Stock trading tools are services and software that help traders find opportunities, analyze charts with fundamentals, find news, place trades, and review their performance. The most common tools are stock scanners, charting platforms, news feeds, trading simulators, brokers, and trading journals.
At Bullish Bears, our core mission is Trading Education. Alongside our courses, trade rooms, and trading services, we review popular stock trading tools, such as scanners, charting platforms, journaling services, stock simulators, and trading apps, which are listed below. Just click any of the links to read our reviews. We may receive commissions on purchases made from links in articles.
Best Stock Trading Tools 2026
- Best stock trading scanner: Trade Ideas
- Best stock news tool: Benzinga
- Best advanced charting tool: TrendSpider
- Best ease-of-use charting tool: TradingView
- Best fundamental analysis tool: Stock Rover
- Best trading journal tool: TraderSync
- Best statistics tool for day trading: Edgeful
We chose these tools because of their usefulness for what they’re intended for. They’re easy to use, have great features, and are the leaders in their respective categories.
Types of Trading Tools
List of Scanners
Overview
The Bullish Bears are fans of Trade Ideas, ThinkorSwim, Finviz, and Barchart for scanners. Trade Ideas is our favorite paid scanner because it allows for much customization. However, it’s expensive if you’re new and on a budget. ThinkorSwim is free and allows for much customization, but getting set up requires more knowledge. Finviz and Barchart are a bit simpler to use. We share our Trade Ideas layout and several customized ThinkorSwim scanner settings within our Next Level membership.
List of Charting Software
Overview
The Bullish Bear’s favorite paid charting platforms are TrendSpider and TradingView. TrendSpider is the most advanced charting platform, including artificial intelligence, automated trendlines, and scanners. TradingView is known for its ease of use and budget-friendly pricing. eSignal is our favorite top-tier charting platform if you’re looking to day trade because it allows for microsecond charts. However, they are one of the most expensive.
ThinkorSwim is also great for charting most trading styles. Their charting platform is free if you have a brokerage account set up with them. They have a fantastic platform geared towards swing and long-term traders. Their platform is lacking for day traders.
List of News Services
Overview
The Bullish Bears are fans of Benzinga for a news service. They offer more than just breaking news. They also have options alerts, chat rooms, analyst ratings, and more. Benzinga offers so many stock market tools that you’ll always be up-to-date on what is happening.
List of Trading Simulators
Overview
ThinkorSwim, TradeStation, and NinjaTrader are good free platforms if you have an account with them. TradingSim is a reliable paid service.
List of Fundamental Analysis Tools
Overview
Stock Rover is a solid paid fundamental analysis tool. Their platform is built around the demand from real investors. TipRanks is a fantastic trading tool that shows analyst ratings. Investopedia is a great free website that covers any topic you can think of when investing and trading.
Fidelity offers a lot of free fundamental analysis tools on their website. Their research and quotes section provides a lot of great information on the fundamentals of a stock. Other good tools are Zack’s and Investors Business Daily. Fidelity has a solid free research tool as well.
List of Trading Apps
Overview
Please be careful when you are on an app. Doing technical analysis can be more challenging, and you rely on a cellular connection to make trades. This type of trading is better for options or swing trading.
Investing.com is a really good app for trading research. They are simple to use and offer a lot of features.
List of Trading Journals
Overview
Finding a Trading Edge
What do stock trading tools get you? Are they worth it? Every trader is looking for an edge. We all want to make a profit. This is why we have stock trading tools to help us find the best setups. Trading is all about the battle of the bulls and the bears. You want your side to win.
That’s where tools come in. They can be great for confirmation of what you’re seeing. Then, you can use them to record your trades. A trading journal is a highly underrated trading tool. You never realize how it helps to keep track of trades until you hit a rough patch. Then, you can go back and look at what was successful and what wasn’t.
Stock trading tools help give you a leg up on the competition. Tools shouldn’t be the be-all and end-all, however. There’s a lot more to trading than just the tools you have. However, they do a lot to help you out.
Don’t go crazy buying many tools if you lack the budget. Use that capital to build up a nice cushion.
Final Thoughts on Stock Trading Tools
It takes time, study, and practice to become a consistent trader. Trading is like becoming a doctor. It takes years of schooling to become a good doctor. You don’t expect to be a world-renowned surgeon on your first day of college. Instead, you take the time to learn and study your profession.
Trading is the same way. You may not need eight years of school plus a residency before becoming a profitable trader. Learning to read charts and patterns is critical to becoming a profitable trader. Also, placing hundreds of practice trades is important to being comfortable with your trading style.
The Bullish Bears have discounts with several trading tools and companies. To gain access to these partner discounts, click the button below.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Stock Scanners
- Trading Journals
- Charting Software
- Fundamental Analysis Research
- Technical Analysis Research
- Stock Simulators
- Trading Apps
- Portfolio Management Software
- High-speed Internet - needed to execute orders
- Broker - Choose a broker with high-speed order executions
- Stock Scanners - day traders use scanners to find gap and go, and momentum stocks
- Breaking News - News tools are helpful to confirm why a stock is breaking out
- Simulator - Stock simulators are helpful for day traders to practice their trading strategies
Fidelity tends to win the best stock trading tool for beginners award. Not only are they a broker, but they also have tools you can use for research, good customer service, and the ability to grow your account based on your skill level.
Yes, free tools tend to be enough for the casual trader. However, if you want to do this for a living, you might outgrow the free tools and need to spend money on some that are more geared toward your trading goals.
Most charting platforms come with scanners integrated. As a result, you don't need to pay for two separate platforms. But some scanners, like Trade Ideas, could have more of what you're looking for than just the generic scanners included with your charting software.
