When Apple launched the iPhone in June 2007, there was one application that seemingly everyone wanted to get rid of: Stocks. To those who used it, it was invaluable. To those who didn’t, it was worthless. Perhaps this is why, when Apple launched the iPad in April 2010, Stocks wasn’t to be found anywhere – even as an optional download. Financiers and stock enthusiasts still rely on third party solutions to make up for the lost Stocks application, from the Financial Times to Bloomberg to CNBC Real Time. And now there’s a new Finance application on the block, namely MarketDash by Yahoo! Inc.
Aesthetics aside, MarketDash is Stocks (not least because Stocks acquired its data from Yahoo! Finance) with a few subtle differences, such as external related news and additional ratios like earnings per share (EPS). Charts now enjoy a 5Y and max timeframe, as well as the usual 1D / 5D / 1M / 3M / 6M / 1Y / 2Y. Most notably, MarketDash provides real-time tracking of stocks during the trading day for selected markets – there’s no 15 or 20 minute delay to be found. Mathematical algorithms automatically calculate adjusted market cap, price and % change every minute.
The home screen includes a personalized “watch list” along with an option to import your personalized finance portfolios from Yahoo! Finance. Quotes can be retrieved from a long list of exchanges, the full extent of which can be found here When you blow up the charts to full screen, a beautiful and financially relevant feature is to be found: comparisons. The correlating graph of another stock or exchange can be added to the graph you are currently looking at, illustrating the full extent of the success of the stock or exchange in relation to another section of the market. What’s more, you can add more than one comparison. This is something I’ve yet to see in any other finance application.
Like Stocks for iPhone, MarketDash for iPad is free to download. There are no in-app purchases, no unlockable features: it's a truly free application and available now.
