Best UK Stock Trading Apps
In the fast-paced, on-the-go world of today, mobile tech is key in so many areas, and not least in trading stocks and overall investing. A brokerage is going to struggle in the marketplace without a user-friendly stock trading app that offers high functionality and delivers an intuitive experience. The best apps appeal to all levels of trading skill — beginner, active trader, and longer-term investor.
In our 2021 Annual Review, we thoroughly tested 11 stock trading apps and reviewed each across multiple features. To shine in our analysis, a broker had to provide an excellent stock trading and investing experience across multiple usability categories. Testing was conducted using an iPhone 12 Pro Max (Apple iOS).
Best UK Stock Trading Apps 2021
- Saxo Markets - Best overall stock app
- Hargreaves Lansdown - Best for investors
- Interactive Brokers - Best for usability
- IG - Best for traders
- FinecoBank - Best for simplicity
Best Overall Stock App
| Minimum Deposit | $500 |
| ISA | Yes |
| SIPP | Yes |
The SaxoTraderGO mobile app delivers the excellence of Saxo’s extremely impressive desktop platform. Watchlists and price alerts synchronise with desktop, and investors can easily pull up fundamentals, a chart and trading signals, then execute trades. Read full review
Pros
- Excellent, user-friendly SaxoTraderGO trading platform
- Equally strong mobile trading app
- Extremely broad product offering, including SIPP and ISA accounts
Cons
- On the expensive side
Best Stock App for Investors
| Minimum Deposit | $0.00 |
| ISA | Yes |
| SIPP | Yes |
The Hargreaves Lansdown app is robust, offering traders a simple and effective way to trade on the go. The most recent in-house research is available for each stock, and stock charts can be viewed in mobile in full-screen mode, a feature that is not offered by many apps on our survey. Read full review
Pros
- Options to invest across 20 international exchanges in shares, funds, bonds and trusts
- Excellent research on stocks and funds
- ISA and SIPP accounts are available
Cons
- On the expensive side
- Slightly disappointing charting package
- Educational offerings are average
Best Stock App for Usability
| Minimum Deposit | $0.00 |
| ISA | No |
| SIPP | No |
Exclusive: New client offer, special margin rates.
The IBKR mobile app has an excellent offering in the charting area, with over 70 technical indicators available. Most of the research that is available on its Client Portal web platform can be accessed in the app, which is powerful and easy to use. Read full review
Pros
- Extremely competitive commission structure for both casual and frequent traders
- Two robust platforms serve both professional and less-experienced traders
- Far-reaching offering of investment choices
Cons
- ISA and SIPP accounts are not available
Exclusive: New client offer, special margin rates.
Best Stock App for Traders
| Minimum Deposit | $0.00 |
| ISA | Yes |
| SIPP | Yes |
$0 Online Trade Commissions.
IG's trading app is user-friendly and offers most of the tools available on the main trading platform. Watchlists and alerts synchronise with the online platform, charting is intuitive and drawing tools can easily be used, a true value-add on mobile — this is something many competitors do not deliver. IG also offers its IG Academy educational centre as a stand-alone mobile app. Read full review
Pros
- Wide offering of investment choices
- Competitive commission rates
- User-friendly, robust trading platform and mobile apps
Cons
- Commissions are not as low as at some newer competitors
- Research, though strong, still has room for improvement
$0 Online Trade Commissions.
Best Stock App for Simplicity
| Minimum Deposit | $0.00 |
| ISA | Yes |
| SIPP | No |
The Fineco mobile app is robust and provides traders with the ability to view market updates, news, and charts for stocks, indices, futures, forex, and CFDs. The app has dedicated tabs for CFDs, forex, and futures, but there are no dedicated tabs for shares, ETFs, or funds. Read full review
Pros
- Low costs for buying shares in the U.K. and overseas
- Broad range of products, including stocks, ETFs, funds, bonds and CFDs
- Now offers ISA accounts
Cons
- Average trading platform and mobile app
- Room for growth in educational or research content
Other stock apps
In addition to the five U.K. stockbrokers listed above, we reviewed six other apps: Trading 212, Freetrade, eToro, DEGIRO, Capital.com and Interactive Investor. Here are our high-level takeaways for each broker.
