Free investment utility for Android
Screenshots
Groww: Stocks and Mutual Fund is a free investment platform and mutual fund manager for Android developed by Groww. If you’re looking for a way to start or manage your investment portfolio or engage in stock trades in a safe and secure manner, Groww is a good option to try. One thing to note, however, is that Groww: Stocks and Mutual Fund is specifically for American and Indian stocks and investment services and doesn’t work well - or at all - outside of these regions.
If you’re looking for global trading opportunities and digital stock brokers, try Binomo Invest Trade. If you, instead, want to focus your investment portfolio on cryptocurrency, opt for BlockFi. Both of these apps let you earn interest on your trades as well as letting you engage in short-term trades.
Short-term trading
You’ve seen the multitudes of adverts that encourage you to try these types of investment apps. The claim is that you’ll be able to make really good money after only a few minutes of short-term trading. These apps, including Groww: Stocks and Mutual Fund don’t actually facilitate trading during this ‘short-term trading’ mode.
Instead, you’re betting on the likelihood of a particular stock either increasing or decreasing in value. If you predict correctly, you make a small amount of money; if not, you lose money. Either way, it’s essentially gambling and that is not a reliable way to generate wealth; it carries far too high a risk.
Interface
As is the case with many of these apps, Groww: Stocks and Mutual Fund has a simple layout and an interface that is easy to use. The colour scheme used is relatively low-impact, and the app doesn’t feature a barrage of flashing banners or distracting dynamic assets.
Trading
Outside of the short-term trading realm, this app actually is a valid option to try if you intend to amass real wealth over an extended period. You can invest in fixed deposit schemes, catch the latest IPOs first, and engage in mutual fund investment and genuine stock trading. The app is also backed by an Indian financial institution and thus can issue loans to whitelisted users.
Issues
Sadly, the app doesn’t seem to be as solid in its current iteration as in iterations past. Many users complain that the live chart updates they’ve come to rely on are no longer working and that the rate of change of various indices doesn’t update on its own. Another issue is that there are certain discrepancies with other weekly charts on other platforms.
Try at your own risk
As a financial app backed by a registered financial institution, you’d expect that this would be a relatively well-maintained utility. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be. It doesn’t seem to be an effective utility now. Hopefully, a future update will address users’ concerns and improve the app.
