For a long time, Metatrader was the very best charting software for Forex. It is still really good.
The best part is that it is also free.
But things have changed.
In this post, I'll show you why I decided to switch from the free MT4 platform to the pro version of TradingView. Some people may think that this is crazy, but I'll give you 5 reasons why I decided to do it.
I'm not saying that you should switch…use whatever works best for you. But if you are frustrated with certain things about Metatrader, like I was, then TradingView might be a great MT4 alternative.
To learn more, watch this video. If you prefer the text version, it is provided below the video.
1. Platform Independence
If you have been reading this blog for awhile, then you know that I hate using Microsoft Windows.
Sure, you can install VMWare Fusion with Windows 7 to get MT4 to work on a Mac. But it's a pain in the ass to reinstall everything whenever something happens to Windows or if I get a new computer.
Having a browser-based charting platform makes it easy to log into my TradingView account any computer and have all of my presets available. No more manual setups or Dropbox backups.
I can even log into a Linux computer and still use the same charts.
This reason alone makes it worth considering. But other platforms have promised this ability and have fallen short on one huge thing.
Quality charts.
2. Solid Charts
If you look at most of the online charting solutions that are available, they are pretty crappy. Even Metatrader's online charting platform is a stripped down version of the installable version.
Do you remember the first Java charts that were available for Forex?
I'm talking back in like 2000.
They were barely good enough to trade with. But you couldn't save any settings and they would always crash.
Newer online charts are quite a bit better, but they still face the same glitchy behavior. For example, one of TradingView's closest competitors (not naming names) doesn't change the background of a chart, even after you change them in the settings.
In stark contrast, TradingView's charts are rock-solid. They scroll forward and backwards as expected and when you change a setting it actually works.
The chart zooming is super smooth.
From what I hear, TradingView spent a ton of money on their charts and it shows. In my opinion, they are better than Metatrader charts.
…and that's saying a lot, because Metatrader charts are awesome!
On top of that you don't have to manually download historical data like you have to do with MT4 data.
3. Easy Multi-Timeframe Analysis
This one is a big one for me.
Since I'm a Swing Trader, I trade off the 4-hour and daily charts. But I also want to see the 1-hour and weekly charts to get some additional context.
In Metatrader, you cannot instantly analyze different timeframes for the same currency pair. You have to switch each chart individually.
But in TradingView, you can have 4 charts up at the same time and you can set each one to a different timeframe. When you switch currency pairs, all of the charts change to the new pair, but keep their timeframe.
This is super convenient and makes it so easy to analyze each pair, with just one click. You can also hit the down arrow on your keyboard and move to the next pair.
This alone has saved me so much time when checking the charts.
4. Access to Other Markets
One big thing that is missing from most Metatrader installations is the ability to see other markets. For example, I also trade ETFs, some stocks and I watch markets like oil, gold, the S&P500 and correlated markets, because they can influence FX.
But Metatrader was built to primarily be a Forex platform and only allow traders to see the trading instruments that are available from each broker. So if your broker does not provide a data feed for gold, then you have to get it somewhere else.
But on TradingView, I can see quotes for futures, commodities, stocks and FX. This makes it a one-stop platform to see everything I need.
Why would I go anywhere else?
5. Great Charting Features
Last, but certainly not least, the charting tools in TradingView are superior to any other platform that I have seen. One of my favorites is the long/short position markers.
They make it easy for me to mark my positions and instantly see how each position is doing. In Metatrader, I had to create three separate lines to mark my entry, stop loss and take profit.
But in TradingView, one tool takes care of all of these things.
You can also save your charts or trading ideas, then play them forward after the trade has been closed. Click the play button on any of these charts and see it action.
As you know, a trade can look much different before you enter a trade and after it has been seen to completion. So by creating a before and after snapshot allows you to get a good feel for what the trade looked like when you entered.
All of the other TradingView tools are pretty standard. But I do like the huge library of icons that you can add to a chart 🙂
Yeah, it's a minor thing. But it's a nice touch.
TradingView Pro Review
I use TradingView Pro.
I decided to upgrade for two reasons:
- The nag screens were annoying and distracted me
- It pricing was cheap enough, compared to the value that I got
In my opinion, the paid version is downright cheap. Of course, this will depend on your income and geographic location. It currently starts at $9.95 per month, you get rid of all the annoying popups and get other excellent benefits.
You can also trade directly on the charts. They are always adding new brokers so be sure to check their current list.
The free version is good enough for beginning traders. But if are serious about this, pro is the only way to go.
