Best Charting Software?

protrada1

Newbie
Messages
5
Likes
0
Hi Guys,

I'm new to t2w and I'm looking for some software to hone my technical analysis skills. At the moment, I'm probably just looking for something thats free? Any ideas of the best way to head?

I've found a few on the internet as follows:

incrediblecharts.com
www.spacejock.com/FreechartsSE.html
ayamae.com

No idea which is the best? Last one found out about apparently offering free charting but no idea about them?

Any advice would be really helpful!!

Thanks

Frederick
 
try stockcharts.com theres some free stuff on it although to get the best out of it youll have to subscribe
 
protrada1 said:
Hi Guys,

I'm new to t2w and I'm looking for some software to hone my technical analysis skills. At the moment, I'm probably just looking for something thats free? Any ideas of the best way to head?

I've found a few on the internet as follows:

incrediblecharts.com
www.spacejock.com/FreechartsSE.html
ayamae.com

No idea which is the best? Last one found out about apparently offering free charting but no idea about them?

Any advice would be really helpful!!

Thanks

Frederick

If you are literally interested only in playing around with technical analysis in order to find out if that's a route you might want to take, then a free software provider that also provides data is the way to go. Note, however, that the data will most likely be delayed. This is not an issue if all you want to do is study and explore and investigate.

At some point, perhaps relatively soon, you're going to have to plunk down some money, though it needn't be that much. SierraCharts is very inexpensive, and if you use IB as your broker, you can use that as a free datafeed.

Db
 
There's lots out there

protrada1 said:
Hi Guys,

I'm new to t2w and I'm looking for some software to hone my technical analysis skills. At the moment, I'm probably just looking for something thats free? Any ideas of the best way to head?

I've found a few on the internet as follows:

incrediblecharts.com
www.spacejock.com/FreechartsSE.html
ayamae.com

No idea which is the best? Last one found out about apparently offering free charting but no idea about them?

Any advice would be really helpful!!

Thanks

Frederick
Frederick

You have had several suggestions now. There are many free charting sites. Just to add another try ADVFN. The free sites will have delayed and/or end of day feeds, but for practising initially that is fine.

I would also suggest that you try various brokers' sites - these have the advantage that you can try out the broker's trading platform to try out different order types and to find out if their charting and other facilities suit you. Often they have educational sections as well. Try Interactive Brokers for general access to every type of intrument or if you are interested in specific instruments e.g. foreign currency try brokers specialising in that e.g. Oanda,GFT.

These brokers will generally do a minimum of 30 days with a dummy account. In fact most just ignore the 30 day limit, because they want you to eventually join them.

Also try looking at charting software sites. For example Amibroker has its manuals and function reference library freely available on their site.

If you scour around this site you will find mention of many broker platforms and charting packages, most of which have free demos with free delayed feeds, so you are spoilt for choice really

Charlton
 
Last edited:
protrada1 said:
Hi Guys,

I'm new to t2w and I'm looking for some software to hone my technical analysis skills. At the moment, I'm probably just looking for something thats free? Any ideas of the best way to head?


Thanks

Frederick


Hi Fred

once you've had a play with the free online stuff and your hooked on this type of thing get yourself metastock pro really cheap on ebay for an older version, or search out tradestation 2000i second hand. The standalone stuff is better in my opinion than the online bits and bobs as you are stuck with their indicators as is and cant PLAY :cheesy:

then get yourself a quote downloader for free real time data then if your still hooked and really ready for some serious action you only need e signal (which is the expensive bit) and your all kitted up.

best of luck with your quest and above all have fun :D

cheers

Don
 
Reality Check pleeeze!

protrada1 said:
Hi Guys,

I'm new to t2w and I'm looking for some software to hone my technical analysis skills. At the moment, I'm probably just looking for something thats free? Any ideas of the best way to head?

I've found a few on the internet as follows:

incrediblecharts.com
www.spacejock.com/FreechartsSE.html
ayamae.com

No idea which is the best? Last one found out about apparently offering free charting but no idea about them?

