Charting software (and sometimes also trading software) is one of the most important trading tools that almost all traders use, so choosing the appropriate charting software is one of the most important decisions that new traders have to make. Choosing the correct charting software can be extremely helpful is having a successful trading career, while choosing the wrong charting software can be extremely detrimental to (what could be) a very short trading career.
Charting software comes in an almost endless variety of shapes and sizes (not to mention prices). Some charting software is suitable for a single trading style, some charting software is suitable for multiple trading styles, some charting software is also trading software, and some charting software should not be considered charting software at all, and so on.
Mentioning every conceivable piece of charting software would not be particularly useful because there would be so many choices that the decision would be almost impossible, so I will only mention my preferred charting software, along with my recommendations for which trading software is most suitable for which trading styles.
Preferred Charting Software
- Sierra Chart - Sierra Chart is one of my preferred (and perhaps my most preferred) charting software, and I recommend Sierra Chart for almost all traders (with the exception being automated system traders). Sierra Chart is suitable for all trading styles from scalping to position trading, and for all financial markets (e.g. stock indices, individual stocks, currencies (i.e. forex), commodities, etc.).
- Teletrader Professional - Teletrader Professional is one of my preferred charting software, and I recommend Teletrader Professional for almost all traders (with the exception being automated system traders). Teletrader Professional is suitable for all trading styles from scalping to position trading, and for all financial markets (e.g. stock indices, individual stocks, currencies (i.e. forex), commodities, etc.). Teletrader Professional is of sufficient quality to be my most preferred charting software, but Teletrader Professional is not my most preferred charting software because it is rather expensive compared to Sierra Chart (which is of equal (if not slightly higher) quality).
Recommended Charting Software
- Visual Station - Visual Station is the charting software that I recommend for automated system traders (i.e. traders who develop a trading system and then have that system traded automatically). I have followed the development of Visual Station since its creation a few years ago, and Visual Station has continued improving and adding new features (especially features that automated system traders could find very useful) the entire time.
- Live Charts - Live Charts is the charting software that I recommend for traders who are unable to use either Sierra Chart or Teletrader Professional (with the exception of automated system traders for whom Visual Station is recommended). Live Charts is web based charting software and can therefore be used on almost any computer making Live Charts suitable for traders who (for whatever reason) are often away from their usual computer. One drawback to Live Charts is that it requires Java (the full Java not only Javascript), making Live Charts slightly less desirable than it would be if it was flash based, but Live Charts is still one of my recommended software nonetheless.
Advice for Choosing Charting Software
Obviously I recommend that all traders choose one of the charting software that I have recommended above, but if for some reason you decide to use another charting software, the following is some advice that you should follow when making your charting software decision.
Charting software should not be chosen because it has a list of features or technical indicators that takes three days to read, because most of the features or technical indicators will not (read as should not) be used. For example, choosing charting software because it offers three thousand technical indicators would be a mistake, because charting software that only includes a few technical indicators (i.e. that can be counted with only two hands) could be equally as suitable.
Charting software sometimes needs to be chosen (or rather excluded from the choice) because it does not support a particular market data service or a particular financial market (if the charting software includes its own market data service), and while this is not the best way to choose charting software, it is sometimes necessary and unavoidable.
Charting software should not be chosen only because of its price, because the price does not always reflect the quality of the charting software. Some of my recommended charting software is very reasonably priced (e.g. Sierra Chart), and some of my recommended charting software is rather expensive (e.g. Teletrader Professional), but there are usually enough differences between the charting software (e.g. between Sierra Chart and Teletrader Professional), not to justify the difference in price, but to allow (or require) the decision to be made using other criteria.
