Experienced stock traders are turning to an app called Moo Moo, which has customizable charting and free Level 2 market data. This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money...
Picture a stock-trading app with the sleek interface of Robinhood, only way more advanced — but still totally free.
That’s moomoo, a colorfully named and increasingly popular investing app. Not only does it offer commission-free trades for U.S. customers trading in U.S. markets , but it also comes equipped with a powerful toolbox of smart trading tools.
Using this app, you can easily trade stocks, bonds, options and ETFs all you want, without paying any commission fees at all. That’s just the beginning, though.
If you’re a more experienced trader, moomoo puts some heavy firepower in your hands. We’re talking about in-depth market data, lightning-fast updates, customizable advanced charting, pre- and post-market trading hours, and a whole suite of research and analysis tools.
A relative newcomer to the scene, moomoo is competing hard with advanced stock-trading platforms like Webull and thinkorswim, which already cater to experienced traders.
But here’s moomoo’s ace in the hole: Unlike its competitors, it offers free Level 2 market data for the U.S. market to everyone who opens an account. The premier data feed for serious traders shows you bid and ask prices by market makers in real time.
If you know how to read the data, it gives you better insight into what’s really happening with a particular stock, improving your odds of making a profitable trade. Other stock trading apps charge extra for Level 2 quotes, so this sets moomoo apart.
Is this App Safe?
Is moomoo legit? Online investors think so.
The app is too new to have a rating with the Better Business Bureau, but online traders keep giving moomoo’s mobile app excellent ratings for its responsiveness and usefulness. As of May 2021, the app was rated a whopping 4.7 out of 5 with nearly 3,000 reviews in Apple’s App Store, and was rated a 4.5 out of 5 with 3,200 reviews on Google Play.
Headquartered in Silicon Valley, moomoo is backed by a Hong Kong-based parent company called Futu Holdings, a brokerage and wealth management company.
Does that put it out of reach of American authorities? Nope! In the US, investment products and services on moomoo are offered by Futu Inc.,which is regulated by the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA). This goes for all legitimate stock brokerages in the U.S.,
Futu Inc. is also a member of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC), which insures up to $500,000 in your investment portfolio.
Your financial information is encrypted, and your deposits are insured.
How to Get Free Stocks from Moomoo
It’s always nice to get a little bonus. If you join moomoo using this link, you can earn up to three free stocks.
Open an account and deposit $100, and get a free share of stock worth up to $200. Deposit at least $5,000, and get two more free stocks worth up to $1,000 each.Did we mention these are free? Because they’re free.
Practice with Fake Money First
Moomoo’s trading platform has so many features, it can look a little overwhelming to newcomers. If you’re not quite ready to dive in head-first, you can try it out with the equivalent of digital Monopoly money. You can see for yourself how it works, without the risk of losing any of your real money.
It’s called “paper trading.” Using virtual money in your demo account, you can practice with a stock trading simulator and test out different strategies. That way, you can get to know what this stock trading platform has to offer. You can even log in with a Facebook or Google account ID.
If you earn a lot of fake money through your amazing investing genius, that’s cool. On the other hand, if you go big and take chances and lose a ton of fake money, it’s no biggie.
Important Features of the Moomoo Stock Trading App
Like we mentioned, the moomoo app puts a powerful array of analytical tools and trading tools at your fingertips. It enables experienced traders to put their knowledge to work, and its educational offerings allow beginner traders to learn new skills.
Here are the stock-trading platform’s most important features:
Commission-Free Trading for US Customers Trading in US Markets
On the moomoo app, you pay no commission when buying or selling more than 5,000 different stocks and ETFs (exchange-traded funds), which are collections of hundreds or thousands of stocks and bonds.
There are no commissions or contract fees for options trading, either.
You may come across some older online articles about moomoo that say the app won’t allow you to buy bonds. But that’s no longer true. You can use the app to buy or sell municipal, corporate or U.S. Treasury bonds.
You’re also allowed to short-sell stocks in margin accounts, although we should stress that this high-risk, high-reward strategy really isn’t for beginners.
Data-Analysis Tools
If you’re looking for data on which to base your investing decisions, moomoo has everything you need. It offers market data that can be sorted and analyzed using 50 different technical indicators.
Whether you’re using a phone, a tablet or a PC, you can do in-depth research and analysis on the app.
You can view businesses’ financial statements. You have access to profit-and-loss statements for each publicly traded company. You can see the capital flowing in and out of each company.
You also have access to third-party ratings from professional researchers who are examining various stocks.
Charting You Can Customize
With any given stock, the chart tells the story: How has this stock performed over the last 24 hours? Over the last month? Over the last year? How has it performed over the past five minutes?
