Editor’s note: This article was first published in March 2011, as a software roundup from that year. Personal Brokers may no longer be available or maintained, and Visual Chart’s features and three-day trial reflect what was offered at the time.
For managing stock market trades, we’re going to pick two programs and split them by “level”, although I should say that most banks these days will give you their own program once you invest in the stock market through them (a nice touch on the bank’s part).
As a free program, and no less “useful” for it, there’s Personal Brokers. It may not have as many features as other programs on the market, but it’s ideal for getting started, or at least for getting used to the sheer number of options these comprehensive programs offer.
Personal Brokers offers:
- Daily end-of-day stock market data
- Multi-portfolio, multi-currency and multi-market management
- Return and position analysis, with printouts
- Detailed chart analysis
- Real-time management of buy and sell orders
- A personal income tax (IRPF) report adapted to current Spanish legislation
- Context-sensitive help
- Configurable alerts
- Notes attached to each security or index
- Daily data for all investment funds
As you can see, if you don’t have much experience investing in the stock market, there’s plenty here to keep you busy.
Once you’ve mastered this program, that’s when you can move on to a more professional one. There’s a huge variety of programs out there, including, I’ll say it again, the one your bank may offer you. One of the programs most often recommended by investors is Visual Chart, currently a fully featured program with every function you might need to trade the markets.
Visual Chart offers a three-day trial period.
Download Personal Brokers for free.
Visit the Visual Chart website (three-day trial period).
Featured image: Yndesai, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
