Best Trading Apps 2025

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Trading apps put the markets in your pocket, letting you monitor your trades and take action wherever you are. For traders who want to stay in the game, being connected at all times is key. 

Good Money Guide has extensively tested, ranked and reviewed the market and shortlisted these as the best UK online trading platforms.

Here’s what Good Money Guide used to hand-pick the best trading apps in the UK:

  • 30,000+ consumer votes and reviews in the Good Money Guide awards
  • Our reviewer’s own experiences testing the trading apps with real money
  • A deep dive and analysis of any stand-out features
  • Good Money Guide’s exclusive interviews with the trading app CEOs and senior management
  • Find out more about how we rate and review financial product providers

What Is A Trading App?

A trading app is a mobile platform provided by stockbrokers, CFD, spread betting, and forex brokers. It allows you to buy and sell underlying securities or OTC (over-the-counter) products directly from your smartphone.

All trading apps are different and specialise in certain things. For example, City Index has some of the best trading signals and post-trade analysis for traders that want a bit of stimulus and to improve their execution strategy. Meanwhile, IG can have better liquidity than the underlying exchanges so is excellent for larger traders.

How to choose a trading app

Here are the factors you should take into account:

  • Market access: Check how many stocks, commodities, indices, and forex pairs are available
  • Account types: Look for platforms offering spread betting (tax-free profits), CFDs, Spot FX, and futures
  • Trading experience: Assess whether the app suits beginners or experienced traders
  • Regulation: Ensure the app is regulated by the FCA in the UK
  • Costs & fees: Compare brokers to find the cheapest option for your trading style
  • Added value: Look for trading tools, analysis, or education to boost your skills
  • Voice brokerage: Some platforms allow you to manage complex orders via phone

Can You Make Money On A Trading App?

Yes, you can make money trading via an app. Around 20% of traders on trading apps in the UK from regulated brokers make money. But keep in mind that trading is a high risk form of investing and you can also lose money quickly.

Pros & Cons Of Trading Apps

Pros

  • Margin: Trade on margin to leverage your risk capital
  • Tax efficient: Profits can be tax-free through financial spread betting
  • Low cost: No stamp duty is payable for short-term speculation on CFDs

Cons

  • Risky: Trading is a very high-risk form of investment
  • Complex: Trading order types can be hard to understand
  • Short-term: Expensive for long-term investing

Industry experts told us...

"All traders should certainly consider the mobile version of a broker's main platform when picking brokers as it's imperative to stay connected to the markets when you have high-risk leveraged positions open for responsible risk management."

What Is The Best Trading App For Beginners?

IG is ranked by Good Money Guide as the best trading app for beginners. It offers many educational guides, webinars and analysis to learn from. The IG trading app also has a clear interface with simple-to-use features. If you are new to trading, it is important to remember that derivatives are a high-risk form of speculation so ensure you fully understand the risks of trading before you start.

Beginner Features:Trading
Signals
Educational
Webinars
Client
Sentiment
Leverage
Control
Low-Risk
Products
Investment
Account
City Index✔️✔️
Interactive Brokers✔️✔️✔️✔️
Plus500✔️
CMC Markets✔️✔️
Pepperstone✔️✔️
Spreadex✔️✔️
Saxo✔️✔️✔️✔️
IG✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
XTB✔️✔️✔️
eToro✔️✔️✔️✔️

Good Money Guide only recommends FCA-regulated trading apps

All trading apps that operate in the UK must be regulated by the FCA. The FCA is the Financial Conduct Authority. They ensure UK trading apps are properly capitalised, treat customers fairly and have sufficient compliance systems. We only feature trading apps that are regulated by the FCA, where your funds are protected by the FSCS (Financial Services Compensation Schem).

The UK’s Best Trading App For Professional & Advanced Traders

Saxo Markets has one of the best stock trading apps for professional traders. The Saxo Markets app provides direct market access CFDs, futures trading, options and access to its wide range of investment products.

IG is one of the best stock trading apps for high-net-worth individuals for two reasons. First, it can often offer better liquidity on the major instruments than the underlying exchanges due to its clients’ trading volumes and internal matching. Secondly, IG has one of the only apps you can trade with direct market access (DMA).

Advanced Features:Voice
Brokerage
Corporate
Accounts
Level-2
& DMA
Algo/API
Trading
Prime
Brokerage
City Index✔️✔️
Interactive Brokers✔️✔️✔️✔️
Plus500
CMC Markets✔️✔️✔️
Pepperstone✔️
Spreadex✔️✔️✔️
Saxo✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
IG✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
XTB✔️

Top Trading App For Market Access

IG’s trading app currently offers the most market access with 17,000 stocks, indices, commodities and forex pairs available on mobile.

Market Access:Total MarketsForex PairsCommoditiesIndicesUK StocksUS StocksETFs
City Index1200084252135001000n/a
IG17000513834392563522000
CMC Markets110003381248274549681084
Pepperstone1200623228192880107
Saxo9000182192950002000675
Interactive Brokers5233100201350035001100
Spreadex1000054201715752110160
XTB2,1005722252301080138

What Trading App Has The Most Account Types?