What kind of charts do you prefer — line charts, bar charts, candlestick charts? You can customize the charting function to suit your personal preferences.
Again, moomoo sorts its data using 50 different technical indicators. You can chart market data using whatever indicators you need to see.
For any given stock, technical analysts can review indicators like the Relative Strength Index or the Money Flow Index to predict future price fluctuations for that stock.
Extended Trading Hours
With moomoo, you’re not restricted to the standard hours during which the stock market is open. You have constant access to quotes and trading in pre-market hours, from 4 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. EST; and post-market hours, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m.
Moomoo has longer trading hours than its competitors, and the extended hours are free, with no extra fees.
And speaking of those extended trading hours, you can take advantage of them with the following:
Smart Trading Orders
By using “smart orders,” you get access to those pre- and post-market hours to buy and sell stocks. You can put in stop-limit orders or trailing stop-loss orders.
Are you a high-volume trader? You can even put in up to 40 orders at a time.
Advanced Alert System
You don’t need to stay glued to your phone to keep track of the market. With moomoo, you can set up your own custom alerts for stocks and ETFs you’re interested in. These can include price alerts, bid/ask alerts, event alerts, whatever you want.
Are you waiting for a stock’s price to drop below a certain number before you buy it? Do you want to know when a stock you own is jumping up in price? Are you waiting on a specific event to happen to a particular company? Have notifications sent to your phone, so you never miss anything that’s important to you.
Customizable News Feeds
Naturally, you’ve got to stay updated on financial news. So news feeds from sources such as CNBC and Dow Jones are useful for investors, but the volume of information can be overwhelming. Before you know it, you can drown in news feeds.
Moomoo allows you to customize your feeds so you only get the news that really matters to you. The app also offers exclusive market insights that you’re not going to find on CNBC.
No Minimum Deposit
Most stock-trading apps require you to plunk down a minimum deposit to even open an account with them.
Not moomoo. There’s no minimum deposit required. In fact, you can start “paper trading” with zero real dollars.
Foreign Stock Markets
Moomoo allows you to invest not only in the U.S. stock market, but also the Hong Kong and Chinese stock markets. You should know that extra fees are applied to foreign stock trades, but these stocks are readily available on moomoo.
To buy or sell Hong Kong stocks or Chinese stocks, investors on Futu Inc, through moomoo, pay a fee of .03% of the total amount, plus about $2 to $3 per order. It should be noted that moomoo’s competitors typically charge more for this service.
You can also go on the foreign exchange market, Forex, to invest in foreign currencies.
Active Online Community
On the moomoo app, you can communicate with other investors like yourself. This community already has more than 100,000 users, and it’s growing.
Within the community, stock traders can post questions, links and opinions; share news updates; even create their own online polls, among other things.
It’s another way to keep your finger on the pulse of the investing world. It’s also a good place to throw out questions about particular investment opportunities you may be wondering about.
Customer Support
You should know that moomoo’s customer support is available 24 hours a day on weekdays via online chat and email. You can email customer service at support@moomoo.com.
However, investors who are reviewing moomoo in the Google and Apple app stores remark that moomoo customer support is typically quick to respond to them.
How to Open an Account
You can open a brokerage account through moomoo in five minutes. The only requirements are that you must be an American citizen, 18 or older, with a valid Social Security number. Those are all the qualifications you need.
Go to moomoo’s homepage or download the app onto your phone, tablet or PC. It doesn’t matter whether you’re using an Apple, Google or Windows device.
Just follow these instructions:
Select “Open Account” from the dashboard. Enter your email address and choose a secure password. Type in your basic personal information — your name, date of birth, phone number and Social Security number. Choose the country in which you reside, and fill in your mailing address. Answer some basic questions about your employment status: Are you unemployed, retired or a student? If you’re employed, you’ll be asked for your industry, your occupation and your employer’s name. Select your annual income and your net worth. You’ll have a range of options. Fill out the personal disclosure section. Sign your name and click “Submit.”Moomoo says applications are processed within one business day, so you should hear back soon via email.
The bottom line is that moomoo is building a state-of-the-art, next-generation, one-stop shop for online stock trading. If you’re an experienced, advanced investor, it has all the tools you’ll ever need. Click here to get started.
Mike Brassfield (mike@thepennyhoarder.com) is a senior writer at The Penny Hoarder.
This was originally published on The Penny Hoarder, which helps millions of readers worldwide earn and save money by sharing unique job opportunities, personal stories, freebies and more. The Inc. 5000 ranked The Penny Hoarder as the fastest-growing private media company in the U.S. in 2017.