While we can’t promise to turn you into the Wolf Of Wall Street overnight, we can show you the best stock trading software for Mac of 2024 to set you on your way.
We’ve had years of experience trading on macOS and think that Macs are great for trading.
However, you need the right trading software to get the most out of them.
We tried and tested a wide range of stock trading software and screeners with Mac desktop apps aimed at everything from beginners to seasoned professional traders.
We also found a few gems such as our top pick TradingView that can be used for free.
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Trading Software vs Trading Platforms
The line between trading software and trading platforms is becoming increasingly blurred as trading tools like TradingView now allow you to trade as well by connecting them to brokers.
At the same time, many trading platforms now feature their own advanced technical analysis tools so that you don’t need additional trading apps.
However, as a general rule, Stock trading software are mainly used for analysis of markets and are sometimes referred to as stock charting software, stock screeners, stock scanners or day trading apps.
These are tools which are principally used to perform technical analysis of stocks and market trends using trendlines, shapes, moving averages, momentum oscillators etc.
Stock trading platforms on the other hand are provided by licensed brokers.
They allow you to buy and sell stocks and other assets from your Mac but their technical analysis features are often not as good as dedicated stock charting software.
Trading platforms do however usually include their own charting tools for identifying things like technical indicators and fundamental analysis numbers plus they usually include integration with news feeds, offer automated or copy trading etc.
With this in mind, here is our selection of the best stock trading apps for Mac of 2024 in order of ranking.
1. TradingView (Free)
TradingView is an amazingly powerful yet easy to use community driven stock charting software that combines user knowledge with sophisticated analysis to make you a better trader.
It has an excellent native Mac desktop app for both Intel and Apple Silicon Macs so it works flawlessly on any type of Mac.
The platform has rapidly risen from just a few thousand users in 2012 to around 60 million users today and is a very visual based stock tracking platform which is all about charts, charts and more charts.
The even more remarkable thing about TradingView is that you can use all the main features for free.
You only have to upgrade to the paid plans if you want to remove some time frame limitations, use multiple indicators and get faster, real-time information which is essential if you’re going to trade seriously.
TradingView also now allows you to trade on the stock market in real time by connecting it to selected stock trading platforms such as Oanda, TradeStation, Gemini, FXCM and Indian trading platforms such as Dhan.
The platform covers trading on almost every asset class including stocks, options, forex, currencies, cryptos, futures and CFDs.
The range of charts and analysis TradingView provides is exceptional. By default the charts load a candlestick price and volume chart but there are many others including Spread, Renko, Kagi, Line Break and PNF charts.
There are many more charts generated by users too based on the knowledge and experience of some of the best traders that use TradingView.
You can of course also setup automatic movement alerts including via email and SMS so that you will be notified when a stock falls or rises beyond a certain level or goes beyond things like Bollinger Bands channel.
The software also allows you to create TradingView widgets of charts, tickers, watchlists and more that you can embed into any website.
If you decide to upgrade, the Essential Plan starts at $14.95 per month but you get discounts on this if you pay annually rather than monthly.
The main advantage of the paid plans is that they remove ads, provide faster real-time data, support more indicators and there are no limits on time frames.
You can get started using TradingView for FREE now to judge it for yourself.
You can also check out our full TradingView review for more.
2. MotiveWave
MotiveWave is a professional multi-asset trading software for Mac that not only does powerful technical analysis but is integrated with multiple brokers and financial data delivery services.
If you’re looking for a powerful technical analysis app that allows you to both analyze and trade at the same time, MotiveWave is an excellent solution for Mac based traders.
You can trade directly from MotiveWave on your Mac as its integrated with selected major brokers such as Oanda, TD Ameritrade and Forex.com.
If your broker isn’t supported, it may also be possible to connect it via a Gateway Connector such as Rithmic or CQG which MotiveWave will advise you on.
MotiveWave automatically looks for complex patterns such as Elliott Wave Patterns and Gartley Harmonic Shapes in order to identify trading opportunities.
Other advanced features include Replay Mode, Advanced Alerts based on multiple market signals, Component Alerts and Multiple Monitor Support. MotiveWave is backed by some pretty powerful algorithms that you can even modify to customize according to your own needs.
The Mac app is also optimized for High Resolution 4K displays and so it also looks great if you like to use an external display with your MacBook.
MotiveWave pricing starts at $24/month for the Standard Charts plan with 3 other plans available depending on your needs.
You can also sign-up for a free trial of MotiveWave to test it for yourself. When the free trial expires, you can still use the limited Community Edition of MotiveWave for free.
You can check out our full MotiveWave review for more.
3. TC2000
Until recently the popular TC2000 trading software and platform was only available for Windows but you can now use TC2000 for Mac too.