Saxo Markets, IG and Interactive Brokers’ trading apps all offer access to the most account types. However, no trading app offers access to all accounts in our matrix. Interactive Brokers and Saxo do not let down as their app does not offer spread betting which gives UK traders tax-free profits. 

City Index is one of the best stock trading apps for spread betting. They are owned by US broker StoneX which is listed on the NASDAQ, offers over 12,00 markets to trade. They have some unique spread bet trading signals from their Smart Signals feature which connects the signals directly to the order feature on the app.

For more information on spread betting see our rankings of the best spread betting brokers.

Account Types:CFD TradingSpread BettingDMAPro AccountsInvestmentsFutures & Options
City Index✔️✔️✔️
Interactive Brokers✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
CMC Markets✔️✔️✔️
Pepperstone✔️✔️✔️
Spreadex✔️✔️
Saxo✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
IG✔️✔️✔️✔️✔️
XTB✔️✔️✔️

What Trading App Has The Cheapest Commission & Fees?

CMC Markets has the tightest spreads of the CFD brokers consistently and spread betting platforms we feature.

Trading apps will be free to download, and the costs and fees should be the same as if you deal on a broker’s main platform. The two specific costs you should be mindful of when trading through an app are; execution costs and overnight financing.

Overnight financing is the cost of holding a position overnight and is charged as a percentage of your position value. This is a cost often overlooked by traders but can add up for longer-term positions. To see how much trading apps charge in overnight financing rates you can compare rates on the most popular traded markets on apps here.

Commission and spreads are the other cost to consider. Apps like Saxo Markets and Interactive brokers will charge a commission on CFDs, whilst apps from IG, City Index and CMC Markets will charge a spread. The commission is deducted from your account post-trade, whilst spreads are included in the buy-sell price quoted on your app and will be roughly equivalent to the commission. 

Trading CostsFTSE 100DAX 30DJIANASDAQS&P 500EURUSDGBPUSDUSDJPYGoldCrude OilUK Stocks
City Index11.23.510.40.50.90.60.80.30.008
IG11.22.410.40.60.90.70.30.280.001
CMC Markets11210.50.70.90.70.330.001
Pepperstone10.92.410.40.090.280.140.0520.001
Saxo11310.50.60.70.60.60.50.0005
Interactive Brokers0.01%0.01%0.01%0.01%0.01%0.00%0.00%0.00%0.00%0.00%0.02%
Spreadex11.2420.60.60.90.70.430.002
XTB21310.50.91.41.40.3530.0008

Our Best App Choice For CFDs

IG App

IG is the best app for trading CFDs as they offer the most markets (around 17,000), are well established, founded in 1974, and are publicly listed on the London Stock Exchange. On their app, you also get trading signals and trade analytics so you can see where you are successful, along with news and analysis. There is also the separate IG Trading academy app, which can teach you to be a better trader.

Our Top-Rated UK Trading App For Forex

Saxo is an excellent app for trading Forex as you get direct market access to currency futures as well as on exchange and OTC FX options.

CMC Markets is also one of the best trading apps for forex as they offer the most forex pairs to trade. There are currently 71 forex pairs available to trade on the CMC Markets app.

CMC App – Best For Commodities

We have ranked CMC Markets as the best app for trading commodities as they offer over 100 commodities markets – far more than any other broker. The app also groups commodities together by popularity and industry such as agriculture and energy, and you can trade either the cash or forward price. CMC Markets also lets you trade ETFs on individual commodities or commodity sectors.

Which Is The Top Trading App For Indices?

City Index is one of the best apps for trading indices. You can trade over 30 indices from around the world on their app as a CFD or spread bet.

Plus, you get trading signals from Smart Signals and you can use their Performance Analytics feature to see what indices you trade best at what time of day and in what market conditions.

UK’s Best Stocks & Shares Trading App

IG App

IG offers the most UK shares on its app where you can trade large, medium and small-cap stocks through the IG trading app as a CFD or spread bet. You can also invest, rather than trade in stocks via the IG app with an investment ISA account.

As a US broker Interactive Brokers offers the best access to US stocks via it’s trading app through physical shares or CFDs. IBKR does not, however, offer spread betting on US shares so you cannot trade USD shares in GBP as you can with financial spread betting brokers like IG.

Trading App FAQs:

Trading apps issued by FCA-regulated online trading platforms are safe, and your funds are protected up to £85,000 by the FSCS if a broker goes bankrupt. However, they are a high-risk type of speculation, and around 80% of traders lose money on them.

No, a broker’s main trading platform will have more functionality and features. however, pricing and market access will be the same. However, they are very useful for staying connected to the markets and for exciting positions on the move.

Yes, you can trade crypto on a stock trading app. eToro is the best trading app we feature for cryptocurrency. However, it is important to note that the FCA has banned cryptocurrency derivatives for retail traders to trade cryptocurrency via CFDs or spread betting. So when you trade cryptocurrency, you have to buy and sell it as an investment on a non-leveraged basis. If you qualify, you can still trade crypto on an app if you have a professional trading account, but you do not get the same protection from the FCA are retail traders do.

Saxo Markets provides access to all the futures markets you can trade on its online platform via DMA connectivity. The futures trading app is robust and has good order execution options.

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