How to Develop a Trading App: Comprehensive Guide

What is an app for stock trading?

To boil it down from the beginning, an application for stock trading is a mobile-based platform that allows investors (both new kids on the block and proficient ones) to buy and sell stocks without the involvement of a traditional broker.

Therefore, the user logs in their account, receiving a comprehensive overview of the real-time charts for prices, trades, portfolio, tools for strategy, and other functions according to custom needs. If you ask us to describe the three core principles of such solutions, we will name: low-cost, easy-to-enter (from a $1 investment), and fast.

There are also some crucial standpoints that differentiate these apps on the market:

• intuitive interface,
• easy authorization,
• educational content for newcomers,
• no or low trading fees.

It’s built with stock trading application development from a seasoned stock trading software development company, or a team of coders (or created on your own if you have the required skills and resources). To dive deeper into today’s topic, let’s consider what kinds of such apps are available on the market for this year.

Types of trading apps

These implementations can seem simple, like you need options to buy and sell, still, there are different categories that are defined by beneficial moments, end-users’ levels and preferences (day or passive traders), business objectives, and so on. Here’s a brief review of each of the ones we have experienced to create for our customers:

• Mobile/web platform. The named ones differ in versions that are suitable for our clients according to their demands, for example, accessibility as the main one.

  Mobile type is also called “on-the-go” among traders as it’s convenient and can be reached by pulling a smartphone from the pocket.

• The web doesn’t require any software downloads and can be reached (typically) within any modern browser available on phones, from Chrome to Safari and Edge. Based on our background as a provider who knows how to build a stock trading app, this kind is in demand amidst long-term traders who would like to receive more advanced features.

• Robo-Advisors in terms of the digitalization of the finance industry, are an ever-evolving and fast-growing type. As Statista says, “assets under management” can reach $2.38tn by 2029, and this expansion is understandable due to the increasing attention to low-cost investments and the growth of algorithms.

  Within the trading app development, platforms like E*TRADE, Betterment Investing, and others were created. They are more about passive investing, with advanced algorithms that manage the portfolio of assets and win more customers remaining well-balanced in such an unstable niche.

• Social trading somehow assumes to recall social media, and that’s right, particularly. To put it simply, you have the same functionality as a standard one but with built-in chats and forums for traders where they can share advice, articles, discuss trends, even argue on some themes, and more.

  If you are wondering about its popularity, it seems to be a human factor as people need communication, and it’s proven that adopting experiences is the top-tier way to gain knowledge faster.

We have checked out core samples, you can investigate the Play Market or the App Store, yet, there are also apps for in-depth research, integrations with national banks, and others that can become a stock trading app development solution.

How to create a trading app in 5 steps?

Our experts who were involved in the creation of this article are not the ones who speak in constellations; therefore, in this part of the material, you will learn about concrete steps needed for you to build an application that fulfills your needs.

With an engaged background, our engineering team can share the development process with its core stages, so let’s conduct an extensive exploration of this part of your tech journey:

— Step 1. Analyze beforehand.

Turning a labyrinth in terms of mobile trading app development into a straight corridor starts with answering, “Who will use my app?” which turns into more segmented questions as you investigate your target audience. Let’s review a part of this phase according to different levels of traders and their preferences:

Also, when deciding on how to make a stock trading app, you need to analyze the market statement, trends to be followed, the scope of work, and the team you need.

— Step 2. Define all the tech and design nuances.

We would like to start with the regulatory compliance involved, as KYC (Know Your Customer) and AML (Anti-Money Laundering), which are applicable worldwide, as well as on-premise SEC (Security and Exchange Commission) or others.

The second thing to be noticed in trading platform development is that you need to choose the technology stack, and we will review this standpoint further, with a description of each programming language, database and integration.

The third thing refers to the need for stock trading application development to be aligned with the requirements of the Google Play Market and the App Store supported by Apple.

