Last Updated on May 1, 2022 by Chin Yi Xuan
Not all stock charts in your financial platform are made the same.
Some are barebone without any proper functions. Some look pathetic like they are built in the early 2000s. Even worse, many of these ‘meh’ charting services cost a fortune to use!
Well, at least that’s the case until TradingView joins the party.
Beginners or experienced investors alike, TradingView is one of the best charting platforms available in the market now. It is my go-to platform for all things chart – stocks, cryptocurrencies, ETFs, foreign currencies, and more.
In this comprehensive guide, let me guide you through how you can set up your charts on TradingView, and how to navigate around this amazing charting platform!
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Table of Contents
TradingView Highlights:
- TradingView is an extremely user-friendly & customizable web-based charting platform (ie. No downloads/installation needed).
p - It offers access to stock charts for various markets (eg. Malaysia, US, Singapore, Hong Kong, China, and more), cryptocurrencies, commodities, ETFs, foreign currencies, and more.
p - The Basic version of TradingView is FREE to use. That said, users can subscribe to unlock additional value & features from the platform.
How to Set Up TradingView for the First Time
To start, visit TradingView’s main site HERE. Then, click ‘Launch Chart’.
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Step #1: Sign Up for a TradingView account by clicking ‘Join Now’.
Creating an account is important because it allows you to save your chart watchlist & setup later.
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Step #2: Create a watchlist.
Once you got your account, the first thing you can do is to add some stocks to your watchlist:
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Initially, the watchlist section may come with a list of stocks/securities that might not be useful to you. So, let’s clean that up first, shall we?
To do so, click on the 3-dot dropdown list at the top right corner (2a), and click ‘Clear List’ (2b).
Once this is done, click on the ‘+’ button to start adding stocks (or any other charts) to your watchlist:
Search for the stocks that you want, and click the ‘+’ button to add them to your watchlist.
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Finally, click on any stock in your watchlist to open up the stock chart. From here, we’ll explore the main functions of TradingView that you can start using.
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Key Features of TradingView
TradingView offers many neat and powerful features that investors of any level would come to appreciate. I’ll briefly go through some of the main features – feel free to explore them on your own!
- Timeframe – Change the timeframe of your chart from the default Daily to Monthly/Weekly and even smaller timeframes like Hourly, and even Minutes!
p - Candle Types – Modify your charts from the typical Japanese Candlesticks to other styles like Bar or Line charts, and more!
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- Compare – Want to put stocks with similar business models side-by-side? You can do just that on TradingView!
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(a) Click ‘Compare’, then enter the name of the stock that you want to compare.p
(b) Now you have the performance of 2 or more stocks on the same chart! This feature is especially useful if you want to see if there is any price movement correlation between the stocks.
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- Indicators – If you are into technical indicators (eg. Moving Average, MACD, RSI), you can find a library of indicators in TradingView as well.
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- Financials – Another amazing feature of TradingView is it allows you to display financial data on the chart. This could give investors an additional layer of perspective in their decision-making process.
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A thing to note is the free version of TradingView can only display up to 5 years of annual data (and 2 years of quarterly data), where you’ll have to subscribe to unlock additional data. More details later in this article.p
- Alerts – What if you want to wait for a better entry/exit price? What you can do is set an alert so you are notified when price crosses a certain level.
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However, there is a limit of only 1 alert for the free version of TradingView. You’ll have to subscribe to enable more alerts.
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Save Your Chart Setup
So, let’s say you are done setting up your charts. The final step is to save your chart setting so things will still look the same when you revisit the chart next time.
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Additional MUST-KNOW Useful TradingView Tools/Features
Regardless if you are a new investor, or an experienced investor, there are many other neat little tools in TradingView that could help elevate your analysis:
#1 Stock/FX/Crypto Screener
TradingView comes with a handy Stock/FX/Crypto screener that you can tweak & customize to fit your preferences to filter for stocks.
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#2 Drawing/Measurement Tools
At the far-left corner lies the drawing/measurement toolbar for you to get your work done on the charts:
a/b/c: Line/Shape/Text tools – Draw lines or shapes and write text on the charts with these handy tools.
d: Predictive tools – Use these tools to help you do various forms of measurement on the charts. One of my favorite features here is called ‘Price Range’, where you can measure the % of price movement from Point A to B.
