Impact of Real-Time Trading Apps on Students' Investment Habits

This study focuses on the effects of real time trading apps- Zerodha and Groww, on the investment behavior of Indian students. Based on a broad Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT) model, the Social Learning Theory and Nudge Theory and Choice Architecture, Human Capital and Financial Literacy Theory the study examines six variables, namely, Performance Expectancy, Effort Expectancy, Social Influence, Facilitating Conditions, Use Behaviour, and Voluntariness of Use; and their impact on the dependent variable, Students Investment Habits. The structured quantitative methodology was embraced and the primary data were collected with the help of 131 valid respondents, which include undergraduate, postgraduate, and professional course students, and were questioned using a Google Form questionnaire in the period between February and March 2026. Reliability test showed a Cronbachs Alpha of 0.926, and the Kaiser Meyer Olkin test of sampling adequacy of 0.874, which indicated very good quality of the instrument. One-sample t-tests determined that all the seven-construct means were significantly higher than the neutral midpoint. Six directional hypotheses were tested using simple linear regression whose all hypotheses were accepted at p = 0.001. Influencing Use Behaviour, Voluntariness of Use was the most powerful predictor ( 0.6957, R 2 = 0.483), then Use Behaviour ( 0.7064, R 2 = 0.363), and finally Facilitating Conditions ( 0.5006, R 2 = 0.376). Groww was the most popular (56.5%), and it was an application that is easy to use. The results imply that the learners are cultivating disciplined and platform-based investment practices which are mostly intrinsically motivated and are habitually using the platforms. The research adds the empirical evidence to the literature on FinTech adoption and provides practical suggestions to platform developers, financial educators, and regulators, including SEBI.