How to Build a Stock Trading App Like Robinhood from Scratch

The emergence of online trading platforms has facilitated the entire process of investing and trading for the general public. People do not need to count on any middlemen to invest their money. They can use stock trading app like Robinhood to perform trading easily. This is why the market of user-friendly stock trading apps is expected to grow aggressively down the line. That means this specific niche may get some new grand players in the years to come. But the question comes: how to develop a stock trading app like Robinhood if one wants to enter the stock market business? Well, there are a few questions you need to know answers to before you begin creating an investment platform. Let’s take a look at those riddles along with detailed responses.

Introduction to the Robinhood App and Its Key Features

Robinhood was launched in 2013, standing out as a unique stock trading application in the fintech industry. It has transformed how people invest in fintech business models. The app intends to organize finance by providing commission-free trading options, which was one of the main challenges for investors.

When Robinhood surpassed the brokerage model, it cropped up as a massive sensation among the users. Even today, the app has maintained a strong presence, with 10 million+ downloads on the Play Store and 10th rank in fintech apps on the App Store. What’s more? As per a leading B2B media and information platform, new data from SplitMetrics shows a massive increase in trading app downloads, with a 47% year-on-year upsurge in 2024. That shows how rewarding it could be if you develop a stock trading app like Robinhood anytime soon.

How Does a Stock Trading App Like Robinhood Work?

An in-depth understanding of the basics of stock trading app development is essential if you are willing to build a great stock market app. Let’s sail through them.

The Robinhood application offers detailed insights that can be useful when determining where or how much to invest. Usually, it is shown in the form of a graph, and users can get the hang of the investment news, the performance figures of the organization they invested in, etc. These platforms take advantage of technologies, such as big data, data analytics, and others to render extensive analysis. So, typically, to build an excellent online investment platform, you need to hire fintech developer from a renowned information technology company.

However, you need to bear in mind that different types of investment platforms have different traits in terms of development. There are various classifications of stock market apps. For example, some industry specialists distinguish them based on investment types, making your potential users invest in:

• Actively managed funds
• Exchange trading funds
• Index tracking funds
• Shares
• Property
• Pension
• Social projects
• Business projects
• Investment trusts

Step-by-Step Guide to Build a Stock Trading App Like Robinhood in the USA

With its intuitive interface and commission-free trading options, Robinhood has transformed the way people approach stock trading. If you are planning to execute stock trading app development, here is an in-depth guide on how to develop a Robinhood-like stock trading app, covering the necessary steps for your eTrading app development journey.

#1 Perform Market Research & Get to Know Your Target Audience

Complete a comprehensive market research to recognize your target audience and learn about their needs, behavior, and perspectives. In addition to this, you need to research rivals and identify their strategies, delve deep into current stock trading apps, and grasp existing and upcoming market trends, ups and downs, and possible growth opportunities. Lastly, verify the idea of your stock trading app like Robinhood in the USA with potential users and investors to confirm market demands and conditions.

#2 Define the Technical Objectives of Your Application

Describe project objectives, comprising key features, app layout, targeted audience, type of trading application, technical specification, user requirements, budget, length, etc. Create a roadmap of further tasks and decide on the app development process for your stock market application while prioritizing the main objectives.

#3 Determine the Design and Development Approach

Grasp your project as deeply as possible and create wireframes and prototypes to visualize the UI and UX of the app. If you want, you can take the reference from Robinhood tech stack for fintech app shown below:

• Front-end: React, Angular, Vue
• Back-end: Node.js, Golang, Python, Laravel
• Database: MySQL, PostgreSQL, Amazon RDS, Redis
• Mobile Platform: Swift, Flutter, Kotlin for Native, React Native for Cross-platform
• Cloud Hosting: Amazon EC2
• Cloud Storage: Amazon S3, Amazon EBS
• Web Server: Nginx
• Push Notifications: Twilio, Push, Firebase Cloud Messaging
• Payment Gateway: Braintree, PayPal, Stripe, eWallets
• DevOps: Docker, AWS CodePipeline, Kubernetes
• Big Data Tools: Presto, Airpal, Druid

Choose the best tech stack for your stock trading app like Robinhood in the USA, including programming languages, third-party APIs, frameworks, and libraries required for specific functionalities. Finally, modify the design based on user feedback and usability testing.

