Mobile preferences among investors continue to evolve, E-Trade Financial found in its latest quarterly tracking study of experienced investors.
The study showed that 56% of survey respondents wanted their brokerage's mobile app to have robust capabilities to rival their brokerage's website experience. This was important for nearly three-quarters of millennial traders and two-thirds of Gen Xers, but for less than half of boomers.
Sixty-five percent of investors said it was critical to be able to monitor their investments and execute trading decisions on the go — again, a very strong sentiment of millennial respondents.
More than three out of five investors surveyed said they were interested in checking the markets on wearables, up from less than two out of five in last year's third quarter.
A majority of millennials and Gen Xers, but less than a third of boomers, said they planned to use mobile to monitor their portfolio more often in the coming year.
More than one in seven investors reported using an investing app to perform activities typically reserved for the desktop, such as placing orders, moving money in and out of their accounts, researching investments and watching educational videos.
"Mobile is increasingly sophisticated in its functionality and, in fact, for some investors, it is rendering desktops unnecessary," Kunal Vaed, senior vice president of digital channels at E*Trade, said in a statement.
"Today's investors seek a comprehensive toolkit for onboarding, idea generation, research, execution and monitoring on mobile devices — all with the effortless interactions and engaging design of apps. Striking the right balance between simplicity and complexity is critical for our industry to truly meet investors' needs."
