If you are a crypto enthusiast who at least checks the crypto asset prices or if you are involved in traditional financial instruments you may find TradingView useful. It is a social media platform with powerful charting tools. Users can post their trading ideas, develop and share various indicators, or simply just use the charting tool for their trading research.
Charts! If you trade crypto, stocks, or other financial instruments chances are you use some sort of charting tools provided by exchanges or brokerages. TradingView can be used as an alternative charting tool. For some, it can become a primary tool. It does have a powerful charting tool with real-time price ticker, drawing tools, scripting options, and backtesting. It has a community that shares its research, trade idea, and custom indicators. It has a beautiful UI web and mobile apps.
Sign up is not required to use charts. You can just go to the website and start using it. However, if you need more features you will need to create an account and choose a subscription plan.
TradingView only allows one account per person and users can change their username only once. So, give extra thought about your username as may be stuck with it for life. If you attempt to create a second account, their algorithm may flag it and ban both of your accounts.
For most users, a free account might be enough. But if you need more features, you will have to upgrade to a higher subscription plan. Another thing to keep in mind is TradingView will not allow downgrades. So, you don't want to sign up for the highest tier thinking you would be able to downgrade for a cheaper plan at a later time. Compare the plans, evaluate your needs then decide which plan to go with.
- Basic: $0
- Pro: $14.95
- Pro+: $29.95
- Premimum: $59.95
See features comparison for plans
The basic plan will only allow one chart view and three indicators at a time. This means you can't view multiple charts in the same tab, or separate tabs, or separate devices. Also, the basic plan will have annoying pop-up ads that you will need to manually close from time to time. For most users basic could be more than enough. Active traders who view multiple charts at a time set multiple alerts may need to consider upgrading. For active users, I think the plan pricing is reasonable for the services they provide.
PineScript
TradingView has its own scripting language, PineScript which is designed specifically for TradingView users to develop their own indicators and backtesting. I have been playing with the PineScript and like it a lot. It is easy to use, and fun to experiment with. Right below the charts, there is Pine Editor section. Users can open and start creating their scripts and applying them to the charts in no time.
Below is a simple script that plots the closing price on the chart.
study(“Test”)
a = close
plot(a)
Even if you don't like dealing with scripts, just using the charts on TradingView is awesome. Give it a try, see if you like it. Let me know what you think.