Do you fancy yourself to be a stock market pundit? Is much of your day spent on monitoring tickers and business news outlets as you try to determine whether to buy or sell? Are you receiving your stock tips from subreddits like r/wallstreetbets? If you answered yes to all three questions, we wrote this article especially for you.
Investing in the stock market is a lot easier today than it was before. Platforms such as Robinhood have made sure that people from all backgrounds are capable of securing their financial future. Yes, folks no longer have to go through traditional brokerage firms. Buying and selling are quick smartphone taps away.
However, how does one determine whether to take a long or short position? And when is the right time to strike? You need to trade on real-time information, but how do you get it? That’s the real question here.
Bots are the tools you need to scrape the web for immediate information on what’s happening with companies all over the world. However, bots don’t work alone. You’ll need proxies for assured success. These intermediate servers mask your IPs so that you’re able to scrape the web quickly and efficiently, circumventing blocks like “stealth” is your middle name. Moreover, they are a must-have for reaching content from geo-restricted sites.
Now that you know how vital proxies are to your stock market success, it’s time to tell you how to find the best ones. Considering how busy the proxy market has become over the past decade, we figured a list of the top providers would be of great assistance. Here are seven contenders; check out their pros and cons and where they stand according to offerings, price, quality of service, and more.
1. MarsProxies
Quality Proxies at Attractive Prices
The delicate balance of providing quality services at affordable prices is challenging to manage. However, it’s an area in which MarsProxies has excelled tremendously. Picking this provider to be at the top of this list was an easy decision, as PCMag awarded it the title of 2024’s best overall proxy service, touting its expertise in market research and online shopping.
MarsProxies’ products include the usual suspects, such as residential, datacenter, ISP, and mobile proxies. In addition, the vendor is a hot favorite among shoppers of hard-to-get sneakers and concert tickets. In terms of numbers, its 1+ million residential proxies may not impress you from the get-go. However, if quality is what you seek, MarsProxies delivers, with uptime at 99% and connection speeds below 100ms.
We personally tested MarsProxies out for our data scraping projects, and it certainly walked the talk. The proxies integrated seamlessly with existing apps and helped us access global content without breaking a sweat. Furthermore, MarsProxies’ pay-as-you-go pricing for non-expiring/unlimited traffic helped us stay well within our budget.
Pros
- Best-value pricing
- Non-expiring/unlimited traffic
- International coverage (190+ countries)
- 24/7 support via email, live chat, and Discord
- City-level targeting
Cons
- Smaller pool of proxies
- Mobile proxies only available in the US and UK
2. IPRoyal
End-to-End Proxy Platform
IPRoyal entered the proxy market in 2020. Since then, it has shown up as a viable contender, scoring high praise from its clients. The company advertises itself as reliable, and nothing reinforces this idea more than IPRoyal’s high ratings on G2 and Trustpilot. With 99% uptime and stellar performance regardless of proxy type, those assessments make complete sense.
When you’re scraping the web for real-time information on stock movements, you need a large pool of proxies. How do 34+ million IPs from over 195 countries sound? With this range, plus IPRoyal’s customizable rotation feature, you’ll be able to reach those hard-to-access sites and gather all the data you need. Whether you seek residential, datacenter, mobile, or ISP proxies, IPRoyal serves up ethically-sourced IPs to help you with the most demanding of tasks. Anonymity is assured, along with speedy connections.
We’re pretty satisfied with IPRoyal’s prices. They are affordable and competitive. Furthermore, notable discounts accompany larger orders – crucial for complex data-gathering projects. And since there’s no need to worry about monthly commitments or expiring traffic, this vendor is well deserving of a spot in this list.
Pros
- Over 34 million IPs from 195 countries
- ISO 27001, GDPR, and CCPA compliant
- Round-the-clock (24/7/365) multichannel support
- Zero monthly commitments
- Non-expiring residential proxy traffic
Cons
- Limited free trial offer (enterprise orders only)
- Mobile proxies only available in the US, UK, and EU
3. Oxylabs
High-Quality Proxy and Data Provider
Much of the world’s business decisions revolve around data, and Oxylabs banks on this fact. It has put its resources into providing 102+ million proxies with global coverage. These residential, ISP, mobile, and datacenter IPs are all you need to anonymize your data scraping activities and access information from geo-blocked websites.
Oxylabs’ pricing may skew towards the higher end of the spectrum, making it slightly less accessible for smaller companies. However, the availability of pay-as-you-go packages and free trials more than makes up for that. One test on this company’s proxies, and you’ll notice near-perfect success rates and high speeds. Yes, these high-quality products are fairly priced.
As mentioned, Oxylabs is a data professional. Aside from proxies, it provides a web unblocker, an AI-powered data collection tool, and ready-to-use datasets. These will come into excellent use when you’re gathering information to guide your stock market bets.