You will also determine the UI/UX design and how to strike the balance between rich features and intuitiveness to ensure your users will be satisfied.

— Step 3. Coding and designing.

If this stage sounds complicated to you, well, you are right, it will take some time to write your code and make prototypes, align the visual part. There are a few ways to accomplish the creation phase: you are able to cooperate with a programmer, find a custom apps development company, task an in-house team (if you have one), or do it on your own.

— Step 4. Conduct a lot of testing.

We name the workaround that is not better to be skipped, as you would definitely like to ensure every function performs well, and in the question, “How to create a stock trading app?” it takes the core part. Why? — Because it is preferable to check each and every feature and solve complex bugs before going live.

— Step 5. Launch and monitor.

Here, you need to submit your proposal for online app stores, ensuring you meet all the requirements for security, finance, and other aspects. Further, you will monitor the KPIs of your choice, update the platform, provide all-around-the-clock support for investors, upgrade security patches, and so on.

Selecting the right tech stack for a trading app

Choosing the top-tier technologies impacts your solution’s future, for example, whether you will be able to scale it up when the number of users increases. This part of the article refers to the very first step in stock trading mobile app development, where you define what your requirements are.

It also depends on the functionality of your choice (we will review the crucial features further), in case you will implement artificial intelligence and machine learning, and what project size you plan to do.

Based on these needs, you select the programming languages and other technologies to use, as well as defining which specialists you need, for instance, you can collaborate with offshore app development companies. According to the survey among our engineers, the optimal selection of them looks like this:

The final choice will depend on the requirements of your project, components you need, whether it will be a hybrid or native solution, and other factors. You can discuss this moment with a provider of your choice or your developers.

What are the key features of stock trading app development?

You have learnt how to build a solution, and now, it’s time to define what functions you can add to succeed with such a complex project. To make a comprehensive review on this topic, let’s refer to your target audience as they are quite busy people and need an app that will be responsive, accessible, and intuitive.

Here are 5 features you should consider to make such a product for your end-users:

1. Flawless account setup

With strong security, as clients entrust their personal information to you, you definitely would like to build more trusted relationships with people who will interact with your offers. When it comes to trading app development, it’s preferable to make the sign-up easy and quick, adding integrations with Gmail, social media, Apple ID, or others.

Here, you have to take care of security and implement 2FA and biometric registration/recognition for access. We would recommend paying attention to settings and ensuring that the user can change personal data, verify it, add new accounts, and more according to their preferences.

2. Real-time trading

It’s not a stable niche, to be honest, it’s more like a stressful one, when the data can be changed within a minute, and your system has to handle the workload and provide the highest speed of answer.

There are a few scenarios that include price changes, buying/selling/limit/etc functions that can be handled by an app developer for hire so that your end-users will be satisfied with better insights and immediate reaction to market changes.

3. Advanced analytics

This standpoint is crucial for those who want to build a stock trading app, including moments like data visualization, price predictions, charts, customized reports, and so on. To put it simply, it is about visualizing all the information available for a trader, the ability to review the transaction or price changes history, calculations, and the usage of AI if it is required.

There are many ways to implement this function, such as using various indicators, drawing tools, frames, and other graphic elements that will be useful and visually appealing simultaneously. As for the reports, you can add the vital “Total/Monthly/Weekly/Daily revenue,” “Valuation rates,” “Overall performance,” etc.

4. Game-like experience

For modern stock trading app development services, gamification is not a nice-to-have function but an essential one, especially for businesses that would like to engage beginners with no or little experience.

How to implement it in real life? You can choose it according to end-users’ preferences, for example, if they would like to learn trading with unusual methods like quizzes or playing a little game. There are also some education-based apps like Trading Game, where people can learn within a simulator.

5. Real-time notifications

Alerts are required for a better user experience as you cover various needs in immediate information about price changes, urgent/trending/breaking topics, special offers, or else, with the ability to customize them for each investor.

