Stock Tips

Stock tip websites and apps run the gamut from free-wheeling blogs that offer the personal—and possibly not particularly well-researched—opinions of their authors to services that are powered by massive amounts of technical data and analysis. While some investors may find both types of interest, we reviewed only those companies that offered tips based on substantial objective research and cited the sources they relied on. We looked at whether companies supported a wide range of investors, from experienced and professional traders to novices. We gave points to companies that have optimized their applications for use on multiple electronic devices.

Stock tip publications aren’t subject to a lot of government regulation. While the product they provide may be construed as financial advice, stock tip websites do not define themselves as financial advisors. Financial advisors must be licensed and are expected to act in accordance with various legal and ethical rules. But stock tip websites typically make it clear in their terms of use that they are only offering information (not advice) which customers can use to make investment decisions on their own. Some stock tip sites link to affiliate brokerage firms who can and will act as financial advisors. We looked for sites that made it clear who their affiliates were and also that those affiliates may receive compensation from the stock tip website for generating sales leads for them.

Some of the sites we reviewed have been rated by popular consumer review sites like Trust Pilot and the BBB. Where possible we referenced those ratings in our reviews. We want to point out that not having a rating on one of these sites doesn’t make a company untrustworthy. 

When investors research stock tip sites, one thing they’d like to know is what it feels like to use a company’s services. We favored sites that afforded customers some try-before-you-buy insight via screen captures of their dashboards and tools, sample research reports, and interactive features. The best sites we reviewed also offered a variety of educational resources on stock trading and financial markets and detailed, straightforward FAQ sections.

It’s not uncommon for stock tip websites to offer some services for free. We looked at how robust these free packages were and, in each case, investigated the benefits of upgrading to paid subscriptions. The cost of subscribing the many of the sites we reviewed were pretty comparable but not all companies offered the same number or quality of services. We looked for sites that were very transparent about their fees and also made it simple for visitors to compare plans side-by-side.