Let’s face it. An upper hand is an upper hand.
If you’ve dabbled in the stock market, or you’re a seasoned investor, it’s always the little things you know that not too many others know, that can mean the difference between a good day and a bad day trading.
Thankfully, we live in a time where apps are disrupting every industry. The stock market is no different either, and there’s plenty of apps out there which can keep you informed and trading with the same level of clarity as a Wall Street veteran.
While the majority of the apps I feature here have a large number of dedicated users, I’ve explored some of the lesser-known (or misunderstood) features that can turn you into an incredibly effective stock market investor.
Here are six products with eight features that’ll give you a refreshing perspective of the stock market.
INDX.guru
This stock-monitoring app has been dubbed by critics as “the champion for everyday investors,” and for a good reason. It’s free, and improves on other comparable stock market products that can set you back as much as $28,000. It’s simply a beautiful dashboard feeding over six million points of bias-free information like news, Tweets and market positioning about any stock you wish to follow (ASX only at the moment, though NASDAQ and NYSE are coming).
1. Heat
What if you could be alerted the minute media attention began to surge about a company whose stocks you follow? With INDX.guru’s “heat” feature, you’re able to instantly assess why there is a sudden influx of interest and take necessary action.
As a rule of thumb, 50% is the normal amount of media attention for a publicly listed company. Anything under that and the company is flying under the radar. If it hits 90%, something serious is happening.
2. Sentiment
Tracking price alone just doesn’t cut it when it comes to trading stocks. You need more clarity about price movements, relative to other similar companies in the industry. Enter the “sentiment” feature, which tells you how the price of a stock is performing, relative to a selected market index.
To decipher sentiment for a company you’re tracking, 50% means the price is travelling with the market, 30% or below is pretty worrying, and 70% or over, things are looking good.
(Disclaimer, I work with INDX.guru)
StockTwits
StockTwits is one big community, talking about one thing and one thing only—trading. The inventor of the cashtag ($LLL symbol used widely on Twitter), it’s the first product to truly assist social discussions about investing.
3. Social Signal Heatmap
While this isn’t so much as “hidden,” it certainly gives you an overall insight into the volume of chatter geared towards a specific industry, and helps paint a better picture of overall market interest.
4. Unusual Social Volume
Again, not so hidden, but intriguing nevertheless. StockTwits tracks noise around individual stocks, whether they’re unusually high, or falling in interest significantly. It’s great way to discover what passionate investors are interested in, using social data.
eToro
This established market player is one of the first-movers in the “new age” of stock market apps. The most enticing aspect of eToro was the zero learning curve in understanding the stock market and the speed at which you could make a trade. The way they achieved this is by “copytrading.” Research the best performing investors on eToro’s platform, and set a budget to literally copy and paste their every move.
5. Popular Investor Program
If you’re great at what you do, and everyone seems to be copying your every move, this lesser-known feature helps you earn a second income, just for doing what you already do. Eligibility is based on on how influential and active you are on eToro, as well as how many copiers you attract on a daily average, and your overall trading performance.
Robinhood
After getting your up-to-date information about what to buy or sell, there’s one app helping you execute those trades, for free. That’s Robinhood, which has now helped transact well over $1 billion in trades and saved their users $22 million in brokerage fees. The app is simple: see a stock, buy a stock, no hidden fees.
6. Cards
This is a relatively new feature in Robinhood, which tailors information about stocks you’ve invested in. The most useful feature here is a summary of top movers in the market today, as well as any top movers you may have invested in.
Stockpickr
This offering by popular investment publication, TheStreet, is mainly a forum where users can discuss everything about the stock market with other users, as well as post questions and have community members answer them. There’s also a DIY portfolio builder, where you can add stocks you’re investing in, or are considering investing in, and get commentary about it.
7. Track Warren Buffett
Using access to “various databases and SEC filings,” Stockpickr is able to track the holdings of many of the top mutual and hedge funds and super investors. This includes Warren Buffett, as well as George Soros and Wally Weitz, and gives you an insight as to how the pro’s portfolios are looking at this point in time.
Betterment
Sometimes, you just want to let the professionals do it. While dealing with a traditional broker may not be for you, Betterment blends the best of both worlds with smart automation and real expert influence, to automate your investing. Betterment helps you build personal wealth by taking some of your money each month, and making diversified investments with it.
8. Smart Deposit
This is a great tool that helps you invest even more of your money, by taking anything you have in excess from your bank account and automatically investing it. Simply, you tell Betterment how much you need to have in your bank account at any given time, and Betterment will take anything over that amount to add to your investment portfolio.
Remember: The above is general information only and not advice. Trading carries risk; make your own judgments and decisions, always.
Featured photo credit: INDX.guru via INDX.guru