Undoubtedly, you will add functionality depending on your custom needs, for example, better security or educational tools, yet, the above ones are core for every workaround. In the first part we mentioned different types of solutions you can receive with trading mobile app development, and if it is a social one, you may need a function for sharing ideas.

Further, you will define how to make yourself stand out in the crowded market of stock trading, and what to add to win more customers according to their needs. For now, let’s review the time you need to dedicate to the creation of such a resource.

How long does trading application development take?

We moved to the tricky question that may feel like herding cats when you first try to settle the matter of this process, and we have considered the creation stages to make this part of the material.

If you are wondering about the challenging moments you can meet when defining the timeframes, we can say that based on our experience, businesses enter the cut-throat and heavily regulated industry, and these phases will take the longest. Here, you will review all the activities and how long they can last.

• Project initiation (3–6 weeks) is vital when you decide to develop a stock trading app as you need to research the market, investigate your competitors, their strengths and weaknesses, and what you can do better.

  Here, you focus on making a clear roadmap for your project, discovering user personas, and prioritizing the scope of tasks. Moreover, you choose the monetization type, premium/paid features, fees—for example, whether you want to implement a monthly subscription, an annual plan, or a one-time payment.

• Regulations (11–13 weeks) cannot be missed as you will work with finances and investors trust you with their funds, so covering KYC and AML is vital for every project.

  Other moments to review are collaboration with a broker in the regions you will operate within, constant security checks and data encryption. Legal compliance is also determined by the goals you follow when you set out to create a trading app—locations, available licenses, and more.

• Designing (4–8 weeks) is where you turn your vision, which you painted in your mind, into real-world elements. For example, you have to handle basic sketches, user flow for onboarding and overall usage, and branding—from colors to fonts and button shapes.

  Here, you can optionally conduct testing with real users to ensure it works well for your target audience. As a stock trading app development company, we have proved that genuine end-user feedback can be a game-changer for apps.

• Coding (up to 55 weeks) or more than a year. It depends on the complexity you choose. You need to handle front-end and back-end development, integrate third-party apps, set up servers, connect with brokers and providers, build infrastructure, and more.

  Your main objective could be an MVP (a basic version) delivered in about 4 months, or a full-fledged solution that takes longer—especially for an enterprise-grade organization.

• The QA (Quality Assurance) part (up to 7–8 weeks) depends on functionality, complexity, the kinds of testing you run (usability, performance, automated, manual, or mixed), and the number of QA engineers you hire.

• Going live can take up to a few weeks, and it mostly depends on your team. External factors like Apple’s or Google’s app validation are largely out of your control; according to the Apple Developer Forum, over 90% of apps are reviewed within 48 hours.

  Our team of stock market app developers will handle this stage, ensuring the release meets all safety and maintenance requirements.

What is next? You are launched, with the only need to provide ongoing support for your product, and it is a lifetime commitment, or at least depends on how long you will run your solution.

Note! Is there an opportunity to make the app quicker? Well, it’s possible if you create a simple one and have resources available, like a group of analysts, coders, designers, and testers. You can use low/no-code platforms, but they offer less flexibility and customization, or you can develop an MVP, which we have mentioned a few times above.

How much does stock market app development cost?

Planning the budget is a crucial part of your creation process, yet, it can feel like hammering water into ice as you can not receive a pre-defined price estimation before understanding the features and needs.

Here, you will learn about some average costs of the project when you decide to build a trading app according to the level of complexity:

These prices are common for cross-platform app development agencies that offer full-scaled services, from consulting to ongoing support. If you are thinking about hiring freelancers, the hourly rates that are common for such coders range from $20 to $200+ based on their experience, proven track record, location, and other notions.

