Editor’s Note
This article explores how AI and digital tools are empowering individual investors, like our retiree Franck, to manage their own portfolios with greater insight and efficiency. It highlights a shift towards more accessible, proactive personal finance.
With digital technologies, individuals have powerful tools to analyze markets and proactively manage their portfolios.
Paris, 9:55 PM. Eyes fixed on his screens, Franck scrutinizes the latest trades on the New York Stock Exchange. In a few minutes, he can turn off his computer and end an afternoon spent tracking prices and indicators, returning to a normal life.
Franck is not a professional trader, but a 67-year-old retiree passionate about the stock market, busy optimizing a portfolio of stocks and derivatives. A still modest estate, a few tens of thousands of euros, which he has chosen to manage himself.
His interest in the stock market came five years ago when he discovered the existence of trading software:
Trading tools do more than just provide access to market information. Their added value lies in their ability to analyze raw data to offer advice.
These recommendations can be personalized and follow the strategy defined by the user regarding risk exposure, sectors, and companies. The advisory dimension relies on algorithms capable of processing and “digesting” large volumes of data.
The development of artificial intelligence should enhance these analytical and predictive capabilities. For now, AIs like ChatGPT or Gemini refuse to advise on specific stocks, sticking to generalities.
The barrier should break with the emergence of “chatbots” that have access to market history and live prices and data. Franck and millions of individuals will then be able to benefit from the advice of robots with unparalleled analytical power.
ProRealTime is both a trading platform and stock market software, equally adept at placing online orders on all kinds of financial products and accessing sophisticated technical analysis.
This digital assistant, a proponent of algorithmic trading, also guides investors in their decision-making, whether through numerous charts or the ProOrder trading module, which executes buy and sell orders according to the investment strategy predefined by the user.
These strategies can be tested and validated in advance using real data from market history thanks to the “backtesting” module included in the software’s premium package.
Adopted by over a million users worldwide, this software also has a web version, accessible for free on computer, tablet, or smartphone via an internet browser.
PC & Mac Software, Web App, mobile application.
From €24/month.
The initial version of this software appeared in 1986 and was then called Waldata. Like ProRealTime, it combines advanced analysis tools and the functions of a trading platform. To develop their strategy, investors can rely on technical analyses generated by a suite of algorithms.
WalMaster Xe integrates over 80 indicators and charts, as well as personalized coaching and assistance services.
A catalog including 600 additional specialized modules (swing trading strategy, currency market analysis, etc.) and training videos allow the program to be adapted to users’ needs. These many paid extensions increase the cost.
PC Software.
From €600.
Wincharts 2.0 is a chart analysis tool published by the specialized site Bourse Direct. This online application requires no installation.
It is used simply via an internet browser, on a PC, Mac, tablet, and even a phone (Android or iPhone). Offered on a subscription model, at a price of 10 euros per month, Wincharts 2.0 meets the needs of novice investors.
Numerous charts allow detailed tracking of stock price movements across different markets.
The application performs technical and comparative analyses that can be saved in a personal online space, accessible from any connected device. Investors with an account at Bourse Direct can place their buy and sell orders on the trading platform.
Web App.
Approx. €10/month.
This online application presents itself as an alternative to ProRealTime and programs requiring installation on a computer. Here, login credentials and an internet browser are enough to enjoy a wide range of tools, regardless of the device used or location.
TradingView offers a detailed dashboard composed of multiple, easy-to-read charts and hundreds of technical indicators providing all necessary information to track stocks, currencies, cryptocurrencies, and bonds.
The application allows comparative asset analysis and includes a module dedicated to market news.
TradingView can be linked to various partner trading platforms like Interactive Brokers, Capital.com, and Forex.com.
Web App, WebTerminal.
From €15/month.
MetaTrader 5