Top Financial Websites
Gone are the days of financial websites that provide straight stock quotes and share prices. Today, those interested in investing, whether for personal or institutional purposes, demand much more from the sources that provide financial information online—and that includes cutting edge technology and easy navigation.
A range of resources, expert opinions, educational tools are not just the norm but the standard in an ever-evolving electronic trading environment. Read on for a list of the best financial websites in Australia that offer the aforementioned tools and so much more.
1. Australian Securities Exchange (www.asx.com.au): The ASX presents a comprehensive site that offers stock quotes, market data, share prices, tools and resources. A portal for personal investors provides detailed information about investing in ASX products, getting prices, researching companies and announcements, finding a broker, accessing market data and creating personal watchlists.
There’s an extensive range of education resources from online courses to trading games and investments seminars to booklets and podcasts. Visitors can also learn about the features, benefits and risks of ASX Shares and strategies and techniques used to select shares are included in the ASX’s Sharemarket investment strategies course. ASX has a dedicated team of experienced professionals ready to communicate with buy-side representatives and dealers and respond to their enquiries. ASX is keen to engage with buy-side fund managers and dealers for their feedback.
The benefits of the ASX website don’t stop there, though. For companies listed on the Exchange, there is a whole host of tools. One that stands out is ASX IR Intelligence, an online investor relations platform that was developed in conjunction with Orient Capital. Delivered through miraqle, the platform is a module which provides online access to comprehensive price, volume and trading data as well as details of broker trading activity and company announcements.
ASX IR Intelligence also allows ASX listed companies to complement their access to miraqle shares by subscribing to additional modules within miraqle that focus on identifying underlying shareholders (sharetrak) and managing and facilitating shareholder communications (sharecom). Companies also have the ability to feature their own videos on the ASX website—a great way of connecting with current and potential shareholders.
2. TradingRoom (www.tradingroom.com.au): Fairfax Digital’s Trading Room is another great site for providing access to the most up-to-date financial information. In addition to naming the Top Market Movers and Stocks to Watch, the site also breaks the latest financial news and helps users find a stock broker that meets their needs. TradingRoom’s brokers list includes some of the leading online and full service brokers in Australia, which gives users a wide selection of services, fee structures and expertise to choose from.
TradingRoom’s Share Portfolio tool provides an immediate snapshot of users’ shareholdings, market versus purchase price, and their net holdings. Subscribers can create multiple portfolios, and access the latest stock prices, and relevant company and market information.
The Managed Funds Portfolio tool also allows users to monitor their managed fund investments via TradingRoom’s Fund Portfolio. Data from Morningstar (Australia’s leading managed fund research house) shows the unit price for funds, which is updated daily. The portfolio also helps shareholders calculate their net profit/loss.
TradingRoom also has a great section called Funds, Super, Retirement in a partnership with InvestSMART. There, users can find managed funds, learn about top performing managed funds, save fees on managed funds and beyond.
3. E*TRADE Australia (www.invest.etrade.com.au): When it comes time to purchase stocks, E*TRADE has laid out a user-friendly website for managing the process. What E*TRADE offers is a low-cost service to those who want to manage their own wealth creation. The platform’s range of accounts suits both seasoned traders and those new to the Australian stock market.
E*TRADE puts the shareholder in control, with a variety of convenient and easy-to-use online trading tools. With E*TRADE buyers can invest when, where and how you want. E*TRADE says all you need to do is log into your personal portfolio, and there your favourite trading tools and the latest market news are at your fingertips.
