Google marked its entry into the online financial information market with Google Finance back in 2006. Yes, Google Finance is almost 20, and with it ready to leave its teen years behind, Google is giving it a few new bells and whistles.
For those unaware, Google Finance, as its name suggests, allows users to follow markets, create and track a dedicated portfolio, find relevant news and market trends, analyze line charts, find specific stocks’ all-time history, and more. Now, in a bid to make the platform more useful for both seasoned investors and casual users that are just getting into investing, Google is bringing three new distinct features to the platform, and yes, one of them does involve AI.
Google Finance is getting a conversational AI assistant
Although I personally don’t recommend taking investment advice from an AI tool, Google Finance’s new assistant can serve as somewhat of a research buddy. I could see myself using the tool for its search capabilities and for quickly gathering financial information, which I could then perform manual due diligence on.
The assistant isn’t live just yet, but according to Google, it will also share links to relevant sites on the web, essentially letting you dive deeper into topics of interest.
Rather than looking up individual stock details, you can ask your complex research questions in one go, to get helpful analysis and novel insights.
Goodbye line charts
Simple line charts are great when you want to see an asset’s price history over an extended period of time. However, for more in-depth analysis and for understanding market sentiment over shorter periods of time, candlestick charts are invaluable, and that’s precisely what Google is now rolling out.
According to the tech giant, in addition to candlesticks, users will now also be able to utilize moving average envelopes, which essentially create price range bands above and below a simple moving average.
Elsewhere, while not explicitly stated, the image shared by Google clearly indicates that a native dark mode might finally be coming to Google Finance.
More news for you
The platform already offers a Today’s financial news section with filters for Top stories, Local market, and World markets. Google is now expanding this section with “more kinds of market data than ever before,” adding commodities and additional cryptocurrencies to the mix. Further, instead of news that had previously been broken, the platform will also offer a new live news feed, which, as its name suggests, will offer “up-to-the minute headlines” and the latest market intel.
None of the changes are mandatory to use, and users will have the option to toggle between the new and classic designs. Currently limited to users in the US, expect the updated experience to land in the coming weeks.