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e: Enlarge – Zoom in to a specific section of a chart whenever needed.
f: Hide Drawings – Use this tool to hide the drawings on your chart.
g: Delete Drawings – Use this tool to remove all drawings on your chart.
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#3 Connect to Various Brokers for Direct Execution
TradingView is not just a charting platform. It is also an execution platform for you to buy or sell – if you are using the right broker that can be connected to TradingView:
- Step 1: Click ‘Trading Panel’.
p - Step 2: Select the 3-dot button at the bottom right corner to open up the broker selection.
p - Step 3: As shown below, there are many brokers that allow you to connect and execute your buy/sell orders directly from TradingView. One such broker is Tiger Brokers, my go-to stock broker for overseas markets such as the US, Singapore, and Hong Kong stock market.
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#4 Take a Screenshot of Your Chart
You can take a nice screenshot of your charts by using the Alt+S keyboard shortcut.
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Limitations on the Free (or Basic) Version of TradingView
At the end of the day, TradingView is not a charity. It runs on a paid subscription business model, with certain limitations imposed on the Basic version of TradingView, such as:
- Ads of charts (kinda annoying, but understandable)
- Limit to 1 chart per tab (ie. You cannot put 2 charts side-by-side)
- Limit to 5 years of annual historical financial data on charts, and 2 years for quarterly financial data.
- Limit to 3 indicators per chart.
- Limit to 1 alert on chart and 1 watchlist.
- No customer support.
Personally, even with these limitations, I think the Basic version of TradingView is enough to cater to the needs of most investors.
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Should You Pay for a TradingView Subscription? (+Exclusive Referral Link!)
That said, for more sophisticated investors or active traders, I think it is worthwhile to consider paying for a TradingView subscription, which will unlock features that’ll improve your execution process.
There are 3 subscription packages for TradingView, which are Pro ($12.95/month*), Pro+ ($24.95/month*) and Premium ($49.95/month*). Briefly, the main highlights of what you’ll get with the cheapest Pro subscription ($12.95/month*) are:
- No ads
- Up to 5 indicators per chart
- Up to 2 charts per tab
- Up to 10 alerts and multiple watchlists
- 15 years of annual financial data on charts, and 8 years for quarterly financial data.
- Access to Volume Profile
- Small timeframe bar replay (hourly, minutes, seconds) for traders – great for backtesting.
- Customer Support
- MORE DETAILS HERE
(*Pricing for annual subscription)
Essentially, the main difference here is you’ll get more of what each subscription offers as you level up from Pro to Pro+ or Premium. Regardless, feel free to try it out on a 30-day free trial by clicking the button below before making up your mind.
Try TradingView PRO plans today!
Eventually, if you decide to subscribe to TradingView, feel free to use my referral link HERE. In return, you’ll get TradingView Coins worth $10 (monthly subscription) or $30 (annual subscription), where you can use to pay to extend your subscription.
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Important Note: Delayed Data for KLSE, SGX & SEHK
TradingView comes with live datafeed for the US stock market, FX, CFDs, and cryptocurrencies.
However, if you are investing or trading the market outside of US, it is important to note that the data that comes with TradingView is delayed data.
In short, if you are investing in markets like the Malaysian/Singapore/Hong Kong/Shanghai stock market, the price that you see on the chart is delayed by 10 minutes.
Reason being, these price data are under the authority of the respective stock exchanges (eg. Bursa), and users will need to pay a fee to access live datafeed.
This should not be a problem for long-term investors, but shorter-term traders may need to consider purchasing live datafeed for better execution.
To get your hands on the live datafeed, you’ll have to subscribe to TradingView’s paid plan. On checkout, you can select and pay for the market that you need live datafeed.
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No Money Lah’s Verdict
So here you go – a detailed guide to set up your charts on TradingView!
Hopefully you are finding this guide useful, especially if you are looking around for a good charting platform!
In my opinion, TradingView is an amazing (and user-friendly) charting platform and nothing can really come close to offer what they are doing. Even with the Basic version of TradingView, you are getting massive value out of the platform!
Do you have any questions about TradingView? Feel free to leave your questions in the comment section below and I’ll do my best to help wherever I can!
ALSO READ: How to read stocks charts without indicators!
Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate link(s), which will reward No Money Lah with a small amount of fees when you make a purchase using my TradingView referral link.
If you use my referral link to subscribe to a paid plan, you’ll get TradingView Coins worth $10 (monthly subscription) or $30 (annual subscription), where you can use to pay to extend your subscription.