Trading 212: Trading 212 is one of the disruptors in the U.K. (and global) stock trading world. The mobile app and overall experience is very user-friendly with a gamified feel. This along with “zero” trading cost (there are other fees) makes theTrading 212 app an attractive option to the beginner trader, though research and education offerings are basic. Read Full Review
Freetrade: Another disruptor in the U.K. investing world, Freetrade offers a solid, user-friendly, gamified mobile trading app — which is the only way to access your account, as there is no online or desktop platform on offer. The low-cost model allows trading of fractional shares and will appeal to beginner traders, though research and investment offerings are limited. Read Full Review
eToro: The eToro mobile app offers the user an efficient and simple means to trade. Navigating to markets, watchlists, or virtual trading is seamless and all of the technical indicators and drawing tools function smoothly. Read Full Review
DEGIRO: DEGIRO’s app is user-friendly and straightforward to navigate and allows creation of watchlists (Favourites) that automatically synchronise with the website. On the downside, pulling up an interactive chart takes you to a third-party website, which is inconvenient, and the charting tools are far from user-friendly in this format. Research offerings on mobile are also quite basic. Read Full Review
Capital.com: Capital.com provides one of the more user-friendly, if somewhat limited, mobile experiences in our analysis. The app offers average functionality and a decent charting package, plus access to news and analysis. But given that all trading activity is done via the app — there is no desktop trading platform — we feel it is too basic. Read Full Review
Interactive Investor: Although Interactive Investor's mobile app is efficient and user-friendly, it is on the elementary side. You are able to place trades, access watchlists (which synchronise with the desktop), view very basic charts and read current news and analysis. Better integration of research and fundamental data from the web platform would strengthen the app’s impact. Read Full Review
What is the best trading app in the UK?
Based on our analysis, these are the brokers with the best trading apps in the U.K.:
What is the best stock trading app for beginners in the UK?
The best stock trading app for beginners in 2021 is IBKR Mobile from Interactive Brokers, for both its user-friendliness and simple usability — important factors for the new trader. It also provides excellent charting, with more than 70 technical indicators on offer.
Which is the best free trading app in the UK?
All of the top picks in our annual review of U.K. brokers offer free trading apps. For 2021, the best apps, in order, are as follows:
- Saxo Markets - SaxoTraderGO
- Hargreaves Lansdown - HL Mobile
- Interactive Brokers - IBKR Mobile
- IG - IG trading app
- Fineco Bank - Fineco trading app
Summary
To recap, here are the best UK stock trading apps for 2021.
Methodology
For the 2021 StockBrokers.com U.K. Review, we assessed, rated, and ranked 11 U.K. share dealing platforms over a 10-week time period. Each broker was exhaustively tested on all available platforms and graded on 53 different variables. In total, over 17,000 words of research were produced.
Our rigorous data validation process yields an error rate of less than .001% each year, providing site visitors with quality data they can trust. Our team.
About the Editor
Carolyn Kimball is managing editor for Reink Media and the lead editor for the StockBrokers.com Annual Review. Carolyn has more than 20 years of writing and editing experience at major media outlets including NerdWallet, the Los Angeles Times and the San Jose Mercury News. She specializes in coverage of personal financial products and services, wielding her editing skills to clarify complex (some might say befuddling) topics to help consumers make informed decisions about their money.
About the Author
Steve Miley With 30 years of experience in institutional financial markets, Steve has won multiple awards from Technical Analyst Magazine, including "Best Independent Fixed Income" and "Best FX Research." In addition to his work with StockBrokers.com, Steve is the founder of The Market Chartist, where he provides market research for institutional clients; and is editor-in-chief for FXExplained.co.uk.
