JStock Review

As an investor, you will naturally want to monitor your portfolio's performance. The JStock software offers you an ingenious way to keep track of the latest market trends, investments, and trades in real-time.

You have probably heard of this management tool and you are probably wondering whether it is worth the hype. In this review, we are going to cover everything you need to know about JStock so that you can decide if it is worth your time or not.

JStock Product Overview

JStock is free software that acts as a portfolio management and watchlist tool. It comes with several fundamental features for stock and technical trading.

You will find the tool extremely useful especially for tracking multiple brokerage accounts or portfolios. The tool requires you to input transactions manually to get a stock scanner, technical charts, and custom alerts.

How JStock Works

As we have previously mentioned, JStock is a free stock market software that can be used to design personal indicators for trading tactics, manage portfolios, and scan for stocks.

You can download the Windows version or the mobile app from the Google play store. Upon installing, you want to choose the stock exchange information you want from the list of countries provided on there. The complete list of stocks will be displayed once your chosen market list loads.

If you want to get alerts when certain stocks surpass the price above or below your desired value, all you have to do is enter your values in the 'Rise Above' and 'Fall Below 'columns that appear next to the stock symbol.

You can also change the refresh interval for stock price scanning. This is particularly helpful when it comes to screening for day trades where you need quicker updates. The interval can be as little as 2 seconds. How cool is that?

What it Includes

JStock comes with several features to help you manage your portfolio as well as monitor the stock market. Why don't we take a closer look at these features?

1. Portfolio Management and Watchlists

One of the major selling points when it comes to the JStock software is that it allows for the creation of an unlimited number of stock watchlists. That is great considering it is a free tool.

As if that is not enough, it does not limit you to US stock. The software's database features real-time price information for a whopping 28 stock markets all over the world.

As far as portfolios, the platform allows you to create an infinite number as well. You may want to note, however, that the portfolio interface is arranged by stock instead of the transaction date. This can make it difficult to know what positions are open at any given time

JStock also does not come with any options for automatically importing current holdings from a brokerage account or even your transaction history. You can easily monitor how your investments perform by pulling up the charts that display your percentage loss or gains over time.

2. Technical Charts

JStock also offers technical stock charts. The only issue with them is that they present quite a challenge when it comes to using them for analysis. This is because price data is displayed as a line or candlestick bar and the charts display trading volume by default.

Thankfully, the platform comes with several technical intersections including RSI and moving averages, only that it is impossible to customize the timeframes of the metrics.

One of the biggest concerns when it comes to technical charting in JStock is that the display options are extremely limited. It is impossible to examine chart data for less than a week and there is no provision for displaying intraday bars.

With that in mind, it seems like the technical charts are primarily designed to meet the needs of long-term investors rather than short-term ones.

Stock Scanner and Alerts

JStock does come with an in-built stock scanner that appears quite powerful at first glance. The best part about it is that it is fully customizable which allows you to create a scan around real-time or historical price data.

The biggest issue with JStock's scanner is that creating scans with it is time-consuming and difficult because, to create a scan, you need to put function blocks on a blank canvas and consequently link them with operator symbols.

Things can rapidly go out of hand in case you want to build a scan with several parameters. 

This same system is also used to create alerts meaning they are highly customizable as well. However, the creation process is quite cumbersome. As far as JStock alerts, you can receive notifications via text or email, which is a good thing.

Design and Customization

At this point, you have probably gathered that Jstock is not the most user-friendly tool. Most of its usability issues originate from the fact that its user interface is extremely out of date. This can leave a lot to be desired.

Most of the functions can only be performed by right-clicking on the right part of the screen. Therefore, it may take some time just to learn how to unlock some of the software's features.

Even with that, some of the fundamental things about JStock's interface are customizable. For instance, you can pick from four themes how you want the overall platform to look as well as pick the color palette for your stock data and watch lists.

Regrettably, the customizability stops there. It does not extend to the software's key features. For example, it is impossible to create personalized data metrics to add to your watchlist board or custom plots to evaluate your portfolio performance.

What Makes JStock Different?

JStock is not the only stock screening, portfolio management, and watchlist software on the market. What makes it stand out is that it provides real-time data for different markets around the world and it is free.

The fact that its stock screener is flexible is an added advantage as well although you will have to practice patience if you want to create complex scans using the platform's archaic interface.