Any advice would be really helpful!!

Thanks


Frederick

You call yourself protrada yet you want everything for free!

I suggest you just get on with it like we all had to. It's gonna cost you money to be a trader - maybe thousands so wouldn't it be better to get some pro software to start with because that's who you'll gonna be competing against - the best pros in the business all eagerly waiting to take your money from you. There's no little league in this game - you start at the deep end and if you can't swim nobody's there to pull you out and adjust your water wings.

Invest in the best tools you can get because you can be damn sure the next wanna be who's going to make it will be!

Unless you really really want to trade 100% then I suggest you spend the next (at least) three years of your life doing something else because that's how long it seems to take before the ones with real application start to turn a profit.

There's my advice and it's free.
 
bit harsh there rols on a new poster he only appears to want to have a play with charts and stuff not dive in the deep end yet :eek:
 
Shocked !!

rols said:
You call yourself protrada yet you want everything for free!

I suggest you just get on with it like we all had to. It's gonna cost you money to be a trader - maybe thousands so wouldn't it be better to get some pro software to start with because that's who you'll gonna be competing against - the best pros in the business all eagerly waiting to take your money from you. There's no little league in this game - you start at the deep end and if you can't swim nobody's there to pull you out and adjust your water wings.

Invest in the best tools you can get because you can be damn sure the next wanna be who's going to make it will be!

Unless you really really want to trade 100% then I suggest you spend the next (at least) three years of your life doing something else because that's how long it seems to take before the ones with real application start to turn a profit.

There's my advice and it's free.
Rols

I am really shocked by your response.

If he is starting out then clearly it would be inadvisable for him to spend loads of dosh until he has clarified his strategy, choice of broker, choice of tool, choice of instrument. The best way to do this is to use free demos, sites etc until he can sort out the wheat from the chaff.

You are an advocate of developing intuition. Again this might be something he can work on for free by observing charts until he is ready to move onto more expensive datafeeds.

You have been following Db's threads recently and, in post 3 of this thread he suggested going for a cheap datafeed, then Sierracharts and an IB feed later as a still cheap alternative.

Give the lad a chance !

Charlton
 
Charlton said:
Rols

I am really shocked by your response.

If he is starting out then clearly it would be inadvisable for him to spend loads of dosh until he has clarified his strategy, choice of broker, choice of tool, choice of instrument. The best way to do this is to use free demos, sites etc until he can sort out the wheat from the chaff.

You are an advocate of developing intuition. Again this might be something he can work on for free by observing charts until he is ready to move onto more expensive datafeeds.

You have been following Db's threads recently and, in post 3 of this thread he suggested going for a cheap datafeed, then Sierracharts and an IB feed later as a still cheap alternative.

Give the lad a chance !

Charlton

OK. Fair comment! But shocked? Mass murder, child abuse and female circumcision are shocking, not telling somebody that in order to compete with the pros he has to think like one. Is this site turning into a kindergarten for anybody who fancies punting a few quid on the markets because his mate at work does it?

I agree that Sierra charts and IB is a good option as is spacejock and many others.

Maybe I have been spending too much time on the ET site where they tell it how it is but I do reckon we sometimes we are a bit too polite, English and Wet Nursing to be helpful in the long run. C'mon guys it's a dog eat dog jungle out there, it's not a video game or a hobby, people get seriously burned. Why not tell them how it is instead of saying come on in the waters lovely and warm?

I'm sure Fred can take it and won't be crying himself to sleep in his cocoa. :cheesy:
 
Last edited:
If disemboweling the unwary at the slightest provocation is "telling it how it is", then ET is most definitely the place for it. :)

Perhaps the key word here is "hone". I assumed that the thread starter had only a vague familiarity with TA and wanted something to play with, something that would include historical data and enable him to scroll, annotate, explore patterns, maybe even test a few ideas. This sort of exploration doesn't even begin to require something like Metastock or TradeStation, particularly if he decides that indicators are a crock and that he needs something only bare bones. On the other hand, it does require something more than Yahoo charts.

