How to Build a Stock Trading App: From Planning to Launch

Gone are the days of frantic phone calls and endless hold music. Remember the frustration of reaching a stockbroker, only to be charged for the privilege of buying stocks? Thankfully, those days are over.

Today's investors are empowered by mobile apps. Brokerage firms have revolutionized investing, allowing you to trade anytime, anywhere. This convenience has fueled a surge in interest, and some of you might be wondering – how can I build a stock trading app in 2024?

We'll walk you through the development journey, from planning to launch, explore reasons to venture into this existing space and equip you with valuable insights to create a successful app that stands out in a crowded marketplace.

What is a Stock Trading App?

A stock trading app is a mobile application that allows investors to buy and sell stocks (and sometimes other investments) directly from their phone or tablet.

These apps usually connect users with online brokers facilitating trades on exchanges like the National Stock Exchange (NSE) or Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE).

Stock market apps are a convenient way to invest in the stock market. The user-friendly interface of these apps makes it easy for beginners as well as seasoned investors to monitor prices and execute trades quickly.

Because of the convenience that comes with these platforms, there is a rising demand for trading apps.

Predictions suggest that the worldwide online trading market is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.4%, reaching a projected value of $13.3 billion by 2026, up from approximately $10.21 billion in 2022.

These number alone highlights why entrepreneurs should consider investing in stock application development.

How Does Stock Trading App Work?

Simply put, a stock trading app is an end-user platform where the stocks are purchased and sold. These apps are all about the proper ways of handling money, including borrowing, storing, lending, spending, investing, and even protecting it.

These innovative apps, powered by cutting-edge technology, help individuals manage their financial operations with unprecedented ease and efficiency.

Investment and stock marketing apps offer a thrilling real-time experience, providing users with complete access to the market and the ability to monitor changes in market activities, get real-time stock quotes, and more.

Stock market app development is not just about technology; it's about shaping the future of finance. Many businesses are now leveraging this trend to inspire and attract young people to the world of finance.

While the traditional brokerages are still charging additional fees regularly from the traders and investors, the stock trading app development is allowing the app owners to think out-of-the-box by letting the customer drive trade and make investments without actually charging them for each transaction.

Why Should You Invest in Stock Trading App Development?

The huge user base alone highlights volumes about the popularity of stock trading apps. Offering a unique level of convenience, these apps are a powerful motivator for the development of mobile share trading apps.

But, before you hire a mobile app development agency or a developer, it’s crucial to understand the advantages that stock trading app development offers.

Stock trading platforms keep regular stock traders and investors informed about their portfolio’s performance in the market.

This encourages users to buy a paid subscription. As a result, stock market apps gain immense fame and become invaluable to many traders and investors. This presents a huge opportunity for trading apps to generate consistent revenue.

But, because there are increasing numbers of competitors, to stand out, you have to build a trading app that is actually the best!

Your stock trading platform has to be far, far better than your existing investment app competitors.

Related Read: 10 Benefits of Custom Mobile App Development

Top Stock Trading Apps

Here are some of the top players in the stock trading mobile app market:

1. E-Trade

Based in Silicon Valley, the brokerage started offering online trading with the support of America Online (AOL) and Compuserve. And soon after, they introduced E-Trade one of the best stock trading platforms. The trading app allows users to view investments and make trades for ETFs, equities, mutual funds, and other assets.

2. Zerodha Kite

Zerodha, with over one crore active users contributing to nearly 15% of all Indian retail trading volumes, is one of the best trading apps in India for both novice and experienced traders and investors due to its robust technology platform. The platform allows people to trade across so many assets and provides many free trade analysis tools that can be helpful for them.

3. Angel One App

Another top player, the Angel One trading app has a very simple and easy-to-use interface, which makes it a great platform for beginners. The app features many advanced trade analysis tools, helping people discover their mistakes and become better traders.

4. Groww App

When it comes to stock trading app development, the Groww app is one of the platforms entrepreneurs must explore before they start their stock purchase app development process.

Groww is considered one of the most popular beginner-friendly trading applications in India. It allows users to open their Demat account for free and offers them many amazing trading analysis tools that can be helpful for them.

5. Robinhood Stock Trading App

With its free stock trade features, Robinhood has become one of the greatest stock trading mobile apps available today. The key functions of this platform include tracking your stocks, looking for and trading equities, and more.

The free version of the set allows traders to trade stocks, ETFs, and Bitcoin, but if users want to invest in and out of mutual funds, they must upgrade to the paid version.

