TradingView vs Tradestation - A Head-to-Head Comparison (2024)

One of the factors that will determine your level of success in the stock market is the software program that you use. It is vital that you get the platform with all the right tools that would make things easier for you in terms of analysis and market research so that you can make the right moves.

There are several software programs that you could choose from in the market, and all of them have something different to offer. For instance, some would work best with beginners only while others are suited for advanced levels of experience in the trade.

In this article, we shall compare TradingView and Tradestation so that you can decide which one would serve you best.

Let’s do this!

The Differences: TradingView vs Tradestation

In this section, we shall point out the main differences between the two platforms. This should make it clearer for you what sets them both apart from each other.

Here are the distinctions.

1. Brokerage

Here is one area that Tradestation excels as compared to TradingView. You find that there is more integration of the major brokerage firms in the former. So, you can place your trades within the platform, unlike the latter where you have to do your trading separately.

Some of the brokers that TradingView works with include OANDA, AMP global and FOREX.com. If you wish to trade via the TradingView website, you need to open an account with one of the compatible brokerage firms.

2. Instruments

With Tradestation, you have more assets to trade at your disposal. The markets include mutual funds, options, stocks, futures, bonds, and ETFs.

However, just because TradingView deals with relatively fewer instruments does not mean that you can make great strides with it. From forex to cryptocurrencies and stocks, there are a lot of potentially profitable trades that you could make in the market.

3. Social Networking

Both platforms have a community of traders who interact and share their ideas. From this point, a trader can pick vital pointers which he could use to improve their skills in the market.

Tradestation offers several forums where the traders discuss their ideas with like-minded individuals. When you look at TradingView, you could think you are looking at Twitter since traders make various posts concerning their experiences in the stock market and any other relevant information.

So, we could say that the community in TradingView is more active as compared to the competitor.

4. Backtesting

Both services allow you to backtest a particular trading strategy. However, Tradestation has a more extensive data bank that features up to 40 years of pricing data. This is unlike TradingView, which offers you data of a shorter duration of 15 years.

The advantage of backtesting is that it gives you a deeper insight into the market analysis to enable you to customize on a particular time frame.

Further, if you want a report after the testing, both of these platforms allow you to generate one containing any necessary information that you may need.

5. Coding

Tradestation has its own coding language known as EasyLanguage, and you will find it useful in the formulation and backtesting of strategies.

TradingView is not left out in the coding aspect since it has its own scripting language that will help you in the customization of charts and indicators.

6. Charting

We all know how important charting is in the stock market as it helps in giving your analysis a visual representation. Charting is one of TradingView’s strongest points, and it features over 50 smart drawing tools that you could use to create your charts.

Further, you have two color themes to choose from, i.e. dark and light themes.

Tradestation also does fairly well in the charting arena as users have the option of customizing them to their preference. However, there are a few flaws we picked out. For instance, there is no automated technical analysis, while plotting y-axis markers for corporate events is close to impossible.

7. Research

When it comes to research on specific assets and markets, TradingView is a very resourceful platform. There may be no news live stream or market commentary, but there are several useful resources on the program.

Some of the useful resources that we found include:

• Global indexes
• Economic calendar
• Data points on cryptocurrencies
• The bond market etc.

Even better is that you can find all the market information on the major global players as well as the exotic ones such as Saudi Arabia and UAE.

It is also possible to find trade ideas in TradingView, and you can locate them in the ‘Ideas’ tab at the top of the site. Here, you will find ideas presented as both articles and videos and are simply posts made by other traders.

The various categories of trade ideas (posts) that you come across include:

• Wave analysis
• Asset class
• Pivot points, etc.

Tradestation, on its part, is not the best for extended company research. It does not have any mutual fund, fixed income or ETFs research.

8. Mobile App

Tradestation has a fully functional mobile app that active and professional traders would find useful. It has all the features that you would need, and they include charting, watch list syncing and FuturesPlus.

TradingView also has a mobile app, and it is compatible with both android and iOS systems. It may not be as powerful as the website, but the features ensure that you get a memorable experience from the platform. Some of the things that it offers include:

• Discussion forums
• Watchlists
• Trending topics
• Charts (vertical and horizontal)

There is an ‘Ideas’ tab at the bottom part of the screen where you can find the trending prospective trades. To interact with other traders, you could do so via the ‘Chats’ tab.

9. Customer Support

Although both platforms offer ways in which you could contact the customer support teams to air out any issues, there are some differences in how you go about the process. With TradingView, there is a ‘Help’ center on the site whereby the answers to common questions are divided into different categories to give you an easy time navigating through them.

Some of the answers are accompanied by pictures to make the explanation to be easier. Most of all, there is no mobile support or online chat on the platform.

Let’s look at Tradestation whereby there is phone support between 8 a.m. -8 p.m. ET. There is also an online chat with an agent while there is also a chatbot to respond to frequent queries.

And during market hours, there is a live broker to respond to any questions that you may have.

10. Pricing (Commissions & Fees)

The pricing structure of Tradestation is a bit confusing for most individuals. The different plans include TS Select, TS Go and Penny stocks. Let’s look at them individually.

• TS Select is the most popular structure and requires a minimum deposit of $2,000. With this plan, you will get full access to all the three Tradestation platforms on offer.

The stock trades cost $0, the options trades are $0.60 per contract while the futures are $1.50 per contract.

• TS Go does not require any minimum deposit, and you will get unlimited $0 stock and ETF trades. Further, the options trades go for $.50 per contract while the futures trades go for $.85 per contract.
• Penny Stocks is the other plan and the penny stock trades are found in both TS Select and TS Go. In both plans, the penny stock trades go for $0 for the first 10,000 shares and $0.001 per share thereafter.
• Tradestation Salutes is a unique plan that targets military personnel, veterans and first responders. This program offers 100% free stocks, options trades and ETFs.

As for TradingView, the pricing is relatively straightforward, and there are four plans on offer. There is the basic plan that is absolutely free, followed by the pro plan that costs between $9.95-$14.95 per month.

Next up is the Pro+ that goes for $19.95-29.95 per month while the top plan is the premium package that would cost you between $39.95-59.95.

Which One is Better?

Although Tradestation seems to outdo TradingView on several fronts, the suitability of a particular program all depends on your preference. If you are an active and experienced trader looking for the ideal platform to guide you in your technical analysis, Tradestation would be the ideal program.

And if you are a newbie looking for a program with the right combination of charting tools that will give you a visual idea of what you are getting yourself into, Tradingview would be your perfect partner.