It’s one thing to be a trader, it’s another thing to be successful at it. With the markets changing every second, your best bet is to invest in a charting software. This way, you can keep your finger on the pulse and study the trading behavior of particular stocks, currency pairs, and commodities.
Without such tools, you’d have to entirely rely on fundamental analysis and unless you have the ability to sift through thousands of documents every day (we’re yet to come across any human being who can do that), you’d struggle to make or even grow your income.
Most advanced charting software programs are based on artificial intelligence (AI) meaning they not only show you the market movements but also give you extra perks such as:
- Drawing tools
- Extended timeframes
- Customizable features
- Mobile-friendliness and access
- Access to months of trading history
Keeping those (and other) factors in mind, we now present you with a list of the top 5 charting software & tools.
Top Charting Software For Stocks in 2024
1. Trade Ideas
TI is well-known for its extensive use of artificial intelligence in trading. Beyond that, they have a pretty decent charting software which is available at no additional cost to standard and premium subscribers.
The charts are good looking and helpful, especially for beginner traders. However, if you’re a coder and looking for the freedom to tweak the charts, TI ones would not be the best ones for you.
The idea behind the TI charting software is to provide you with a reference point once you receive an alert from their AI systems. So, if you have already signed up with TI and all you need is a platform for double checking your entries, there would absolutely be no need for you to sign up for any other service.
The charts have basically everything you need to get going. For instance, you can switch from line graphs to candlesticks and vice-versa. You can also scroll or zoom-out the charts to access longer-trade histories. You also have the freedom to switch from one time-frame to another and so forth.
Even with all those features, the Trade Ideas charting software is pretty basic. And if you’re specifically looking for a “bad boy” charting system, there are quite a few better-made programs out there.
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2. TC2000
Compared to what you’d get under TI, TC2000 is pure gold. Here, more opportunities are opened up for you. For instance, you’re provided with the freedom to apply your own code (if you’re a developer that is) to influence your personal criteria and formulas.
On top of that, you get a bunch of drawing tools some of which are easily accessible from the right sidebar of the interface. So, if you’re feeling like making projects or trying out some Fibonacci retracements, the TC2000 would be a fantastic toy to play with.
Moving on, beyond TC2000 being an excellent platform for charts, it also doubles up as a brokerage platform. And the icing on the cake is that this software is available in three plans which can be accessed by paying a monthly fee starting from $9.99.
Of course, the higher up the tier you go, the greater the number of features available at your disposal will get. On top of that, you also get to access a simulator which comes in handy especially if you want to put your strategies to use but in sandbox mode.
In terms of accessibility, this platform can either be accessed through a mobile app or downloaded and used on desktop computers (compatible with Windows OS).
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3. TradingView
Everyone who knows how charts work will tell you that you can only underestimate TradingView at your own peril. This collaborative market dominates the markets with its HTML5 charts which are known to load quite fast. Their minimalistic charting software is designed to save your CPU resources enabling you to do more at any given time.
Their platform works perfectly for most people. So, not unless you are specifically looking for a highly advanced system, this would be a good platform to access especially on-the-go.
The fact that this is an HTML5 kind of system means that it’s also extremely easy to access on the phone. The company’s app is probably the best we have come across so far – unfortunately, they only have an App for iOS users. We look forward to breaking the news of them launching their Android App to you one day.
In our view, what TradingView offers in terms of charts is almost equal to what you’ll find under TI (although we happen to think that the former has a slight advantage over the latter). Oh, and did we forget to add that their charts are also available at absolutely no cost?
You don’t even need to sign-up to access them. Plus you get all the basic features from 1D – 5Y time-frames, zooming tools, drawing tools (accessible when you sign up) and so forth.
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4. Scanz
Scanz is yet another one of the often underestimated chart service provides. When you need to take a closer look at a stock or make a final decision on whether to buy or sell a stock, the Scanz chart montage might just all you need.
Their charts a tailor-made for the stocks markets. In fact, all you need to do is enter any stock symbol inside a box and click go and it will provide you with access to all the data you might be looking for.
They have a screening chart, which draws and updates itself dynamically. Plus you have the freedom to choose whether to use line charts, bar charts, or candlesticks.
Besides that, they enable you to access multiple customization options by simply adjusting a few options. For instance, you can adjust the time-frame (ranges from 30-minutes to 1-year), indicators as well as modify the tools needed to trade.
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5. TrendSpider
So many beautiful charts out there – if only they had brains! TrendSpider is one service that has put lots of effort in coming with charts that are not only beautiful and modern but also ones capable of providing you with real-time market intelligence.
Their chart interface is easy on the eye plus their tools are designed for fast and easy use. Despite having some of the most advanced features in the industry, the charting software loads quite fast and calling it a resource hog would be absolutely incorrect.
Most importantly, their charts can be customized. You can tweak anything from the types of charts to the colors and even the analysis algorithms. How cool is that?
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6. eSignal
The eSignal software is not your father’s charting tool! What you get here is a combination of all the good stuff you’d get from all the other 5 combined – and then some.
While other platforms struggle to provide you with 30 days of intra-day trading history, eSignal provides you with not 1 but 6 months of data. Still want more? You can always access historical data from 12 months gone by (at a small fee of course).
The winning attribute of eSignal is that it provides you with unlimited editing and coding freedom. You can do some pretty advanced coding with their software. What’s more? They have a mini App Store from where you can download all kinds of tools to use for coding.
eSignal is a specialized or standalone charting platform. Fortunately, they also do provide you with a streamlined access t 50+ brokerage firms – so you don’t have to leave their interface to look for a broker. This, however, makes them different from other charting software programs that are mainly provided by brokerage firms.
Love drawing stuff on your charts? eSignal is probably the place with most dynamic charting tools around. In fact, their drawing tools can even identify trends and even pinpoint support and resistance spots for you. How cool is that?
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Conclusion
As you can see, the charting software scene is like an open-air marketplace – everything goes. From platforms that are accessible at absolutely free of charge to ones that charge a premium, can consumer sovereignty really get better than this?
The point is, there are so many platforms that you can use to access some awesome charts out there. So, don’t shortchange or limit yourself to one style of trading just because you think charting services are a preserve for the big boy traders.
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