6. Stash Stock Trading App

Stash Stock Trading App is specially designed for beginners who want to make their own investment decisions while being secure along the way. It allows them to invest as little as $5 while continuously teaching how the investment world works. The platform also includes numerous ideas and articles to help traders and investors with the entire investment process.

After we’ve explored the most popular stock trading application, let’s move forward and dive into our main section on how to develop a stock trading app.

Explore More: How to Develop a Share Market Website Like Moneycontrol in 2024

How to Develop a Stock Trading App

To build the best stock market app that allows users to quickly sell, buy, and manage stocks on a trading platform, you can follow the below-given step-by-step stock market app development process:

Step 1. Start the Project

The first step in building an online trading app is finding a team of app developers with a strong background in financial software development services. With their help, plan the MVP, which would include the following steps:

• Gathering market insights
• Arranging sessions to discover what clients desire and how your financial solution can address their problems. 
• Use tools like the 'pain and gain map' to prioritize features in your MVP.

Step 2. Define the Scope of the project

Define the scope of your trading mobile app development process with your team. Make a list of the features and functions you'll need to create your own trading application.

Discuss how long it will take to create an app for your app development. The major period for the project would be determined by the developers, with input from the sales team, project managers, and client.

Step 3. Get your App Secured

When it comes to developing trading apps, one of the most common concerns is security. Because the development process for a stock trading app involves sensitive information, the industry is now supervised by stringent rules.

Consider minimizing application security concerns including XML external entities (XXE), injection, cross-site scripting (XSS), etc.

For additional security, use features and functionalities like bank-grade encryption, multi-factor authentication (MFA), next-generation firewalls, etc.

Step 4. Design the Core Features

Managed cloud services such as Mobile-Backend-as-a-Service (MBaaS) and Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) can help you speed up your development process.

Following that, you can focus on defining and developing APIs to implement the essential functionalities. Use third-party APIs for non-core features such as push notifications. Overall, aim to build a mobile app that provides exceptional user experience, performance, and security.

Step 5. Organize Your App Development Team

The major question of "how to make a stock market app" largely depends on the talents and knowledge of the development team you select and organize.

To develop a stock trading mobile app, your team needs to have:

• JavaScript developers for web development
• UI designers
• Android developers 
• Testers
• Swift developers for iOS development
• DevOps engineers

Step 6. Create an API for implementing Core and Non-core Features

Trading-related aspects are important in your planned app. Begin by defining and building APIs that will allow you to implement the functionality instantly.

• Use tools like Postman to speed up the API development and testing process.
• Host an API using your AWS account. 
• Reduce API security risks by implementing encryption, authentication, throttling, quotas, and gateways. 
• Manage your API development and staging environments efficiently. 
• Check if the API supports Android, web, and iOS devices.
• Create meaningful URLs to facilitate effective requests and responses.

Step 7. Testing, Delivery, and Maintenance

Once you've successfully launched your stock trading app, it's time to begin the complex testing process for multiple devices.

Your QA team will assist in identifying and removing any existing problems and malfunctions. Checking applications on mobile devices is an effective testing method.

The faults are recognized, and the functional and non-functional needs are documented. Also, your app must undergo continuous maintenance and support; as technology advances, your app will require improvements.

Must- Have Features for a Successful Stock Trading App

Let us now look at the must-have features of fintech app development that will help you in making the journey to the stage where the best stock trading apps are.

These features are your guide to creating a stock trading software similar to E-Trade and Zerodha:

The Check-in Process

The authorization process must be incredibly simple and unburdening for users. At this point, you should provide users with a variety of check-in alternatives, such as using a PIN code or biometrics. In this way, you can ensure that they have a safe experience.

User Profile

Users should be able to remember their personal information and notification settings, as well as the frequency with which their accounts are debited.

Trading stocks

The most obvious feature that should be included in your stock market app development process is the ability for users to execute orders and track the movement of funds.

Real-time portfolios

Regardless of which application development company you speak with, they will all agree that nothing is more useful than real-time updates when your users commit time and money to a stock trading app.

Users should be able to monitor their portfolios in real-time and have them updated regularly so that they know exactly where they stand in terms of investing. Also, establishing an AI-powered stock trading platform can increase these capabilities by tenfold.

Search

Your stock mobile trading app for investors should allow users to look for active stocks and their current market prices.

Deposits

With this service, investors will be able to check the status of their deposits in real-time with no effort.

Analytics

Stock market users would appreciate the ability to review statistics and analyze the outcomes of their trades, transactions, and so on.

Push notifications

Push notifications are another essential component of the stock trading app development process. You should notify your users of how their stocks have moved, but they should be scheduled such that they are not disruptive to busy investors.

