The vast majority of investors simply don’t have time to sit in front of a computer all day to track the bonds, commodities, and stocks and shares market; especially is it’s their first time. But, with the best mobile trading app, that doesn’t have to mean you can’t get started investing your money successfully.
UK investing apps are designed to help you manage your money on the go, allowing you to buy and sell assets instantly from anywhere in the world. Better yet, many of the top apps offer tools to help you come up with new trade ideas, so you can use your commute or any other free time to improve your investing strategy.
There is an enormous number of apps you can use on your smartphone or tablet. Most major brokerages offer their own apps, and there are even more third-party investing tools that integrate with whatever broker you’re using per trade.
From that pile of apps, we picked out top 7 investment apps in the UK that we think are worth a closer look, offering detailed information about them for our interactive investor to make their choice.
eToro is an extremely popular online brokerage around the world, and it has a lot to offer UK investors on the go. To start, the range of asset classes that you can invest in is extremely impressive. You can buy and sell stocks and shares on most of the world’s major exchanges, including the London and New York Stock market Exchanges. You can also invest in ETFs on the eToro platform.
One thing that particularly sets eToro apart from other investment apps is that it also allows you to invest in over 15 cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. eToro even has it’s own cryptocurrency wallet, available as a mobile phone app, which you can use to safely store these coins.
Another one of the best things about the eToro investment app is it’s low fees. It’s one of very few brokers on the market that allows you to buy shares and ETFs without paying any commission whatsoever, and the low fees for micro-investing in cryptocurrencies are also competitive.
eToro is a particularly good investment platform for beginners due to its social and copy trading tools. You can discuss strategies and tips with over 12 million investors, and you can even copy their entire investment portfolios at the click of a button! This means you can invest in stocks and crypto without doing any of the work.
The eToro mobile investment app is extremely user friendly, with a layout and menu design that feels intuitive as soon as you log in. Just beware that the trading app doesn’t offer much in the way of charts, market news, or other tools. You’re essentially on your own for market research for assets, so you’ll probably want to find a stock screener app or something similar to support your mobile investing.
· Investment Assets: Stocks, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies
· Demo Account: Yes
· Trade Commissions: No
· Minimum deposit: £200
2. Moneta Markets - High Leverage Investment App with Copy Trading
Moneta Markets was established back in 2009 and hosts over 300 assets in the form of CFDs. This includes over 180 shares from the UK, US, Europe and Hong Kong, in addition to forex, commodities, indices and cryptocurrencies.
One of the best things about the Moneta Markets investment app is that it offers high leverage – all the way up to 1:500. This is much higher than that offered by many others on the app store and means you can use this leverage to make larger trades than your budget would otherwise permit.
This award-winning app, is Authorised and regulated by the FCA investment app also offers some fantastic features and trading tools. These include platform videos and Moneta TV, daily technical analysis, and the innovative Duplitrade tool, which allows you to copy the portfolios of top traders!
On top of that, the Moneta Markets trading app is very competitive in the spread and platform fees department, so you don’t need to break your bank accounts to trade at this broker. It even offers a 50% deposit bonus, in addition to a ‘refer a friend’ bonus, to help you kickstart your trading endeavours!
· Investment Assets: Stocks, Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Indices (CFDs)
· Demo Account: Yes
· Trade Commissions: Spread
· Minimum deposit: $200
3. Hargreaves Lansdown - Share Dealing, ISAs, SIPP Accounts and More
Hargreaves Lansdown is a financial services provider that offers one of the best investment apps in the UK. To start with, Hargreaves Lansdown offers a wide range of investment options that are sure to suit investors of all tastes.
If you’re looking for a regular share dealing account, you can trade thousands of shares, ETFs and bonds from around the world on Hargreaves Lansdown. Platform fees are competitive, too, ranging from £5.95 – £11.95 for shares, depending on how many trades you made in the previous month.
On top of a regular share dealing account, Hargreaves Lansdown offers a lifetime ISA, and SIPP accounts. You can take charge of your investments yourself, or you can invest via the range of managed portfolios available on the Hargreaves Lansdown app.
The Hargreaves Lansdown investment app also has a range of useful features. You can login in quickly via fingerprint or face ID, use linked accounts to manage your family’s accounts in one place, access live share prices, and make use of the many news and research materials provided by the platform.
Investments may fall as well as rise so you could get back less than you invest.
· Investment Assets: Shares, ETFs, Funds, Investment Trusts Bonds, Gilts
· Demo Account: No
· Trade Commissions: Yes
· Minimum deposit: £0
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· Investment Options: Many account options
· News and Research: Keep up to date
· No Investment Limit: Invest as little as you like in shares
· No demo account
4. AvaTrade - Best Investment App for Technical Trading
AvaTrade stands out for offering some of the most rigorous technical trading tools of any mobile app. When you sign up for AvaTrade, you can also get started with MetaTrader 4, a popular charting software with more than 100 included technical studies. You can access the mobile version of MetaTrader 4 through the AvaTrade app, meaning that you can create mobile trading alerts around custom-built trading strategies.
In terms of asset range, AvaTrade covers just about everything you could want to invest in. The platform enables stock market, bond, futures, commodity, cryptocurrency, and forex trading, all through CFDs. That means that you can also trade with leverage, up to 20:1 for stocks, which is a plus for traders who want to take bigger positions without tying up more money. Just keep in mind that CFD trading means you won’t be eligible for dividends, and holding long-term stock market positions can be more expensive.
fThe AvaTrade mobile app is well-designed. It gives you the ability to create multiple watchlists and portfolios and to access charts for individual assets with just a tap. You can zoom in on charts to look at detailed patterns as needed, and it’s easy to check your account balance and current holdings at a glance.