TradingView Alternative
If you are new to Forex trading, then there are certainly very capable alternatives to TradingView. Consider the following…
Metatrader 4
Metatrader 4 is still a very solid charting and trading platform. My only complaint is that you cannot trade nano lots and the interface still has that 1999-Microsoft-Windows swagger going on.
I still use MT4 on a VPS for my alerts because the TradingView Pine programming language is not at the same level as Metatrader or Tradestation.
But once Pine is ready for prime time, I'll be all over it.
Metatrader 5
I don't know anyone who uses MT5 exclusively. But it might work well for you.
It's also free, so if you are interested, you should check it out.
My opinion is that you should stick to MT4. There is a bigger code base, more programmers and MT4 for just works.
So why mess with it?
Proprietary Platforms
Brokers like FXCM have their own trading platforms. They might work better for you.
I'm not a big fan of the FXCM platform, but some love it. The one thing that I didn't like (the last time I used it) was that they blended all trade entries.
Since I live in the US, I can't trade with them anymore anyway.
But it's an option to consider.
Conclusion
If we look forward to the near future, most trading software that we use is going to be browser-based. Any software that is platform dependent, is going to have to adapt or be overtaken by SaaS (Software as a Service) solutions.
This goes for trading journals, charting/trading platforms and even backtesting software.
It's funny how some traders are so resistant to this shift in platforms though.
I got a really angry email from a trader that basically said:
“Profitable traders only use Metatrader.”
If you believe that your charting/trading platform determines your profitability, then I'm not sure what to say to you.
Just like with anything else in trading, keep an open mind.
You might be surprised at what you discover.
What's your opinion about Metatrader vs TradingView?
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Hi Hugh, thanks for the post. Very useful. As a beginner, I have been evaluating tools and I think that, for now and the future, TV is and will be the best option. Before reading this post I didn’t know about backtesting… Thanks for that comment, too. I will get in that with Forex Tester and build my own strategies
I have analytical skills, finance/statistical background and programming experience.. and I want to capitalize all that in making my full-time income with professional trading. Any more advice for a newcomer with this approach? Hope to hear from you
Thanks in advance,
Joseph
Quito, Ecuador
Hi Joseph,
Thanks for stopping by and I’m glad that it was useful. Cool, your background should come in handy. The only other thing I would suggest is to match your trading strategy to your personality and how you view the world. If you haven’t downloaded the free PDF on the homepage yet, read through it and that will get you started.
Hope your testing is going well!
hugh, any advice or article for choosing a broker (i live in the usa too)?
It really depends on your situation and the amount of money you are trading. But here’s where I would recommend starting: https://www.tradingheroes.com/which-broker-is-the-best-forex-broker/
Nice article Hugh,
It would be nice to be able to trade directly with MT$ broker through Trading view charts.
If only they offered someway to hook up on any brokers mt4 account to trading view….
That will be the day
Thanks Scott. Yeah, it would be nice.
Hugh, Excellent article but I think you must be using TV pro plus not just TV pro as you mentioned in your article? In TV pro you can have only 2 – not 4 – charts up at the same time or am I wrong about this? The difference in price between pro and pro plus is quite significant 🙂
Hi Marc,
Thanks. They are constantly changing the feature sets, so that might be the case. I’m probably grandfathered in on the old plan.
“Sure, you can install VMWare Fusion with Windows 7 to get MT4 to work on a Mac. But it’s a pain in the ass to reinstall everything whenever something happens to Windows or if I get a new computer.”
You have MT4 for Mac, you know that right?
I still think tradingview is better for charting though.
No, it’s not native for Mac. You still have to run Wine or another emulator to get MT4. That’s why TradingView is much better.
Hi Hugh, I switched to tradingview some months ago, specifically for their great alerts feature. Turns out that feature is NOT so great! I get SMS alerts that haven’t actually triggered on my platform, so I can’t trust that I have to get back to my computer to place a trade. I check my charts and price crossed the targeted level, but the alert didn’t go off. I had a red dot next to a pair in my alerts column (which means “stopped manually”). I didn’t stop it manually. I tried to edit and re-start, but it wouldn’t do it, so I deleted it to start over. Now the red dot was next to the pair that had been below it. I tried same procedure to re-start and had to delete it. Now the red dot is next to the next pair below.
I’ve submitted tickets to their support time after time and these issues still have not been resolved. So frustrating! If someone was to ask my opinion of TV, I’d say to look elsewhere! Now I’m back to square one!
Hi Laurie,
Sorry to hear about your frustration.
A couple things that came to mind…
You may have realized this already, but if the spread is wide, the alert may not trigger. That is, if the bid is shown on the chart, but if the ask needs to hit the alert line, the alert might not get triggered, even though on the chart, the bid line did hit the alert level. The alerts have always worked for me, but maybe you are doing something more complex.