News Feed

Although it receives the least attention, the newsfeed is one of the most important aspects of stock trading software.

A newsfeed informs a trader, who falls into the amateur category of stock market app development user survey, of recent developments in the stock business. The winners and losers, the most recent mergers and acquisitions, IPO data, and so on.

Once you know what features you need to have in your trading app, it’s essential to understand the technical aspects of developing a stock trading system.

In the next section, we are going to look into some crucial tools and technologies that you need to consider, which we believe will give you the confidence to move on with stock-centric financial mobile app development.

What Technologies are Used in Building a Stock Market App?

In the ideal world, the app development agency you’ll hire will understand your stock trading app project and have a clear view of the end product and the technology stack they’ll require to build a share market application.

Generally, a web-based application would consist of a back and front end and a developer’s side. The most common technologies that are used in front-end development are Angular and React JS.

Both these are used for projects that are large-scale and work especially well when it comes to stock market app development. When it comes to backend development, the preferable choice of tech stack would be DotNet and Java.

Both these technologies are great for developing a stock trading mobile app as these would support multiple processes within the application along with the implementation of complex functionalities.

Although these are some of the popular technologies the app development team uses, the technologies can also differ based on your project requirements, so it’s best to consult with an experienced developer and understand what technologies will suit better your stock trading platform development.

Also Read: What is the Importance of Java Programming Language in 2024?

How Much Does it Cost to Develop a Share Trading App?

Online stock market trading platforms have undeniably become increasingly popular for investors of all sizes, both big and small. But, when it comes to the cost of building a share trading app, there are a few factors you need to consider.

The factors include the price of the app’s design and development, the marketing and promotional expenses, and the costs of maintaining the app. For those looking to create a stock trading application, the development cost can vary depending on the complexity of the app.

In general, a basic online trading platform development can cost anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000. This cost includes the design, development, and testing of the app. For more complex apps, such as those featuring sophisticated algorithms and artificial intelligence, the cost can be much higher.

On the other hand, the marketing and promotion cost of a share trading app can range from a few thousand dollars for a small-scale campaign to several hundred thousand dollars for a larger-scale campaign. The exact cost depends on the platform and the number of promotional materials needed.

At last, the cost of app maintenance can range from a few hundred dollars a month to several thousand dollars a year. This cost typically covers hosting, server maintenance, software updates, and bug fixes.

Here’s a breakdown of the different costs associated with developing a stock trading app:

As you can see in the above table, the cost of developing a stock trading app can vary greatly depending on the complexity of the app and the level of marketing and promotion involved.

To find the best solution for your needs, it is best to connect with a reputable web and mobile app development company.

How to Earn Money from Stock Trading App

As already discussed, a stock trading app is designed to manage and update investment portfolios along with easy selling and buying on trading platforms.

Generally, the primary monetization strategy here is the commission. This kind of commission model charges interest on user transactions, deposits, and stock transactions.

With this strategy, businesses can also combine the freemium approach. In this, all the essential product features could be used by the users free of cost, but to access additional features, they need to pay a certain amount of fee.

Other sources of income can include:

• In-app advertisements.
• Revenue for directing orders of trade execution.
• Paid admission to various tools and technologies like API.

How Arramton Can Turn Your Share Market App Idea in Reality

Stock trading mobile app development is a large-scale project that requires complex app logic and architecture. With the right features and functionality, technology stack, and development speed, you can define its success.

If you want to develop a stock trading app, then you must go for a custom fintech app development process. Hire a stock trading app development company like Arramton and create an app that stands out in the market.

Contact us today and let our stock market app developers help you pick up the means to reach your goal.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. How much does it cost to build a trading app in India?

Ans. The cost of a trading app in India can vary greatly depending on features, complexity, and development team location. It can range from ₹8 lakh to ₹30 lakh ($10,000 - $40,000 USD) or even more.

Q. Can I create my own trading platform?

Ans. Yes, you can create a trading platform, but building a secure and compliant one is very complex.  It’s generally best to hire an app development company that has prior experience in developing similar trading platforms.

Q. How to build an app like Zerodha?

Ans. Building an app exactly like Zerodha would be difficult as they have a large, established infrastructure. You can, however, with the help of the right app developers create a trading app with similar features and functionalities tailored to your target audience.

Q. Do AI trading apps work?

Ans. AI trading apps work or not depends on the specific app and algorithm. Some can be successful, but past performance doesn't guarantee future results.  It's important to understand the risks involved.

Q. How do trading apps make money?

Ans. Trading apps typically make money through various methods like commissions on trades, subscription fees, and in-app advertising. Some may also offer premium features for a cost.