· Assets: Stocks and shares, ETFs, Cryptocurrencies, Forex, Commodities (all as CFDs)
· Demo Account: Yes
· Trade Commissions: No
· Minimum deposit: £100
· Leverage: Trade stocks at up to 20:1 margin
· Technical Charting: Access to MetaTrader 4 and mobile charts
· Copy Trading: Copy other traders’ portfolios with a single tap
· CFDs Only: You cannot buy and sell stocks directly
· No Market News: Only technical charts included in research
5. IG - Invest in Over 10,000 Shares, Funds and Trusts
If you’re looking for an investment app that provides access to a huge range of assets at with a competitive platform fee, IG is certainly worth checking out. This broker offers over 10,000 shares, funds and investment trusts, so there’s plenty of choice on offer.
When it comes to fees, IG doesn’t quite match up to eToro, but it is definitely competitive. UK shares have a commission of just £3 if you made three or more trades in the previous month and £8 if you didn’t. US shares, which you can trade out-of-hours, are free to use if you made three or more trades in the previous month and £10 if you didn’t, while all other shares have a 0.1% commission per trade at a minimum of EUR 10 or A$10.
IG offers several different ways to invest in the assets it offers. As well as a regular share dealing account, you can opt for a stocks and shares ISA, which allows for tax-free investing, or a SIPP account. This broker also offers professionally managed Smart Portfolios which allow you to invest with the help of expert guidance.
The IG investment app is one of the most impressive we’ve seen in terms of design and usability, and it offers charting tools and share price alerts. There’s even the separate IG Academy app which is designed to teach beginners about the world of investing.
· Investment Assets: Shares, Funds, Investment Trusts
· Demo Account: Yes
· Trade Commissions: Yes
· Minimum deposit: £250
· Huge Range of Assets: Over 10,000 shares
· Competitive Fees: £0 - £10 commission
· Investment Options: Offers share dealing, stocks and sharesISAs, Smart Portfolios
· High Minimum Deposit: You need at least £250 to invest
· No cryptocurrencies: Can't invest in Bitcoin
There is no guarantee you will make money with this provider.
6. Fineco Bank - Low-Commission Investment App
Fineco Bank is an Italian bank and financial services provides that, despite not being as well known as some other brokers, offers a fantastic mobile investment app for UK investors. The Fineco app offers shares, ETFs and funds from UK, European and US markets.
Fineco allows you to invest directly in the local currency, so you don’t have to worry about conversion fees. This platform charges an account fee of just 0.25% per annum, which decreases if you have a larger investment portfolio.
Trading fees are also competitive. For funds, you’re only charged the investment account fee, while for UK shares and ETFs you’re charged a fixed commission of just £2.95. This is USD/EUR 3.95 for US and European shares, and £6.95 for bonds.
The Fineco app is very easy to use and has some impressive features. These include push quotes, margin, Stop Loss, Take Profit and a range of other tools. There’s also the market-bar feature, which allows you to quickly switch from one portfolio to another.
· Investment Assets: Shares, ETFs, Funds
· Demo Account: No
· Trade Commissions: Yes
· Minimum deposit: £100
7. Wealthify – Best Investment App for Ready-Made Portfolios
Wealthify is classified as a robo-interactive investor integrated with a digital investment app, although the platform not fully automated. The company launch in 2016 and is headquartered in Cardiff. Wealthify are backed by Aviva, which are the largest shareholders.
The software is accessible both through a mobile and desktop interface. Customer services are available through the platform and over the phone.
The investment app places your money into a selection of diversified portfolios depending on your preferences. All portfolios spread the risk level of the fund across a range of industries and countries. A typical investment portfolio will include low-cost and passive investments, such EFTs, mutual and other index tracker funds.
Costs associated with Welathify start with a flat rate of 0.6% on your investment, plus fees, which vary based upon the funds invested in, which generally start at around 0.22% with higher fees associated with specialist funds such as ethical investing at 0.66%.
Benefits of the platform
· Standard Buying and selling of investments
· Ongoing management of your plan
· Live chat, phone and email address support
· News and insights on the blog and with a monthly market update
· Invest from just £1.
· No withdrawal charges
· Ability to select ethical investments
· Less control over investments – its managed for you
· An expensive option for large portfolios
7. Nutmeg – Best Investment App for A shares ISA
Nutmeg is a UK based investment platform offering users both a mobile app and desktop system. The platform is a robo advisor and suggested to be the UK’s largest provider with a lump sum of £1.7 billion worth of funds invested for in excess of 70,000 customers.
A Robo Advisor invests on your behalf based upon your preferences. The basic investments you can choose with Nutmeg are a range of three ETFs (Exchange Traded Funds) – Socially Responsible, Fully Managed and Fixed Allocation. These can also be invested in by UK customers in a Stocks & Shares ISA wrapper, which is a tax-free investment initiative that incentivises individuals to save money for the future.
Nutmeg charge an annual fee of 0.17% for fixed allocation investing, 0.19% for the fully managed portfolio, and 0.33% for the socially responsible package.
The app is clean and simple use as would be expected from a sizeable regulated player in the investment space.
Nutmeg offers 5 products:
· Stocks and shares ISA
· General investment account
· Lifetime ISA
· Personal Pension
· Junior ISA
· Simple, clear and easy to understand
· Useful app and detailed browser options
· Good for passive investors
· The social responsible is expensive
· You can’t pick and choose individual stocks and share