Decoding Stock Trading App Development Cost - Prismetric

Cost to Develop Stock Trading App : Navigate Factors, Technology & Security

Stock Trading App Development Costs

Summary: Dive into the realm of stock trading app development costs. Unravel the intricacies of online trading app development, exploring the factors that shape the cost to build a trading app. Navigate through technology choices, security essentials, and budget considerations in this comprehensive guide, empowering you to make informed decisions for a successful venture in the dynamic world of stock trading.

Stock trading, also known as share trading, can be simply defined as an activity of buying and selling shares of companies or other financial assets in the stock market. Stock trading isn’t new because it has a long history dating back to ancient times when merchants and traders exchanged goods for commodities and vice versa.

However, over the years, stock trading underwent a significant transformation with the advent of digital technologies. This has, in the process, enabled the best fintech app developers to build customized apps that satiated the stock market demands.

Today, most stock trading is done online through fintech solutions such as digital stock trading and stock broking on various mobile platforms. Such apps connect buyers and sellers from all over the world. And it has become one of the most lucrative businesses for startups and established national banks today.

Here are some figures by Statista backing the claim –

  • The value of the global domestic equity market shot from $65.04 trillion in 2013 to $98.5 trillion in 2022.
  • July 2023 figures show the total market capitalization of companies listed on stock exchanges globally reported at $112 trillion.
  • The market capitalization in the Asia-Pacific regions reached $34.1 trillion and EMEA $25.7 trillion in 2023.

Is it profitable to have a stock trading app business?

The stock trading app market, according to FutureMarketInsight, will be worth US $16266 million in 2023 and will cross US $ 1,10,624.4 million by 2033. Furthermore, there are some stunning statistics about the revenues generated by top fintech solution apps worldwide as reported by Learn.G2 research portal:

  • Fidelity, Active Trader Pro’s parent company, reported the highest revenue of US $16.9 billion.
  • Coinbase secured the second position by reporting annual revenues of US $5.9 billion.
  • E*Trade platform earned bronze by earning US $2.4 billion.

Other than these top three stock trading apps, many other popular fintech solution apps such as TradingView, DotBig Platform, eToro, Kite by Zerodha, and Thinkorswim attracted entrepreneurs worldwide. The demand for online trading applications will grow manifold in the coming years.
So, if you want to venture into one of the top-performing Fintech businesses, opt for stock application as a product to build a fintech startup.

Benefits of building an Online Trading App

Having understood the importance of a Fintech app, let us now look at the advantages of building an app for your stock trading business

  • Convenience: Trade anytime, anywhere, with the flexibility of mobile access.
  • Real-Time Updates: Stay informed with instant access to real-time market data and stock prices.
  • Portfolio Management: Easily monitor and manage your investment portfolio on the go.
  • Quick Execution: Execute trades swiftly with just a few taps, reducing latency.
  • User-Friendly Interface: Intuitive interfaces make trading accessible even for beginners.
  • Research Tools: Access in-app research tools for comprehensive market analysis.
  • Timely Notifications: Receive alerts for price movements, news, and other critical updates.
  • Cost Efficiency: Often lower transaction costs compared to traditional brokerages.
  • Risk Management: Set stop-loss orders and other risk management features to protect your investments.
  • Learning Resources: Some apps offer educational resources to help users enhance their trading knowledge.

In this guide, we will drive you through online stock trading app development costs and help you understand how different factors affect the app budget. This will help you know the alpha and omega of fintech business and its digital solutions.

How much does it cost to build a stock trading app?

The stock trading app development cost ranges from $15,000 to $200,000, depending on various factors.

If you are planning to venture into online stock trading and broking business, you might be wondering how much it would cost. Any app development cost estimation depends on various factors, including the number and types of features and functionality plus the complexity of the design.

However, to give you a general idea, we have calculated the average cost of developing an online trading app based on the hourly rates of developers in different regions. The formula to calculate the cost is mentioned for your reference:

Development Time x Cost Per Hour = Total Mobile App Development Cost Estimate

Here’s the breakdown of the cost to build a trading app with respect to the app development process. While preparing the pricing range for a trading application, it is of utmost importance to keep in mind the security and compliance aspects and get the budget estimate considering these aspects as well.

App Development Phase Cost Range
Research and Planning $2,000 – $20,000
Design and Development $8,000 – $120,000
Testing and QA $3,000 – $40,000
Deployment $1,000 – $20,000
Maintenance and Support $1,000 – $10,000

Now, let’s explore different scenarios to find out how some of the essential factors affect the cost of stock trading app development.

Scenario 1: Assume 800 hours of total time for trading app development.

 

Region Average costs (hourly rate) Total cost (Rough estimation)
North America $150 $120,000
Europe $100 $80,000
Asia $40 $32,000

Of course, these are rough estimates, and the actual cost may vary depending on the scope and requirements of your project.

