Recently, I was watching an old documentary from the 1980’s about Paul Tudor Jones, one of the greatest hedge fund managers in U.S. market history. Jones and his partner are walking down the street holding these really large, ugly devices that streamed stock quotes on a second-by-second basis. I sat back and marveled at how far we have come. The days of lugging around ugly 5 lb devices are over! Today, you can stay connected to second-by-second market information, streaming stock quotes, and cutting edge analysis with your iPhone.
E*Trade
Not only does E*Trade make hilarious commercials (the 2 year old baby traders), but the company has also stayed on the cutting edge of mobile technology. E*Trade offers its customers a completely comprehensive trading experience with its iPhone app. If you have a funded E*Trade account, you can receive live, streaming stock price quotes on your phone. The app is also highly customizable, so you can build a watchlist of your favorite stocks.
The actual trading capabilities are incredible. With the swipe of a finger and the tap of a screen, you can move millions of dollars in your portfolio by buying and selling stocks, futures, options, and currencies. Your phone is a complete trading terminal where you can open and close positions or modify existing ones.
Bloomberg
Michael Bloomberg built one of the most powerful financial companies in the world with a reputation of delivering non-biased, cutting edge news and market analysis. If you want to keep track of the latest market developments throughout the day, the Bloomberg app is priceless. Not only can you track fundamental news releases and track data, but you can also get detailed analyses and commentary on major news events such as Non-Farm Payroll and Bernanke speaking engagements within hours of their real-time happening.
Similar to the E*Trade app, this one is also highly customizable. You can filter by type of news so that you are alerted when specific types of news hits the wire. This is a must-have for any serious financial professional.
Mint.Com
If you want to take a more comprehensive approach to personal financial management, the Mint app does it all. This app has become one of the most popular financial apps in the iPhone app store, and for good reason. It is incredible! It will take about 20 minutes to set up your account profile on the internet, but once you are done you will have a centralized location to track all personal financial matters. You can track all of your credit card, checking, and savings account balances with this app in real-time. You can also set up a budget from very simple to very complex. The app is so smart that it will automatically direct your debit and credit card purchases into specific categories that you predetermine so that you can always check exactly how much you have spent in each budget area during the month. For example, when you buy groceries with your debit or credit card, Mint will automatically place that expense in the “Food” section of the budget. Gone are the days of tirelessly entering the info manually!
Trade Interceptor
If you trade the forex market or are interested in currency trading, this app is essential. Most brokers that do offer iPhone apps do not offer very good charting. Trade Interceptor is an incredible solution. Basically, the app offers access to pricing from over half a dozen different brokers. Once you choose the specific pricing feed that you want, Trade Interceptor will populate prices on a chart with a good amount of historical data for analysis. You can look at price on any timeframe from 1 minute up to daily. It also offers you the ability to conduct basic technical analysis by offering a few tools such as support and resistance lines, moving averages, etc.
The iPhone not only revolutionized the mobile industry, it has made the financial industry incredibly more accessible. These apps are must-haves for the serious financial professional.
Jason Hoerr is a regular contributor and writer for http://www.forextraders.com, an online resource for the foreign exchange market and global economic news.