Best stock tracking apps to stay on top of your portfolio
If you've been building an investment portfolio, there's a good chance you want to know how everything's going. With the help of a stock monitoring app, you can get an idea of what's happening with the markets, individual stocks, and even your portfolio. The best way to track your investment portfolio is the one that best fits your needs and helps you reach your goals. Here are some of the stock tracking apps that allow you to stay on top of your situation.
The best stock tracker apps
The following are some of the best stock market tracking app choices for a variety of purposes. When deciding which stock tracking app to use, think carefully about what makes sense for you.
Do you need an app to just check stock prices or are you looking for something more comprehensive? Or are you looking for an app that also tracks your retirement goals?
Choose a stock monitoring app that makes sense for your situation.
- Best for a holistic approach: Empower
- Best for educational resources: Seeking Alpha
- Best for beginners: Robinhood
- Best for expert insights: Morningstar
- Best for third-party integrations: Stock Rover
- Best for experienced traders: E*Trade
- Best for external analysis: SigFig
- Best for prebuilt portfolios: M1 Finance
1. Empower
Empower offers a holistic look at your finances, including your investment portfolio. This app is best for those who want to see how their investments fit into their overall financial picture. And it's great for including your investments in your net worth and getting the big picture.
You can access Empower via the web app on your computer or through their mobile app.
Pros
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See how your portfolio is performing as a whole
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Understand how your portfolio impacts your overall financial picture
Cons
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You might be contacted for upsells to the premium version of Empower
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It's harder to set up stock alerts
2. Seeking Alpha
Seeking Alpha has a huge variety of resources available to help you make more informed investing decisions. You'll get access to up to 15 newsletters by email for free. But you'll need to upgrade to Premium if you want access to Seeking Alpha‘s ratings screener and Top Rated stocks. Get $30 off your membership when you use our link.
You can also upgrade to Pro if you would appreciate VIP concierge service or would like to totally remove ads.
Pros
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Easy to follow specific authors and receive updates when they publish new content
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Proprietary tools like Stock Quant Ratings and Author Ratings
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Massive and engaged investing community
Cons
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Several ratings tools require Premium membership
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Pro plan is pricey
3. Robinhood
Robinhood is best for beginner investors and active traders. Their platform is easy to use; there aren't a ton of extra bells and whistles to distract the user.
More experienced traders may find Robinhood lacks some of the advanced charts and trade types they may want, but for beginner and casual investors, the basics are covered. On the Robinhood app, you can view a standard or advanced chart for a stock, ETF, or crypto.
There are 2 types of charts you can look at: a line chart shows you the closing price at any point in time, and a candlestick chart shows five data points (open, close, low, high, and price direction) during a time interval.
Pros
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User-friendly platform
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Commission-free trading
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New customers can get a free stock
Cons
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Order selling process
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Monthly fee for gold accounts
4. Morningstar
Morningstar offers high-end research that's best for serious investors. You can set up a portfolio tracker and get ratings on various stocks and funds. This is the priciest stock tracker app on this list, at $249 per year for their Premium version. However, you get access to some of the best research available. You can use Morningstar's online app on your computer or get the mobile app.
Pros
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Compare investments side by side to decide what belongs in your portfolio
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Monitors market activity and present it in an easy-to-digest format
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Customizable
Cons
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Requires a steep annual fee
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You have to execute your own trades
5. Stock Rover
4.3
Stock Rover is a robust investment screening and analysis website that gives users access to various tools. Besides tracking tools you also get access to including investment data, charts, research reports, ratings, customizable screeners and custom alerts.
StockRover goes far beyond the typical free screeners on large investment data websites. You can integrate data from your brokerage, get in-depth portfolio analysis, future dividend income projection, Monte Carlo simulation tools for future performance, and much, much more.
The free account is extensive but there are also paid versions that give you access to even more bells and whistles.
Pros
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Extensive research
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Lots of chartings tools
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Customizable
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Free plan is available
Cons
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No mobile app support
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Not for beginners
6. E*TRADE
4.3
One of the most well-known brokers is E*TRADE. With this app, you can track stock performances and take advantage of a variety of research tools. Additionally, it's possible to add stocks to a watchlist and use that as a stock ticker app to monitor prices. E*TRADE is ideal for someone who has some experience and advanced knowledge of trading and wants to be able to control their portfolio.
E*TRADE is available on the web. And they also have a robust mobile app that makes it easy to trade.
Pros
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$0 transaction fee for stocks and ETFs
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Use your watchlist to make choices for your portfolio
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Easy to trade using the mobile app
Cons
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Live chat can be slow
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No access to foreign markets
7. SigFig Portfolio Tracker
3.5
SigFig offers both a free version and paid version. With this app, you can connect your accounts and then see all your assets and measure individual performances. SigFig is ideal if you want access to an external analysis that can help you make portfolio adjustments be more efficient. And you get real-time market tracking and live support. SigFig is available on the web as well as in a mobile app.
Pros
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Robust stock monitoring app free
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Real-time market tracking
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Connect all your accounts and analyze your efficiency
Cons
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Must have a $2,000 minimum to keep money with SigFig and buy and sell investments
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0.25% annual fee if you have more than $10,000 in your account
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No cash management account
8. M1
Investors can customize their own portfolio or rely on any of the 60+ prebuilt portfolios making M1 one of the more flexible options out there. M1 provides investment portfolio templates, referred to as “Pies," which are based on Modern Portfolio Theory.
Each Pie is a collection of as many as 100 “slices” (with each slice representing an investment — be it a stock, an ETF or even another pie). The Pie then becomes the tool that you will use to manage your portfolio, and it can be customized with any stocks or ETFs that trade on either the New York Stock Exchange or the Nasdaq.
Pros
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Doesn't charge broker fees or commissions
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Low $100 minimum investment requirement
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Select your own investments and get automated portfolio management
Cons
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Doesn’t recognize certain investments, such as employer-sponsored retirement plans
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No tax-loss harvesting
How to choose a stock monitoring app
When deciding on the best stock tracking app for you, it's important to consider your own needs and preferences. Different apps have various features that may be more useful to you, depending on your goals and how you manage your portfolio.
- If you just want to keep tabs on your portfolio and see how it's doing relative to your overall finances, something like Empower is a good choice.
- However, if you want to use your stock monitoring app to buy and sell, you may be better off using the tools offered by a broker like E*TRADE. SigFig can also be a good choice if you can meet the minimum and pay the price for help managing your portfolio.
- Finally, if you're more interested in research so you can make your own choices and then apply what you've learned to your portfolio, Seeking Alpha and Morningstar are good options. Look at pricing to see if you need to add extra features. In general, Morningstar is considered one of the best choices because of its robust research reports on stocks and funds. However, if you're just interested in charts and basic information, Yahoo! Finance can often do the trick.
How we chose the stock trackers on this list
We looked at different stock tracking apps and considered different features. This list represents different choices for those with varying priorities. There's a good chance that you can find something on this list that fits your needs, based on what matters most to you when deciding on the best stock tracking app for you.
Final thoughts on stock trackers
The best stock tracker is the one that helps you reach your goals for your investment portfolio. Carefully consider what features are likely to work best for you and your budget. In the end, you can usually put together a system that works for your financial situation and long-term goals.
FAQs
Miranda Marquit is a journalism-trained freelance writer and professional blogger specializing in personal finance.
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