Security in stock finance

One of the most critical aspects of building a stock broking fintech app is ensuring security. Trading of stocks involves massive financial data and transactions that require solid protection from malware, virus attacks, and other hacking tactics. Thus, trading app development cost depends on the robust security measures deployed to safeguard your app and users’ data.

Some of the security features you must consider for your stock broking fintech app are:

  • Encryption: Encryption helps prevent unauthorized access and tampering of data in transit and at rest.
  • Authentication: Authentication helps prevent unauthorized access and impersonation of stock buyers and sellers. You can use various methods of authentication, including passcodes, PINs, biometrics, or OTPs.
  • Authorization: Authorization in the stock trading app controls what users do and see in the Fintech app as per their roles and permissions.
  • Firewall: The firewall is a step for preventing unauthorized or malicious connections and external source attacks.
  • SSL/TLS: SSL/TLS protocol ensures that the data exchanged between the Fintech app and the server is authenticated and encrypted.

The stock market app development cost would increase with each of these security features added. Further, the use of web3 technology in Fintech ensures better security to finance applications. However, to give you a general idea, the average cost of security for a stock trading app could be estimated as per the hourly rates in different regions.

Scenario 2: Assume 200 hours of secure stock market app development.

Let’s break down how the costs vary for different locations when integrating the latest security for your online trading app.

Region Average costs of security developer
(hourly rate)
Total cost
(Rough estimation)
North America $200 $40,000
Europe $150 $30,000
Asia $60 $12,000

Technology stack to develop a stock trading app

Another essential factor influencing the cost of developing a stock trading app is the technology stack you choose. The combination of several licensed tools, frameworks, languages, and platforms is used to customize a stock broking fintech app. The technology stack is the backbone of any software app development as it decides the performance, scalability, functionality, and maintenance of the final product.

You may look at these exclusive technology stacks to build a stock trading app:

  • MEAN: MongoDB (database), Express.js (backend framework), Angular.js (frontend framework), and Node.js (runtime environment). Hire the best MEAN stack experts for your stock app development.
  • MERN: This stands for MongoDB (database), Express.js (backend framework), React.js (frontend framework), and Node.js (runtime environment). Get the experienced MERN stack professionals for hire on your team to build your trading app.
  • LAMP: This stands for Linux (operating system), Apache (webserver), MySQL (database), and PHP (programming language).
  • Flutter: This is a cross-platform development framework that allows you to build native-like apps for iOS and Android using a single codebase. Hire Flutter Developers to build an efficient trading app at a much lesser time and cost.

The development cost of stock trading app would increase to integrate these technology stacks. Here is a general idea about the estimation of the average cost of using specific technology stacks on the hourly rates.

Scenario 3: Assume 600 hours of MEAN/MERN stack app development.

Take a closer look at the development costs for stock trading app when using MEAN/MERN stack.

Region Average costs of MEAN/MERN developer
(hourly rate)
Total cost (Rough estimation)
North America $120 $78,000
Europe $80 $48,000
Asia $35 $21,000

Scenario 4: Assume 600 hours of development using LAMP stack.

Dive into the details and see how the app development costs for stock trading vary for different locations with the use of LAMP stack.

Region Average costs of LAMP developer
(hourly rate)
Total cost (Rough estimation)
North America $100 $60,000
Europe $70 $42,000
Asia $30 $18,000

Scenario 5: Assume 600 hours of development time using Flutter to build a stock trading app.

Shifting our focus to how the costs for stock trading app development vary for different regions while using Flutter SDK.

Region Average costs of Flutter developer
(hourly rate)
Total cost (Rough estimation)
North America $140 $84,000
Europe $90 $54,000
Asia $40 $24,000

The complexity of the stock trading app

The final factor that affects the cost of developing a stock trading app is the complexity of the app. The complexity of the app is the number of features, depth of functionality, intensity of design, and integration of APIs or other partnering software tools you want in your stock trading app product. The more complex your app is, the more time and resources it will require to develop, and ultimately, the app budget goes up.

We can classify the stock trading apps into three broader categories based on their complexity:

  • Simple: Simple apps are basic apps with minimal but essential features like user registration/login, profile upload, stock quotes, wish/watch list, stock portfolio, buy/sell orders, and notifications. Such simple apps have a general design and minimum integration with external APIs or services.
  • Medium: Medium apps are advanced apps with some additional features like charts and graphs for analysis, plus stock news and alerts. The app may have social media with chat and feedback, such as ratings and reviews. Medium applications will have moderate design and moderate integration with other APIs.
  • Large: The most complex apps are large apps with the best and unique features like live streaming and video conferencing. You can also have AI/ML algorithms and gamification to improve personalization. Large-size stock trading app development for online trading may also include customization, security tokens, blockchain, and biometrics. Apps with these features would have a sophisticated design and extensive API integration.

Scenario 6: Assume 400 hours for a simple stock trading app, 800 hours for a medium app, and 1200 hours for a comprehensive large app.