#4 Onboard the Most Suitable Trading App Development Team

Developing a stock trading app like Robinhood is not a piece of cake. It involves:

• Front-end and back-end development
• API integration
• Server setup
• Security measures implementation, and
• Many other complicated tasks

Despite being tech-savvy, you can’t develop a stock market app alone, considering the strategy and execution it requires. You should hire fintech developer from the software development company to work on your project.

#5 Carry Out Quality Testing and Publish Your Application

Once you have developed a superb trading app, it is necessary to conduct thorough testing to discover technical errors, malicious codes, defects, broken links, and the rest of the security threats. Resolve these issues and safeguard the application using tried and tested security practices. After that, publish your custom app development on app stores, such as Google Play Store and Apple App Store.

#6 Take Care of Maintenance and Technical Support

Last but not least, comply with your stock trading app like Robinhood with government laws and regulations and closely monitor its performance and user feedback post launch. Besides this, you need to:

• Update the app regularly
• Fix bugs
• Add new features
• Improve app speed and performance

Also, please remember to be informed about the latest changes in the financial markets and regulations to change your app accordingly. Follow this process regularly to achieve the best results.

Cost to Build a Stock Trading App Like Robinhood

The cost to develop a trading app like Robinhood can range from $50,000 to $300,000 or more than that, depending on several factors. Below you can take a glimpse of some factors that affect the the overall cost of Robinhood-like stock trading app development:

• Trading app design
• App type and project tech stack
• Front-end and back-end infrastructure
• Features and functionalities of the app
• Launching platform
• Development complexities, maintenance, and technical support
• Number of hired employees and their experience, skills, and location

You can choose an hourly-based engagement model and pay developers according to it. To know the price breakdown for different locations, all you need to do is get into a conversation with top app development company on the web.

Top 4 Tips on How to Build Stock Trading App That Succeeds

As we at Binmile have learned from our experience, there are four most effective techniques to help you create a stock trading app like Robinhood:

1. Conduct an in-depth Competitor Analysis

Research carefully what the market has to render, analyze it, and build something even more practical, convenient, and secure.

2. Take into Account the Fintech-Required Compliances

Compliances are of utmost importance when it comes to financial products. Therefore, please ensure your fintech business models comply with all the mandatory regulations.

3. Hire Fintech Developer for Custom Software Development

Your tech partner heavily impacts your business success. For this reason, it is important to research well and select an app development company that is highly experienced in the finance field.

4. Develop a List of Features your Application Should Have

Making a list of app features is not a walk in the park. It requires several steps that you can’t ignore. For example, you should do very deep research about your opponents. Also, you need to set clear goals for what your stock market app should do. Make sure that all the features should be aligned with the goals of your business. It is a complicated process, however, we have compiled a list of the five most important features a stock trading app like Robinhood in the USA must have.

A) Registration of a Personal Profile

This functionality should be as easy as possible. It is a wise decision to offer more than one way of registration, such as through Google, Facebook, Apple ID, etc. You can also add the option to sign in using an email/phone number and a password. Ensure whatever options you add, all of them are secure. To give a personalized touch, you can also add the function of a personal profile in your stock trading app development. There your app users should be able to add their details, pictures, and see their performance.

B) Adding Bank Card

This feature is mainly focused on allowing your users to add their bank account information so that they can trade. Since this is one of the most imperative functionalities of your online investment application, make sure it is easy to use and the data is secured.

C) Analytics

Just to let you know, analytics in stock trading app like Robinhood are implemented using charts. They in turn are powered by intricate technologies, such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and others. Thus, to implement this functionality successfully, you need someone with ample data and visualization expertise.

D) Third-party Payments

Payments must be secured, which is why it is necessary to link your stock trading app to trusted third-party payment service providers only. Take, for instance, you can incorporate your app with the giants, like:

• PayPal
• Google Pay
• ApplePay

E) News Feed

This feature is significant, especially if you decide to build a trading platform for naive users and day traders. The users of a Robinhood-like app count heavily on trusted sources, like Reuters, PR Newswire, Dow Jones, etc. Hence, it is a smart decision to incorporate the latest news from these sources into the news feed of your stock trading app like Robinhood.

How Can Binmile Help You Build a Stock Trading App Like Robinhood

Post reading this detailed guide, we hope you got an idea of how to build stock trading app like Robinhood. However, with cutting-edge technologies emerging in the app development market, it is quite difficult to fulfill the growing needs of the market. So that is where you need to hire fintech developer that can help you develop a stock market app using advanced features and functionalities. It doesn’t matter how complicated your app requirements are, you can share your queries with us or get in touch with our experts to work on your next project as soon as possible.