Pros
- Large proxy pool (102+ million) covering 195+ countries
- Free trials for verified companies
- Multi-industry datasets
Cons
- Higher-end pricing
- No pay-as-you-go packages for datacenter and ISP proxies
- Proxies may be challenging to set up
4. Proxy-Cheap
No-Frills Proxy Provider
If you’re looking for a simple provider that doesn’t overcharge for its services, Proxy-Cheap is it. This company gives you all the essentials, from residential and datacenter proxies to mobile IPs. In terms of coverage, you have the ability to surf the web from the perspective of users from 125+ countries.
Don’t for a second think that quality suffers just because this provider’s services are below market averages. We tested Proxy-Cheap’s proxies and found that they offered decent connection speeds and 99.9% uptime. Despite missing the mark in certain areas (we were unable to target residential IPs at the city level), Proxy-Cheap still passed our stringent quality checks.
Stock market enthusiasts on a budget will find Proxy-Cheap an excellent option. This supplier’s products will go a long way in helping pundits gather data from global internet sources. Trial plans bring an extra sweetness to the deal, providing a chance to test things out affordably.
Pros
- Attractive pricing
- Cheap trial plans
- 99.9% uptime
Cons
- Limited targeting options for residential proxies
- Restrictive pricing tiers
5. Bright Data
Globally Trusted Web Data Platform
Founded in 2014, Bright Data certainly has a wealth of experience in the proxy industry, and it shows. Its award-winning proxy infrastructure has prompted many large corporations to trust its services. On Bright Data’s website, its list of customers consists of famous brands, such as McDonald’s, EPSON, and Mozilla.
With about 72 million global IPs in your hands, non-time-limited sessions, and a flexible rotation mechanism, you won’t have much trouble gathering real-time business data. To ease your web scraping activities, Bright Data also supplies a scraping browser, APIs, and functions. And if it’s pre-collected information you’re looking for, take advantage of the provider’s library of LinkedIn, e-commerce, social media, Zillow, and GitHub datasets.
While Bright Data’s prices may seem slightly higher than its competitors, a flexible subscription model will quickly put your mind at ease. Moreover, if your projects occur across several departments, sub-users can be added for free. Finally, a complimentary knowledge hub filled with webinars, videos, and masterclasses is available to guide you on the myriad of things you can do with proxies.
Pros
- 72 million proxies with worldwide coverage
- City, state, country, ZIP, and ASN targeting
- Ready-to-use datasets and insights
- Scraping tools
Cons
- Premium pricing
- Dashboard comes with a learning curve
6. MPP Group (MyPrivateProxy)
Powerful Datacenter Proxy Provider
Compared to other providers in this list, MyPrivateProxy may not supply its customers with a comprehensive proxy suite. However, it is a pro at delivering enterprise-grade datacenter proxies with high uptime and speed. These are available as private, dedicated, and shared IPs.
Even though the proxies from MyPrivateProxy are somewhat limited in terms of coverage (16 US cities and 8 European locations), they’re perfectly capable of managing simple web scraping tasks. With that said, this provider’s expertise lies in sneaker copping, unlocking geo-blocked content, and gaming. The proxies provide what you need, which is anonymity, and come with zero bandwidth restrictions.
What’s great about MyPrivateProxy is its prices. If affordability is your main concern, this provider surely checks that box. A money-back guarantee is available for private and shared proxies, and 24/7 support ensures expert help whenever you need it.
Pros
- Enterprise-level datacenter proxies
- 3-day money-back guarantee for selected products
- No bandwidth restrictions
Cons
- Limited location coverage
- No residential or mobile proxies
7. Astroproxy
Affordable Rotating Proxy Solution for Entry-Level Needs
Astroproxy prioritizes ethics and takes the extra step of vetting all customers before allowing them to use its services. It also performs regular checks and audits to ensure regulatory adherence. This effort just shows you that Astroproxy operates at a high standard.
This provider’s offerings are pretty standard. It has rotating residential, mobile, and datacenter proxies, like many other vendors in this list. Quality wise, they’re great, too, with 99.9% uptime and high successful rates. At Astroproxy, you’ll gain access to over 2 million proxies from 100+ countries.
If you’re a trader looking to perform small data collection projects, Astroproxy can help. Its prices are flexible, and with minimum orders set at 100 MB, you’re in total control of how much you spend. However, do take note that geo-targeting incurs extra costs.
Pros
- Highly ethical provider
- Respectable coverage (100 countries)
- Flexible sticky sessions
- Affordable prices and low minimum order threshold
- Free proxy test
Cons
- Geo-targeting limitations
- No static proxies
Conclusion
When it comes to making money, you don’t play around. It’s time to place your bets, and this time, you’re coming out swinging. With accurate, real-time data on your hands, you’ll know that every buy or sell you perform carries its weight in gold. Let these proxy providers be your partner in all your transactions. Pick the best according to your needs today.