Atom Finance is a subscription-based investment research platform with the goal of helping everyday investors get the same level of information as professionals.
In this Atom Finance review, we’ll look at how the platform accomplishes that, what its limitations are, and whether Atom is right for you.
Atom Finance is a paid subscription service that provides enhanced data and research tools that sync with brokerage platform(s). It's valuable for DIY investors who actively manage their portfolios and who are dissatisfied with the level of research provided by their broker. Because it syncs all your investment accounts, Atom gives you data related to your entire portfolio, which is a benefit for those with assets at multiple brokerages. While the level of data provided is overkill for those who use a passive investment strategy, it’s helpful for those with a large allocation of their portfolio in individual stocks/ETFs.
- Free seven-day trial.
- $6.99 monthly pricing is lower than competitors.
- Can sync your investment accounts across multiple brokerages.
- Unable to automate and execute trades on the platform.
- Some charges for additional services beyond the monthly fee.
- Doesn't sync with certain brokers.
Atom Finance Explained
Founder and current CEO Eric Shoykhet launched Atom Finance in 2019 to provide a reasonably-priced online platform where everyday investors can gain insights typically available only to professional money managers.
As they explain in their original press release:
“Atom’s enterprise services level the playing field for investors worldwide by plugging sophisticated investment resources into pre-existing investment platforms – traditionally only available through enterprise solutions like S&P’s Capital IQ and The Bloomberg Terminal, which can cost individuals upwards of $24,000 per year.“
Among the sophisticated resources Atom provides are stock screeners, real-time performance updates across the member’s entire portfolio, an SEC filings search engine and in-depth analytical reports.
Atom Finance Key Facts
| Pricing: | $6.99 per month. |
| Promotions: | Seven-day free trial for first-time users. |
| Platforms: | Desktop, iOS and Android. |
| Brokerage integration: | Yes, but some larger brokers (like Webull) are not available. |
| Founded in: | 2019. |
| Headquartered in: | New York City. |
Atom Finance Features
Atom offers three core services, as detailed below.
#1. Investment Portfolio Tracker
Atom allows you to sync multiple investment accounts to provide real-time data and research across your entire portfolio.
While account aggregation is a feature common among investment tracking apps, Atom Finance does some things here that many tools don’t.
For example, you can compare total portfolio returns to stock market benchmarks like the DJA, S&P 500, Nasdaq and Russell 2K.
You can also look at aggregate holdings of your portfolio, giving you insights into each asset held (as shown below).
For those who invest in mutual funds and ETFs, you can use Atom’s Fund Lookthrough tool to see individual positions.
Case in point: while I don’t hold any shares of Apple, Microsoft or Amazon, and invest only using index funds, these three assets comprise over 11.65% of my portfolio.
One issue I found with the investment tracking feature is that some of the brokerages I use didn’t sync with the platform. While the majority of my assets are with Vanguard (which did sync with Atom), brokerages where I have accounts that didn’t sync included Webull and MooMoo.
Fortunately, for any brokerages that don’t sync, you can manually insert your positions and Atom Finance will track from that point on. Although, that means that anytime your position changes, you’ll also have to manually update Atom.
#2. Stock Screener
Atom has an easy-to-use stock screener that helps you find new investment opportunities based on key metrics. It includes the ability to add filters, so you can sort by multiple criteria.
For example, the video below shows what the process looks like when screening for stocks with a 100% fiscal year-over-year net income growth rate and a market cap of under $1 billion.
From there, you can create a watchlist of stocks that meet certain criteria.
For an added level of sorting, you can create “hubs” within the stocks added to your watchlist. This allows you to sort stocks into categories. Then, within a hub, you can get combined news, analysis, reports about upcoming events and real-time data for the entire sub-category in one place.
#3. Investment Research Tools
At its core, Atom Finance is a research tool. When it comes to in-depth research on specific companies, here’s what Atom Finance offers.
Access to financial data and reports
Atom Finance has all the standard financial data you’re likely used to seeing on a site like Yahoo Finance. This includes market cap, P/E and 52-week high/low.
Beyond being ad-free, where Atom Finance offers more data with regard to services like Yahoo or Google is:
- Analyst estimates and reports. Get highlights, but not the full report, from equity research firms.
- Analyst and company actions. See any changes (i.e., buy, sell, hold) to what analysts have previously issued.
- Detailed consensus estimates. A report that combines analyst projections for key metrics for the next two years.
- Overview of analyst ratings. See the number of analysts that have issued strong buy, buy, neutral, sell or strong sell recommendations on a stock.
Modeling
Under the “Sandbox” tab, Atom Finance allows you to model different assumptions about a stock. You can use analysts’ assumptions about key metrics like P/E ratio (or use your own assumptions) to predict the price change in the future of a certain stock.
For example, you could model what the implied price change would be if growth was at 10% year-over-year compared to a 7% prediction.
Xray
A financial research search engine that allows you to search specific terms across multiple documents, such as news, event transcripts, investor documents and presentations, and SEC Filings.
Also, you can get alerts any time specific keywords are mentioned in certain documents.
How Does Atom Finance Compare?
Atom Finance does research really well. And, compared to alternatives, it does so at a very affordable price. While Atom often compares itself to Bloomberg Terminal (which costs $24,000 a year), most retail investors are looking at the below alternatives.
Atom Finance vs. Empower
Empower is our top overall investment tracking app. It’s not a research tool in itself, but it is very useful for evaluating your portfolio. By syncing your accounts, you can get key metrics like where you fall on the efficient frontier and future projections.
The cost is free.
Learn more in our Empower review.
Atom Finance vs. Yahoo Finance
Atom Finance really stands out against Yahoo Finance Plus. The Yahoo Finance Plus Lite version costs $25 per month or $250 if paid annually. Their Essential version, which adds a market digest daily newsletter, more company data, and full research reports from Morningstar and Argus, costs $35 a month or $350 annually.
Even at the more expensive price, you still don’t get an ad-free experience on Yahoo. Ads withstanding, the user experience is much better on Atom. It feels more like you’re using a dedicated research tool.
As far as features go, while they both have many similar offerings, where Yahoo Finance stands out is in its charting capabilities. Atom Finance is light on charting features for technical traders, while Yahoo was more designed for this target market.
Atom Finance FAQs
Yes, Atom Finance is safe to use. Atom connects to your existing brokerage account through Plaid, which provides read-only access. That means there’s no way to move money out of your investment accounts — whether for a trade or a withdrawal — using Atom. Plus, before any data hits Atom’s servers, it’s anonymized, so no third party can trace the information back to your account.
No. Brokerages sync to Atom with read-only access. Therefore, there’s no ability to execute trades on the platform. Atom is a research tool, not a brokerage.
Yes. Atom Finance allows you to export data from the platform so that you run your own financial models.
Atom Finance Review Summary: Is Atom Worth It?
An Atom Finance account is an affordable and useful tool for active stock investors to make more informed investment decisions. While the features fall short for the needs of short-term technical traders, the suite of tools is robust for buy-and-hold individual stock pickers, and comes at a much lower cost than many alternatives.
If you’re just starting to invest in individual stocks and just want to invest a small percentage of your overall portfolio in a few companies you like, this level of data is overkill. But if you’re looking to take the next step in your investment knowledge, Atom is a good bridge between free information and what you’d get paying for a more advanced solution like Bloomberg Terminal.
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