’s oil production industry, which has powered periods of growth but has also left the country susceptible to recent instability in global oil prices.

As a member of OPEC , nigeria ranks as the world’s 8 th most important oil producer at 1,797,000 barrels per day, with estimated reserves of 35 billion barrels. Crude oil accounts for 15 per cent of the country’s GDP , 77 percent of total exports and 70 percent of government revenues. In addition to crude oil, nigeria has become a leading exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG), which makes up 15.5 percent of its exports. The next largest sector of the nigerian economy consists of agriculture, which employs 60 percent of the workforce and makes up 26 percent of GDP. Nigeria’s main agricultural products include yams, rice, millet, sorghum and livestock.

All of this period of growth, as well as any instability, has been reflected on the nigerian stock exchange (NSE) . The NSE is a self-regulating organization that oversees operations on the exchange and aims to maintain participants’ confidence and market integrity.

The exchange is overseen by nigeria’s financial regulator, the securities and exchange commission (SEC), nigeria . Under the supervision of nigeria’s federal ministry of finance, SEC nigeria regulates all of nigerian capital markets. The agency was founded in 1960 and in 1962 became an essential arm of the central bank of nigeria.

Trading in nigeria

When looking for an online broker to trade forex or cfds with, make sure to choose a well-regulated broker that has a strong reputation with clients, since they should be suitable for entrusting a margin deposit with them.

Online brokers generally offer several trading account for traders, including:

Forex trading: exchanging one currency for another forms the basis of forex trading. Exchange rates fluctuate as one currency rises or falls relative to another in particular currency pair. The popularity of forex trading has expanded greatly once online trading became possible. The forex market is the most liquid and largest financial market globally and had a daily turnover of $5.1 trillion/day in april 2016, according to data compiled by the BIS .

CFD trading: making transactions in derivative financial instruments known as contracts for difference (cfds) allows traders to speculate on the future of their underlying assets. Such assets can consist of a currency pair, commodity, stock, stock index or other financial instruments.

Demo accounts: funded with virtual money, these accounts can be used to practice trading, test a strategy or check out a broker’s services and platform. Find out more on opening demo accounts here .

Islamic accounts: these are suitable for traders who wish to trade in an account that conforms to sharia law. Find out more on trading with an islamic account .

As far as trading nigerian securities are concerned, the nigerian stock exchange (NSE) offers their services to african enterprises and investors around the world. To invest in the nigerian equities market, investors can purchase securities directly from the primary market when new issues and offerings come out, or by trading in the listed securities on their secondary market platform.

To buy securities in the primary or secondary markets, an investor must first appoint a stockbroker or dealer registered as a dealing member of the NSE to facilitate trading once the account is open. The responsibility of clearing and settlement of NSE transactions then falls on the central securities clearing system plc. (CSCS), which is the licensed depository in the nigerian capital market.

To open a trading account in nigeria, the prospective client will need to submit documents that meet regulatory know-your-client (KYC) requirements. The exchange recommends potential investors confirm the broker’s status with the NSE and SEC and to meet with the broker-dealer firm to ensure that their services match the client’s specific needs.

Domestic and foreign investors who wish to operate on the NSE can hold assets domiciled with the CSCS directly with their appointed dealer or through a licensed custodian appointed by them.

Opportunities for trading in nigeria

Nigeria is africa’s largest economy , has the largest population, and is the continent’s largest oil producer. The country’s largest city, lagos, makes up the 5 th largest economy on the african continent. The country has vast deposits of natural resources such as iron ore, coal, niobium, bauxite, lead and tin, as well as natural gas and of course crude oil.

The nigerian market’s strengths include a young and educated population, a large consumer base with a growing middle class and many public and private partnerships (ppps) for developing infrastructure. Clearly, opportunities for doing business in nigeria exist, but only for those with the patience and foresight to see their efforts come to fruition.

Biggest challenges of trading in nigeria

Nigeria poses some daunting challenges to investors and traders, including the high cost of doing business and some serious risks to public safety due to military coups and internal struggles.

In recent times, nigeria has been torn by a series of military coups and currently faces the threat of the islamic-state-aligned boko haram. The internal struggle between boko haram and indigenous and christian populations has seen thousands of people die over the past few years, with islamic law now imposed in several northern states.

Nigeria’s national currency, the naira has fallen dramatically since 2014 when the naira traded at 166 to one U.S. Dollar. In june of 2016, the naira declined by 30 per cent against the U.S. Dollar after the nigerian central bank removed its currency peg of 197 NGN to USD, which the bank had held for 16 months.

The central bank sold a total of $614.5 million directly on the interbank market for between 280 and 285 NGN. Since then, the exchange rate has declined to its current 360 to one U.S. Dollar, due to declining oil prices and the country’s political instability.

When it comes to practical matters for new businesses planning on opening an office, like dealing with registering property and getting electricity, nigeria ranked among the lowest in sub-saharan african nations countries at 184th and 171st respectively on the world bank’s list . Nigeria also ranked 149th for ease of dealing with construction permits.

When it comes to starting a business nigeria also ranked low at 120th, while the country ranked somewhat better at 38th for protecting minority investors. Taken overall, these low rankings suggest a challenging environment for opening or operating a business in nigeria.

Summary

Considering the pros and cons of doing business in nigeria, the nation’s continued internal political struggles and low world bank rankings have hampered economic growth and foreign investment.

Nevertheless, once some of the country’s internal struggles get resolved, nigeria’s abundant natural resources and large employable population could present an excellent opportunity for large and mid-sized companies.

When searching for a broker to operate through in nigeria, traders should check to see that they offer a suitable range of asset classes, a decent trading platform, strong regulation and adequate financial security for a margin deposit.

Why choose XTB
for nigeria?

XTB scored best in our review of the top brokers for nigeria, which takes into account 120+ factors across eight categories. Here are some areas where XTB scored highly in:

16+ years in business

Offers 1,500+ instruments

A range of platform inc. MT4, mirror trader, web trader, tablet & mobile apps

XTB offers three ways to tradeforex, cfds, social trading. If you wanted to trade EURUSD

The two most important categories in our rating system are the cost of trading and the broker’s trust score. To calculate a broker’s trust score, we take into account a range of factors, including their regulation history, years in business, liquidity provider etc.

XTB have a AAA trust score. This is largely down to them being regulated by financial conduct authority, segregating client funds, being segregating client funds, being established for over 16