Let’s take a look at how the online stock trading app development costs vary with respect to the increase in development hours due to complexity.

Region Average costs of app developer
(hourly rate)
Total cost for a simple app
(Rough estimation)
Total cost for a medium app
(Rough estimation)
Total cost for a large app
(Rough estimation)
North America $150 $60,000 $120,000 $180,000
Europe $100 $40,000 $80,000 $120,000
Asia $40 $16,000 $32,000 $48,000

Support and maintenance cost of stock trading app

This is the most ignored section of costing in any app development. No app or product is useful if it is not maintained appropriately. The importance of app maintenance in helping the mobile app for stock trading to be successful cannot be stressed enough. You should keep in mind that these costs are monthly recurring costs, which will ensure that your stock market app is in good shape and serves the customers well.

Most app development companies follow a standard practice of providing post-sales maintenance support to keep the app up and running. Such support comes from a yearly or monthly contract. You may spare $1000 to $10000 a month for stock broking and trading app maintenance and regular updates.

Location is an essential criterion when you outsource your app development requirements to a professional company. Choosing smartly can help you save big on you online stock trading app development cost.

Interested in saving 3x on stock trading app development cost through outsourcing?

Must-have Stock Trading App Features

Stock Trading App Features Screen
Balancing the features in your stock trading app is crucial for both functionality and cost-effectiveness. Explore our insights on essential app features list to ensure your product remains user-friendly and preferred by your customers.

Though you may add or remove features depending on the cost of stock trading app development, you must opt for the most important stock trading app features to keep your product usable and favored by your customers. Now, let’s delve into the key features tailored specifically for a successful stock trading app:

Multiple ways of login authentication

You must offer multiple ways to log in or register in the stock trading application. This helps users log in easily and doesn’t require them to remember their ID and password.

Access on various devices

Your stock trading mobile app development should focus on providing a seamless experience on devices with different sizes and OSes.

Newsfeed

The stock market is volatile, and it requires utter attention to companies’ shares and their overall impact. Newsfeed will help investors and sellers learn about the status of the market.

Smart notification

Being alert is paramount in the stock business. Tracking the shares that go up and come down is important for traders. Smart notification is one such feature you must have.

Real-time data

Tracking real-time stock market data will help users think of buying or selling stocks. The decision is taken on the spot and trade happens on the stock broking apps.

In-built analytics

Maintaining a stock portfolio and offering in-built finance analytics are must-have features for your Fintech app dealing with shares. This helps users know about their profits and losses.

Need help with selecting the required trading app features for your stock app?

Cost of stock trading app development like Robinhood

Robinhood App Screen
To give you a fairer idea about stock trading app development cost, let us take an example of Robinhood, a renowned app that provides end-to-end stock trading solutions on mobile devices.

Robinhood allows trading on stocks, ETFs, and cryptocurrencies without paying any commission fees; however, other charges may apply depending on the type of account and service. Robinhood offers the Gold Membership with a unique cash card and retirement account with a 1% match and a 5% interest rate on uninvested.

Robinhood is one of the top trading apps in the Fintech industry with a lot of intense features that were added to the app over a period. So, when you are looking to launch your app in the Fintech industry it is always better to build and launch a MVP first.

According to some estimates, the cost to develop a stock trading app like Robinhood will range from $50,000 to $250,000. But again, it will depend on the number and complexity of features, design, and the app itself.

Calculate your app development costs accurately and effortlessly!

Ready to build your online stock trading app?

Jump on to the bandwagon and enjoy lucrative returns on online stock market business. Build a customized stock trading and broking application for NYSE, NASDAQ, Euronext, Shanghai Stock Exchange, Japan Exchange Group, National Stock Exchange of India, Hong Kong Exchanges, and LSE Group to meet the enormous demand of online stock businesses worldwide.

One of the best mobile app development company in USA – Prismetric, has expert developers to build native or cross-platform apps as per your requirements. With more than a decade of experience, we are the tech partners best known for efficient project management, timely delivery, and cost-effective solutions.

At Prismetric, you can hire the best dedicated developers under various affordable hiring models to have them work exclusively on your stock trading project.

FAQs on Stock Trading App Costs

How much does it cost to make a stock trading app?

A stock trading app development cost ranges from $15000 to 200,000. You can consider it as the ballpark figure depending on myriad factors. You can get a more concrete cost estimate once the actual requirements are known.

How long does it take to develop a trading app?

It may take 3 months to 9 months or even more than a year for a highly complex online trading app. You need to understand that, just like the total cost to develop a stock trading app is difficult to say, the time taken to build the stock trading product also fluctuates as per the complexity and type of the app.

How to protect data on trading apps?

Multi-layer security, two-factor authentication, and blockchain technologies are a few ways to add extra layers of security to stock trading apps. Additionally, you should also deploy encrypted data management to your trading app.

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