Best free apps for investors and traders

My most popular posts are often about apps, smartphones, tablets and the future of technological trends. I suppose that is because when I first started writing for Marketwatch back in 2009 and 2010, I was pounding the table telling people to get ready for another giant tech-stock bubble, led by app-related plays. And over the years since, I’ve been consistent in outlining the best apps and app-related investments for traders and investors, so we’ve had a lot of app success already.

But the app revolution is far from over. There’s plenty of continued huge growth for any app-related company that catches traction. Moreover, there are many great apps coming out every day, every week, and as  Android and iOS and the smartphones/tablets/devices they run on continue to improve, you have more information, technology, data and ways to move your money than ever before.

If you’d bought $NFLX or $PCLN back when I first highlighted them, you’d have made 10x or more your money on those stocks already in the past three years. You’ll only find the next $NFLX or $PCLN or $P if you’re using apps and staying on top of what I’ve long been calling “the biggest growth market in the history of the planet“.

Here then are the top 5 free apps for revolution investors. But remember there are many more out there and you had better be constantly trying out new apps and platforms if you want to stay on top.

1. Scutify (iPhone app and Android app) – We just rolled out the new Scutify iPhone app designed from the ground up for iOS7 and all the new features and capabilities that come with the new operating system. You can get real-time news, tweets, charts and my favorite “Scuttles” about any stock or commodity or even bitcoin. (Full disclosure: I’m the largest shareholder in Scutify’s parent company, Wall Street All-Stars.)

2. Zeroblock (iPhone app) – Speaking of bitcoin, I have tried out dozens of bitcoin-related apps and this is by far the easiest to use and more informative. With bitcoin up another $100 just this week, I’m no longer an outright buyer of bitcoin, but I’ve got quite a few now and I plan on holding those steady.

3. Stock poll (iPhone app) – Fascinating concept in which you can vote daily for where you think a particular index or stock is going to close next. They need more users to reach critical mass and make this a more effective short-term sentiment tool, but it’s a great start and certainly revolutionary.

4. Yahoo! Finance (iPhone app and Android app) – Yahoo’s been focusing and spending a lot of money on apps, and their much improved Finance app is probably the best generalized stock app out there. I have long been disappointed in Google Finance vs. Yahoo Finance and this new app helps widen that gap even further.

5. Zillow (iPhone app and Android app) – I’ve highlighted the app and the stock itself repeatedly over the last few years, and it remains one of the most interesting Revolution Investing apps you can find. I pull it out every time I travel to get an idea of property values using their listing maps. And I use it to check out property trends in my own hometown often too. I do think the stock is way ahead of itself, but it was good on their part to recently do a secondary to raise more capital while the stock is bubbled like this.