9 Best Stock Trading Apps of 2026

Schwab is the strongest pick for someone who starts with simple stock and ETF buys and later wants serious trading tools. Online listed stock and ETF trades cost $0, there are no account or trade minimums, and clients get the thinkorswim desktop, web and mobile platforms at no charge. If you are unsure, a 30-day Guest Pass lets you try thinkorswim before opening an account. The same login reaches options at $0.65 per contract, futures and futures options at $2.25 per contract, mutual funds from the OneSource lineup and new-issue bonds. Schwab lists individual, joint, Roth, traditional and rollover IRAs alongside custodial and trust accounts, so one firm can cover a household. Help is available 24/7 from trading specialists. The costs to watch are the options contract fee, a $25 service charge on broker-assisted trades and $6.95 for US over-the-counter stocks. Day traders also need a margin account with at least $2,000.

Fidelity suits investors who want a single low-cost account for both steady investing and occasional active trades. It charges $0 commissions for online US stock, ETF and option trades and asks for no minimum to open. Its trading platform, Fidelity Trader+, runs on Windows, Mac, web and mobile and replaces the older Active Trader Pro. Fidelity documents 100+ technical indicators, drawing tools, real-time Level 2 quotes and a synced Time and Sales tool, plus Strategy Ideas that match a market view to an options strategy and a ticket that builds multi-leg trades. Up to 8 groups of linked tools help traders who run several monitors. Outside stocks, US Treasuries trade online at $0 and Fidelity funds are $0 to buy. Options cost $0.65 per contract and secondary bonds $1.00 per bond. Fidelity says it is still rolling out Trader+ features based on feedback, so heavy users of the old platform should check the migration notes first.

Robinhood is the cheapest place on this list to trade stock and ETF options, and it no longer leaves active traders on a phone screen. Stocks and ETFs trade commission-free, and Robinhood states there are no contract fees or commissions for stock and ETF options, including in its IRAs. Robinhood Legend is a free desktop platform with chart trading, custom intervals, linked widgets and data that updates at sub-second intervals. The app includes a Strategy Builder for verticals, calendars, straddles and strangles. Account types cover individual brokerage, Roth and traditional IRAs with a 1% contribution match, and UTMA custodial accounts. The optional Gold plan costs $5 a month after a free first 30 days and adds 3.6% APY on eligible brokerage cash, a 3% IRA match, bigger instant deposits and lower futures and index option fees. Index options still carry fees, and instant withdrawals to a bank cost 1.5%.

E*TRADE rewards frequent traders more directly than most rivals. Online US-listed stock, ETF, mutual fund and options trades are commission-free, and the options contract fee falls from $0.65 to $0.50 for clients who make at least 30 stock, ETF and options trades a quarter. Power E*TRADE, on desktop and mobile, offers 145+ chart studies with trading from the chart, automatic support and resistance lines, an Earnings Move Analyzer, risk and reward probabilities for option trades, custom scans and exit plans that set profit targets and stops. Paper trading lets you test strategies without real money. Futures cost $1.50 per contract per side, with E-nano equity index futures at $0.75. New clients who open and fund a brokerage account with a qualifying deposit by February 28, 2027 can earn a cash credit of up to $1,500. Crypto trades cost 0.50% and secondary bonds $1.00 per bond, so check those costs if you plan to use them.

Interactive Brokers is the deepest platform here, built for traders who want institutional tools rather than a simple app. IBKR Lite gives commission-free trades in US exchange-listed stocks and ETFs, while IBKR Pro charges per share, from $0.0035 on the tiered plan or $0.005 with a $1.00 minimum on the fixed plan. Trader Workstation reaches 175+ markets across equities, options, futures, forex, bonds and funds, with conditional and algorithmic orders such as VWAP, TWAP, POV and adaptive. A paper trading account lets you practice with simulated funds. Interactive Brokers lists margin loans from 4.38% and up to 3.38% on uninvested cash, and it charges no custody fees of its own. Lighter platforms such as IBKR Desktop and GlobalTrader exist for simpler use. The trade-off is complexity: TWS takes time to learn, and some products and overnight trades fall outside Lite's $0 pricing.

Webull is built around charts and practice. It charges no commissions for stocks, ETFs and options listed on US exchanges and has no deposit minimums, though certain index options cost $0.50 per contract. The desktop app runs on Mac, Windows and Linux and adds a depth-based Price Ladder, a customizable TurboTrader panel, hotkeys and chart trading, plus order flow tools and a performance widget that tracks win rate and profit factor. Its paperTrade mode is unusually complete: live Level 2 data, real-time fills, 60+ indicators, multi-leg options, simulated margin calls and unlimited virtual funds you can reset any time. Retirement savers can open traditional, Roth or rollover IRAs. Webull Premium, shown at $40.00 a year, adds Level 2 Nasdaq TotalView and OPRA data along with better cash and margin terms. Watch the $75 fee for each outgoing stock transfer if you might move brokers later.

Firstrade is the low-cost specialist on this list. It charges $0 commissions on stocks, ETFs and options, and unlike most brokers it also charges $0 options contract fees and $0 exercise and assignment fees, so an options-heavy account pays only regulatory pass-through fees. Mutual funds, including load and no-load funds, trade free across a list of more than 11,000 funds. Trading hours are long: extended sessions run from 7am to 8pm ET on weekdays, and overnight sessions run from 8pm to 4am ET, Sunday to Friday, at $0 commission. OptionsWizard adds options analytics, and research comes from Morningstar, OptionsPlay, Briefing.com and Zacks. Account types are individual and joint brokerage plus traditional, Roth and rollover IRAs, with no minimums or inactivity fees. The trade-offs are a simpler platform than thinkorswim or TWS, $19.95 broker-assisted trades and support limited to phone and email on weekday hours.

Public is a clean app with a few details that suit active investors. Its fee schedule lists $0 commissions on US-listed stocks and ETFs both during regular hours and in extended sessions from 4:00 AM to 9:30 AM and 4:00 PM to 8:00 PM ET, and OTC stocks also trade at $0. Stock and ETF options cost nothing, and customers in the Options Rebate Program receive $0.06 to $0.18 per contract depending on the underlying and their volume. Unusually, you can choose how equity orders are routed: wholesale routing is free, while smart and lit exchange routing cost $0.003 per share. Index options cost $0.35 per contract plus exchange fees. Margin starts at 5.15% on balances up to $50,000 and falls on larger loans. Bonds and Treasuries sit in the same app. The optional Public Reserve membership costs $20 a month or $200 a year, which most traders can skip.

Merrill Edge Self-Directed makes the most sense for people who already bank with Bank of America. Online stock, ETF and option trades cost $0 with no minimum, and options carry a $0.65 per contract fee. The account sits next to Bank of America checking and savings, and Merrill points customers to its BofA Preferred Rewards program. Active traders can use the Merrill Edge MarketPro platform, and an Idea Builder tool sits in the same menu. Merrill offers a wide set of account types, from individual brokerage and custodial UGMA/UTMA accounts to traditional, Roth and rollover IRAs and small business SEP and SIMPLE IRAs. Partial account transfers cost $0, while a full account transfer costs $49.95 and broker-assisted trades $29.95, which are higher than most rivals here. For a trader with no Bank of America relationship, Schwab or Fidelity give more for the same price.