One app for stocks, another for charting, another for options information and maybe even another for market notifications. Before you know it, you’ve already moved through several screens in your quest for information. And sometimes, the problem isn’t getting the information; it’s being able to organize it.
That’s why a single app for trading can make it easier to track the markets. Rather than relying on different tools for your research and analysis, you’ll be looking for a platform which has all the necessary features in one place. But what are those necessary features in one trading app?

1. An Easy to Personalize Watchlist

A watch list is among the simplest and yet most important trading tools available. The best trading app should give you an opportunity to customize your watch list according to how you track the markets. For instance, you may need different lists like:

• Long-term investments
• Short-term trading
• Sector-wise stocks
• Stocks under research
• Stocks approaching important price levels

The capability to customize and arrange your watchlist can make it easier to concentrate on stocks that really matter to you.

2. Stock Screening Capabilities

Let’s consider what happens when you want to find stocks that match a number of characteristics. Rather than going through hundreds of stocks manually, a stock screener can help you filter the universe by the chosen criteria. The ability to screen stocks will depend on the platform you use and can include the following criteria:

• Price movement
• Volume
• Market capitalisation
• Technical indicators
• Valuation metrics
• Momentum
• Other fundamental or technical parameters

A sophisticated screener is very helpful if your trading strategy involves selecting stocks that have certain qualities.

3. Technical Charts

Technical charts play an integral role in several trading strategies. A good trading application must provide you with a range of charts that help you analyze price trends at various intervals and also use technical indicators. Some of the things you might need are:

• Multiple chart timeframes
• Technical indicators
• Drawing tools
• Candlestick charts
• Trendlines
• Support and resistance levels

It’s not about adding all indicators available to your chart. It’s about having everything that you need to analyze price behavior without leaving the trading platform.

4. A Helpful Options Chain

An options chain is one of the most helpful things that an options trader can have in the trading platform. Without having to refer to various sources to find out about calls and puts and other information, it might be more convenient to have a comprehensive options chain in the trading platform. Helpful information could include:

• Strike prices
• Call and put prices
• Open interest
• Change in open interest
• Volume
• Implied volatility

The availability of all this information will be beneficial for traders to analyze the options market prior to making decisions.

5. Strategy-Building Tool

In certain cases, an options strategy may have several legs and calculating the possible outcomes of such strategy will be very tedious. A strategy builder tool is a helpful tool that helps traders build and analyze strategies before executing the trade. For instance, when a trader analyzes a spread trade, he/she could simply add various legs of the trade and analyze how the trade will react under various circumstances. Such tool is especially beneficial for traders working with multi-leg strategies.

6. Basket Order For Several Trades

If a trader wants to execute several orders within one strategy, entering each of them separately will be a waste of time and also there is a chance of forgetting about one leg or entering some data incorrectly. Using basket-order feature, several trades can be executed at once.

7. Alerts to Keep You Informed

You don’t have to be glued to the screen to know what is happening. Price and market alerts can give you information when a security hits a specific price or condition that you are tracking. Instead of having to constantly check whether a stock is at your desired price level, you may wish to use an alert for that purpose.

8. Market Information All in One Place

Jumping from one platform to another makes it difficult to keep track of the market. Ideally, a single trading platform should combine all the data that you require on a regular basis such as:

• Stock prices
• Charts
• Market data
• Watchlists
• Options information
• Trading tools
• Alerts

The benefit is not just about offering more functions. Rather, it is about being able to access relevant functions from the same flow.

9. Easy and Quick Order Placement

It is good to have advanced analytical tools, but it is important that the order placement process itself is:

• Select an instrument
• Choose an order type
• Enter quantity
• Review the order
• Place and monitor it

Complicated user interfaces can make simple tasks needlessly complicated. For active traders, speed and clearness may prove especially crucial due to fast-changing market conditions.

10. Risk Management Features

A good trading platform must not only enable convenient order execution but also allow users to manage positions properly. Useful features might include:

• Stop-loss orders
• Position monitoring
• Portfolio tracking
• Margin information
• Order status
• Profit and loss tracking

These software do not guarantee protection from the market risks, but can be helpful in the monitoring of your trades and in following the predetermined risk management strategy.

Features Do Not Mean Everything

It can be rather easy to choose an app that provides you with a long list of features. However, there is another point to keep in mind: can you use these features effectively? Even with many tools, such platform may be inconvenient to use because of the complicated user interface and difficulty in accessing the required information. It is important to look for a right combination of functionality, simplicity and usability depending on your type of trading.

What an All-In-One Trading Application Can Bring About

Using different tools is not always bad. There are many traders who have different preferences for platforms in which to do research, analysis and trading. But if all important tools are scattered across a number of applications, the process of switching from one application to another can become disturbing. An all-in-one tool would help to put activities like tracking, analysing, planning and trading in proximity. The main benefit will not be having everything on one page but avoiding unproductive switching.

Pick the Right Tools for Your Trading Strategy

No single feature will make all trading apps fit your requirements. You can be more interested in such elements as portfolio management and research. Someone else may prefer charts and screeners. An options trader would require a more detailed options chain and options building strategy.
Before selecting any platform for trading, make sure you consider the tools you use frequently. If you often switch between several different applications while looking at charts, screening stocks, watching the options, setting up alerts and making trades, you can try using a trading platform that will provide you with everything you need in one place.

Want to spend less time switching between trading tools? Explore Aetram for a range of tools designed to support your market analysis and trading workflow.

FAQs

1. What should I look for in an all-in-one trading app?
   Look for features that match your trading style, such as watchlists, stock screeners, charts, options data, alerts, strategy tools order execution and portfolio tracking.
2. Is it better to use one trading app instead of multiple platforms?
   Not necessarily. It depends on your requirements. An all-in-one platform can reduce the need to switch between different tools, but some traders may still prefer specialised platforms for particular tasks.
3. Why is a stock screener useful?
   A screener can help filter a large number of stocks based on selected criteria, making it easier to identify stocks that match your research or trading approach.
4. Do options traders need a strategy builder?
   It can be useful for traders who use multi-leg options strategies because it can help them structure and analyse different positions before placing orders.
5. Can trading alerts replace continuously watching the market?
   Alerts can reduce the need for constant monitoring by notifying you when a stock reaches a predefined level or condition. However, they don’t replace research, analysis or risk management.