MetaStock and TradingView are the two charting tools we get asked about most. They are built for different people. This guide explains the difference in plain English, so you can pick the right one for how you trade.
The short answer
TradingView is a website. You open it in your browser, on any computer or phone, and the free version is good enough for most beginners. It is the best choice if you want quick, good-looking charts and to share ideas with other traders.
MetaStock is a program you install on a Windows PC. It is built for people who want to scan the whole market for set-ups, test a trading system on years of past prices, and get signals from ready-made expert systems. It costs more, and it does more.
Charts and drawing tools
Both give you candlestick charts, moving averages, RSI, MACD, Bollinger Bands and the other standard indicators. TradingView has the nicer look and the smoother drawing tools. MetaStock has more indicators out of the box (over 300) and lets you build your own with its formula language.
If you only ever look at a chart and draw a few lines, TradingView wins on ease of use.
Finding trades: scanning the market
This is where the two tools part ways. MetaStock’s Explorer scans thousands of shares in one go and lists the ones that match your rules, for example “closed above the 50-day average on double the normal volume”. You write the rule once and run it every evening.
TradingView has a stock screener too, and it is improving, but it works from set lists of filters. Writing your own custom scan is harder, and the deeper screening needs a paid plan.
Testing a strategy before you risk money
MetaStock’s System Tester runs a set of buy and sell rules over years of past prices and tells you how it would have done: profit, biggest loss, win rate and so on. You can test one share or a whole basket at once.
TradingView can do this too, through its Pine Script language and Strategy Tester. It is powerful, but you need to write code. MetaStock lets you test with point-and-click rules as well as code.
Not sure what to test? Our free learn-to-trade guides cover the common set-ups with real chart examples.
Expert advice built in
MetaStock comes with Expert Advisors: ready-made systems from well-known traders that mark buy and sell points on your chart and explain why. TradingView has thousands of free community scripts instead. Some are excellent, many are not, and you have to sort them yourself.
Data
TradingView includes free price data for most markets, with a short delay unless you pay for real-time. MetaStock’s real-time version uses XENITH, a professional data and news feed, which is why professionals and full-time traders tend to use it.
Price
TradingView has a free plan and paid plans from a few pounds a month. MetaStock is a monthly subscription that costs more, and there is a 30-day free trial so you can try everything before you pay. Prices change, so check both sites for the current figures.
Which one should you choose?
- New to trading, or trade a few shares by eye? Start with TradingView. The free plan is fine.
- Want to scan the market and test systems properly? MetaStock is the stronger tool, and the 30-day trial costs nothing.
- Many serious traders use both: MetaStock to find and test trades, TradingView for quick charts on the phone.
Try MetaStock free for 30 days: start your MetaStock trial here. For TradingView, open a free account here. See our full charting software page for more.
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