TC2000 now works on Mac thanks to the free Parallels Client tool which connects to a TC2000 remotely so that you can use it as a Mac desktop application. This also works for iPad, iPhone and other mobile devices.
Alternatively, you can of course also use TC2000 in any web browser on a Mac.
TC2000 has been around for over 25 years and is a powerful stock charting, option screening and trading tool.
TC2000 is well thought out with a comprehensive dashboard that gives you charts, all US stocks & options, indicators, streaming data, option chains, trading windows, notepad and favorites watchlist.
Although you can’t connect TC2000 to external brokers, it also offers its own brokerage account. TC2000 charges commissions on trades but it also has some of the lowest margin rates out there.
TC2000 is available in Silver, Gold or Platinum versions starting at $9.99 per month for the Silver version.
If you’re looking for an all-in-one stock trading software and broker platform on your Mac desktop, TC2000 is well established and trusted although it’s one of the more expensive tools we looked at.
You can try TC2000 on Mac for free with no need for a credit card.
4. Market Gear
Market Gear is a powerful and comprehensive stock trading tool aimed at professional traders. It has a Mac desktop app although it requires Rosetta to run on Apple Silicon Macs.
Market Gear is made by iVest+ which is a big player in the world of trading platforms for educators and retail investors.
The software has an incredibly comprehensive set of technical analysis and tools and clever integration of them all across the board.
In particular, the Options trading features in Market Gear are some of the most advanced we’ve seen on any stock trading app.
For example, if you want to put on a bull call spread, Market Gear can analyze where you will make and lose money and make quick changes, but you can’t break the concept of the bull call spread.
It’s also one of the only stock trading software that allows you to trade multiple brokers within the app. So if you’re experiencing problems with one broker, you can switch to another trading account instantly.
We also really like the trade journal which automatically documents your best trades so that you can learn which strategies work and which don’t.
Market Gear might be a bit overwhelming for beginners to stock trading but it’s powerful enough to impress any seasoned stock trader that has multiple brokerage accounts.
You can try Market Gear for free.
You can also read our full Market Gear review for more.
5. ProTA
ProTA is one of the most established technical analysis software packages for Mac and has been around for over 20 years.
ProTA is designed specifically for Macs and aimed both at beginners and seasoned traders.
Among the many features are more than 100 indicators, line studies, smartlists, chart templates and trading systems.
You can even customize ProTA using something called ProTAscript which allows you to create your own customized screens, analytics and trading systems.
ProTA uses Yahoo Finance to extract end of day financial data and continuously updates data automatically to make sure you’re making trading decisions based on the latest figures.
You can import your own Excel data, drill-down tickers to analyze market data and create your own rules for data tracking although you’ll need to get a grip on how ProTA’s own formula based programming language works.
You can download a free trial of ProTA which is unlimited in use but is limited to a certain number of tickers.
You can unlock everything by upgrading to a full one year license for $99 or $299 for a four-year license.
6. Latinum
Latinum is a slick, professional trading and technical analysis software for Mac and PC.
If you’re going to be trading Stocks, Cryptocurrencies Forex and CFDs (Contract for Difference) then Latinum is a good choice as it supports streaming quotes for Forex and CFDs.
It also supports stocks although there’s a slightly cheaper version called Latinum Stocks ($64.99) if that’s all you want to analyze.
Latinum is designed for discretionary (non-automated) traders and quickly enables you to determine risk, make orders quickly via a Mini Order Ticket feature and more easily manage order and positions with a Mini Blotter.
You can even trade Forex on Latinum by linking it to FXCM Trading Station and Marketscope broker accounts although unfortunately it no longer supports OANDA for stock trading.
Latinum also has a trading simulator which you can practice paper trades on.
You can try the free demo of Latinum but to unlock all features, the full version is $99.99.
7. Apple Stocks
Finally, no roundup of Mac compatible stock screeners would be complete without a mention of Apple Stocks in macOS.
The Stocks app is free in macOS and although you can’t trade from it, it’s very slick and aggregates multiple stock news sources in one place.
To access Stocks on your Mac, simply go to Finder > Applications and select Stocks or search for “Stocks” in Spotlight on your Mac.
How To Run Windows Stock Trading Software On Mac
If none of the apps reviewed here meet your trading needs and you want to run a popular PC or Windows-based software NinjaTrader or X-TRADER on your Mac, you can do so using a virtual machine.
This isn’t an ideal solution because it’s very demanding on your Mac’s RAM and it involves the extra cost of buying virtualization software. But if you can’t live without your Windows trading software, it’s the best solution.
You can read more about how to use a virtual machine to run NinjaTrader on Mac here.
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