Key factors that influence the cost

As a trading app development company with over a decade of background in the fintech niche, we have provided hundreds of consultations for our clients, helping them to calculate the price for such a product. Moreover, we discuss the influencing aspects that follow the budget estimation, and here are them:

• Function’s elaborateness, as for the AI-powered and related cutting-edge features you will need to pay more.
• The tech stack which is typical for mobile applications, includes various frameworks and programming languages, for example, React Native and others, which have detailed instructions on how to build a trading app.
• Security concerns are vital for protection from fraud and data breaches as there are more and more attempts of cyberattacks, and you are responsible for the money.
• Design nuances are essential for your product as they define if it will be visually appealing for users and dedicated to their preferences.

For now, you are able to define the amount of resources you need to create a valuable and profitable application. If you would like to simplify this process, as well as the whole development and designing phases, it’s advisable to contact stock trading app developers who can deliver a tailored solution.

Further, you will learn about how to choose a top-tier tech partner in a few steps.

How to select the provider for custom trading app development?

As mobile usage is dominant for fintech, Global Market Insights indicates that mobile segment accounts for over 60% of the market share. Yet, as we have defined from the material above, creating an app in this industry is not an easy task, so cooperating with a vendor who is proficient in this sphere is an option to remove the headache of tech aspects.

If you feel like this variant is your choice, and you would like to have guarantees that the final solution will work toward your goals, keep reading. You will learn what it means to be a premier tech partner and how to choose the top-tier stock market app development company amidst many of the firms available online.

— Check its market knowledge.

Trading is an ever-evolving industry that has complex mechanisms, so in order to deliver a valuable application, a software house has to present proficiency in algorithmic trading, responsiveness, compliance with regulations, security measures, and more.

The dedicated team is aimed at beneficial and tailored resolutions for custom needs. For instance, it’s better to ensure that the contractor is aware of security concerns as you will store sensitive personal and financial information, and need to implement practices like KYC/AML as well.

As for the jurisdiction requirements, it depends on your location, but typically you need to work with GDPR and FINRA (a private corporation in the USA).

— Investigate the development method.

When developing a trading app, tech agencies decide on the creation type to use, for example, Agile, which is one of the most popular ones, Waterfall, Lean, or else. According to some investigators, our experts found on ResearchGate, there is also ASD, which stands for Adaptive Software Development, and others.

The choice depends on the defining characteristics and advantages of the particular method in terms of your needs and limitations that can decrease productivity and affect results. Based on our experience, using Agile for projects allows us to have more flexibility and deliver products faster.

— Examine testimonials.

Using independent sources like Clutch and GoodFirms is the proper way to ensure that the service partner you selected has the needed experience and expertise in the uphill battles of the fintech area. If you would like to facilitate the search, you can use one of our lists where you can find a remote developer, where our team has gathered together top-tier integrators.

It’s preferable to check the success of trading app development services with concrete results, which can be posted on corporate websites or other resources. What to look over there? — everything related to your idea, from handling data in real time to achieving user experience and building credibility to win new crypto investors.

— Ensure the company delivers ongoing support.

You still need maintenance after going live with the application, and it’s best to receive this offer from the same tech-savvy crew that built the software, as they can:

• fix the bugs,
• update security patches,
• improve performance,
• add new features,
• scale the offering, and more.

If you promote a culture of never-ending improvement for your company and want to build more trustworthy relationships with your customers, it’s advisable to ensure that those who will create a stock trading app will also take care of system reliability and productivity.

Why choose Limeup to develop your next trading app?

You have defined that the trading solution is a complex and long-term project that requires months of engagement of developers, designers, architects, business analysts and other specialists. With a reliable tech partner, this daunting building feels like turning a labyrinth into a straight corridor.

We have covered every aspect of the development, from features to cost breakdown and timeframes needed, and if you are thinking about delegating the coding and designing parts to a trusted provider, consider contacting Limeup.

With 10+ years of experience in the fintech niche, we follow the trends and know how to use cutting-edge technologies to make more than just your business objectives. Schedule a free consultation, and let’s team up for your trading product creation.