Second, I would like to point out that Metatrader had more than its share of technical issues in the early days and TV is a big improvement, in my opinion. But there will be bugs in any software and you might have to just wait a bit for them to fix it.
I’ve had some frustrating issues in TV with their early version of trading through Oanda, but they eventually figured it out.
Obviously, do what works for you. But that has been my experience. To me, it’s 100 times better than dealing with the issues that Metatrader still has.
Cheers,
Hugh
How about Backtesting and Optimization? These are essential.
For backtesting and optimization, I use Forex Tester.
I think TradingView lets you backtest as well?
To a limited degree, with their playback function. You still have to record trades on a spreadsheet and sometimes historical data will be limited.
ah really? too bad. i have to wonder if they plan on adding more eventually though.
Probably, but it’s always a slow process. I think TradingView will end up dominating in the way that Metatrader has.
their product is second to none. ONLY real problem is the price of market data is VERY high if you happen to trade on different exchanges (globes, nymex etc etc … very easy to get to 400-600$ a month!). Am I wrong?
Very true. But you would have to pay that anyway if you used other platforms 🙂
It’s nice that it’s available in one platform.
Hi there,
Thanks for sharing your experience with us!
Can you also tell us which broker is “Trading View” connected to? What I mean is how do you Trade with it? Can you set your “Stops” in the usual manner? and also, do you know what language it`s written in?(ie, MQL4,…) Because as you know to find an expert programmer to code an EA for many of these platforms, is a nightmare, whilst with MQL4 there are many!
I`ll appreciate your comments!
Res.
Hi,
The brokers that are available change constantly. So the best thing to do is to sign up for a free account, so you can keep an eye on what is available. It works like most other trading platforms that you have used.
TradingView uses the Pine programming language. It is not as good as MQL, but they are constantly improving it.
I have been a TradingView Pro user for over a year. I couldn’t live without it. I look for fractals with the bars pattern tool, which appears on no other platforms other than super-expensive things like TR Eikon.
Cool, yeah their tools are amazing.
Hey guys who is th best broker?
Hey Collin,
You need to do your own research, it depends on where you live and your financial situation.
Good luck!
This is so cool. I didn’t know that one could use TradingView to actually trade with a broker. My broker is not listed, but I’m sure as they grow, more brokers will be using TradingView as an option.
Yes, I’m sure they will be adding new brokers soon. Some brokers are also using TV as their internal charting/trading platform, so that’s another thing to watch out for.
Hugh,
Another question, does TradingView have Level II screens?
There’s no level 2 in Forex. Since it is an OTC market, you cannot get a complete picture of depth of market.
Hugh,
Do you use the screening tools on TradingView or do you use something else for that?
Hi Jan,
I haven’t used the screening tools on TradingView. I mostly trade price action, so there’s no need for additional tools.
Hi Hugh,
How much does it cost to trade “full version” of tradeview ?
Hi Brundo,
To get the most current pricing, use this link: https://www.tradingheroes.com/tradingview
Then scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the GO PRO link in the menu at the bottom.
I was told a few days ago by an Oanda rep that “soon”, maybe as soon as a few weeks, you will be able to trade right from the web version of TV. Right now they have an embedded TV window inside of their own wrapper but it is lacking a lot of the functionality of the browser version. The Oanda rep said it is going to happen but they are working out the details (their cost). Depending those negotiations with TV and your account size you may have full pro functionality with a live Oanda account. Looking forward to that.
Thanks for the heads up Wayne. Looking forward to them adding it back into TV.
with these great charts of Trading view. we do our developed analysis and get some good results. Thanks for this blueprint review.
Happy it helped.
Hi
Thank you for this review. Your blog really is a great read.
I have one question though. How can you trade with Oanda trough Tradingview?
I can only see CQG and FXCM as available brokers.
Thank you in advance.
Daniel
Hey Daniel,
Yeah, they keep going back and forth with Oanda. You used to be able to trade with them, then it was Oanda Europe only. I’m not sure where they are with that, but I just stuck to using the Oanda fxtrade platform. It’s easier that way.
Hi. Do you know what brokers use Tradingview….so a person can trade from those great charts?
Thanks.
Doug – Central Texas
Hey Doug,
Right now it’s Oanda (Europe), FXCM and any broker that can connect to CQG.
Hi Hugh
This look same as Oanda’s Advance charting !
Probably they are using same framework.
Hi Dal,
Yes, Oanda uses the TradingView charts for their Advanced charting.