best free charting/watchlist software

B

billyjoerob

I've tried them all . . . none of them do everything I want. And it looks like many of them haven't been updated in a long time. Why is that?

Stockcharts - no ability to drag and drop a large number of symbols to create a watchlist. Can't track events in watchlist, like new highs.

Yahoo - limited charting, can't change preferences. You're stuck with line charts. Can't track daily new highs or other events.

Clearstation - best of the bunch, but hasn't been updated since late nineties. Everything would be fine except the charts are too busy and hard to read. No real scanning.

Finviz - no pasting watchlists. Scanning is good, but can't click to add chart to watchlist. No tracking events.

Here's what I want the software to do:

a) provide a technical/fundamental scanner
b) ability to paste large number of symbols to create watchlist - not one by one
c) bulk charting so I can scan thru 20-50 charts per page, in any chart format I prefer
d) track events in the watchlist, like new lo/hi, earnings, hi volume, etc.

Is that so much to ask?
 
Quote from billyjoerob:

I've tried them all . . . none of them do everything I want. And it looks like many of them haven't been updated in a long time. Why is that?

Stockcharts - no ability to drag and drop a large number of symbols to create a watchlist. Can't track events in watchlist, like new highs.

Yahoo - limited charting, can't change preferences. You're stuck with line charts. Can't track daily new highs or other events.

Clearstation - best of the bunch, but hasn't been updated since late nineties. Everything would be fine except the charts are too busy and hard to read. No real scanning.

Finviz - no pasting watchlists. Scanning is good, but can't click to add chart to watchlist. No tracking events.

Here's what I want the software to do:

a) provide a technical/fundamental scanner
b) ability to paste large number of symbols to create watchlist - not one by one
c) bulk charting so I can scan thru 20-50 charts per page, in any chart format I prefer
d) track events in the watchlist, like new lo/hi, earnings, hi volume, etc.

Is that so much to ask?
More...

You get what you pay for....
 
I've used stockcharts, and I'm pretty sure that you can enter multiple symbols at once into a watchlist. I specifically remember using that function. Take a look at it again.

What I couldn't stand about stockcharts was that if you wanted to draw a trendline or do any annotation you had to switch to java and it took forever.

My favorite free charting program is www.prorealtime.com. The charts are in java from the start, and it's pretty fast. It's free for end of day, costs for real time. It lacks some of those features you want, however.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

I don't think "you get what you pay for applies" . . . I've tried some of the paid software and they're no better.

If I have to download software, I can be pretty sure it's from circa 1995, has feature bloat, and doesn't offer the features I'm looking for. If somebody can tell me otherwise, I'd like to hear it . . .
 
Quote from billyjoerob:

I've tried them all . . . none of them do everything I want. And it looks like many of them haven't been updated in a long time. Why is that?

Stockcharts - no ability to drag and drop a large number of symbols to create a watchlist. Can't track events in watchlist, like new highs.

Yahoo - limited charting, can't change preferences. You're stuck with line charts. Can't track daily new highs or other events.

Clearstation - best of the bunch, but hasn't been updated since late nineties. Everything would be fine except the charts are too busy and hard to read. No real scanning.

Finviz - no pasting watchlists. Scanning is good, but can't click to add chart to watchlist. No tracking events.

Here's what I want the software to do:

a) provide a technical/fundamental scanner
b) ability to paste large number of symbols to create watchlist - not one by one
c) bulk charting so I can scan thru 20-50 charts per page, in any chart format I prefer
d) track events in the watchlist, like new lo/hi, earnings, hi volume, etc.

Is that so much to ask?
More...

I think www.stockfetcher.com will do everything you want.
 
I'm wondering about metastock. I had eSignal for about a year
no problems there..but the more you want from it..the more you pay..when I let it go I think I was paying 350.00 USD per month.
 
stockfetcher is free but the data is limited and only looks at yesterday's price from the close. You can't factor in prices from the current days session. No real-time or even intra-day delayed scanning as far as I can tell.

It appears that it doesn't do real-time scanning since nothing in the documentation mentions this.

Getting something for free will not fill all your needs. You generally have to pay for something that you want with so many features.

I wouldn't try Sierra Chart because the scanning capability is antiquated and very difficult to make any sense out of. I think it's written by Europeans for Europeans. Tech support is responsive though.

Anything Worden or Tradestation puts out will be just as costly as E-signal.

Advanced Analyzer and Quotetracker have great EOD scanners if you are TD Ameritrade customer. If your account is large enough then you give the subscriptions at no cost.
 
Quote from jamesblue:

stockfetcher is free but the data is limited and only looks at yesterday's price from the close. You can't factor in prices from the current days session. No real-time or even intra-day delayed scanning as far as I can tell.

It appears that it doesn't do real-time scanning since nothing in the documentation mentions this.

Getting something for free will not fill all your needs. You generally have to pay for something that you want with so many features.

I wouldn't try Sierra Chart because the scanning capability is antiquated and very difficult to make any sense out of. I think it's written by Europeans for Europeans. Tech support is responsive though.

Anything Worden or Tradestation puts out will be just as costly as E-signal.

Advanced Analyzer and Quotetracker have great EOD scanners if you are TD Ameritrade customer. If your account is large enough then you give the subscriptions at no cost.
More...

Excellent points - didn't understand he was looking for intraday scanning. TD Ameritrade's StrategyDesk would be a good choice, as I think you can setup an account for about $2k and get the tool for free.
 
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