An option which I used to recommend was TC2000, back when it all came on a disk, which was free. They assumed that those who tried the program would like it and sign up for the datafeed. Most, I assume, did. However, for those who wanted to play with a real program that also had twenty years' worth of data and enough indicators to choke a horse, it was ideal. And if they decided to sign up for the datafeed, fine. If not, they hadn't spent a dime.

Now TC2000 does all this through download, and if one has 100+ megs to spare, why not? Still free, though I haven't looked at it for years.

Point is, unless one knows exactly what it is that's being asked for, it's difficult to know what to recommend. Since the responses here have suggested everything from Yahoo charts to Metastock, I should think that the field has been covered.

Of course, if people really want to go after each other, ET offers unlimited quantities of overripe tomatoes with no moderation to speak of and no restrictions on aliases ("nicks"). I say go for it. :)

Db
 
Hi db

I take your point about tradestation, bit ott that suggestion, but would like to take you to task over metastock as it has the best of both worlds regards to its use as a charting package for the indicator junky there's plenty to keep most happy, for price and volume minded peeps drawing tools a plenty, its cheap as chips on ebay especially from the good ol US of A and most importantly free to feed with data less than 50 quid all in, no more fees to pay.

its a logical step after online offerings have been tried then outgrown due to constraints and rigidity and yes I am in full agreement that free offerings should be used until one knows in what direction your path is taking you after all it is a quest with many paths.

I haven't (as yet) checked out TC2000 so I am unable to comment but have checked out and subscribed to in the past to updata , sharescope, omnitrader disliked these (probably because they are more geared to data mining than charting) medved quote tracker yahoo realtime, quote.com livecharts plus lots more offerings over the years that I cant remember (they were obviously really good then :rolleyes: ) I believe If i'd missed all these out and gone with metastock at the off, the learning curve for me would have been far shorter and cheaper.

any way thats my little ramble over with :)

cheers

Don
 
don_h said:
Hi db

I take your point about tradestation, bit ott that suggestion, but would like to take you to task over metastock as it has the best of both worlds regards to its use as a charting package for the indicator junky . . .

However, the thread starter said nothing about being an indicator junky. Rather he said that he wanted to "hone" his TA skills. Furthermore that he was looking for something free. Metastock et al are a long way from free.

Of course, he can go whichever way he chooses. But since he asked for free, I attempted to stick as close to that as possible. Free may not be the best choice, but then I'm not his guardian.

Db
 
For those of you who uses amibroker for their charting software, I found a good site with lots of free AFL indicators to download and a forum to chat with other amibroker users.

http://www.amibrokerfan.com

cheers and good trading to all.
 
You got to be kidding !!

rols said:
You call yourself protrada yet you want everything for free!

I suggest you just get on with it like we all had to. It's gonna cost you money to be a trader - maybe thousands so wouldn't it be better to get some pro software to start with because that's who you'll gonna be competing against - the best pros in the business all eagerly waiting to take your money from you. There's no little league in this game - you start at the deep end and if you can't swim nobody's there to pull you out and adjust your water wings.

Invest in the best tools you can get because you can be damn sure the next wanna be who's going to make it will be!

Unless you really really want to trade 100% then I suggest you spend the next (at least) three years of your life doing something else because that's how long it seems to take before the ones with real application start to turn a profit.

There's my advice and it's free.

The above constitutes a very limited knowledge of trading and software no wonder his advice is free! - I've had/ tried most (dozens) of software packages including tradestation and in my professional opinion with the improvement of modern platforms there is NO NEED to spend any money whatsoever. The two platforms I presently use, one for FX one for everything else are both Free the latter is Web based so no expensive upgrades or long term commitments. These are in my opinion the best available.

I've put an explanation of these platforms on a disc - if you would like a copy PM me with your Full name and address I'll send you a copy FREE - Z
 
Top