Computerized Investing22

comparison

Web Versus SoftwareIn the arena of computerized

investment analysis tools, Web-based services, in general, do not offer the power or fl exibility that you fi nd with their software-based counterparts. Therefore, one of the fi rst questions to ask is whether your analysis needs will take you along a software or on-line route for technical analysis and charting tools.

The most striking difference be-tween technical analysis websites and software is in the level of features each has to offer: Software-based technical analysis applications largely dwarf the Web-based services. Most of the services discussed in this comparison offer the basic technical

analysis features—mainly, charting and the ability to overlay technical in-dicators and drawing tools. However, you will fi nd that the online librar-ies of technical indicators are often less robust than what you would fi nd with technical analysis software, although the gap has been narrowing over the years.

Beyond carrying a larger array of technical indicators, some of the more advanced technical analysis programs on the market today allow users to create and save their own technical indicators. This is a feature lacking in the online services high-lighted here as well as in the expand-ed comparison grid.

At the highest end of the technical analysis software spectrum you will fi nd programs offering trading sys-tems, something not found with any

The Top Technical Analysis &Charting Websites

By Wayne A. Thorp, CFA

“These sites offer the best combination of charting options, technical indicators and educational resources.”

of the Web-based services highlighted here or in the expanded comparison grid. A trading system is an indicator or set of indicators used to identify buy and sell points for a security; users can also backtest these systems to gauge their historical profi tability. Furthermore, most of these same programs allow you to create and backtest your own technical trading systems.

While there is a distinct difference in the level and complexity of online offerings compared to software-based technical analysis and charting ser-vices, it does not necessarily follow that software rules supreme. Web-based services do hold some distinct advantages over software, mainly

with respect to the delivery and pricing of data. When looking for a technical analy-sis program, there are typi-cally two decisions to make. The fi rst and most obvious is choosing the program itself; the second, often overlooked, is selecting a data vendor. Online services, on the other hand, usually offer end-of-day data at no cost. Therefore,

you can begin your analysis without having to download data or subscribe to a historical data service.

Software-based technical analysis can carry price tags ranging from $100 for a “low-end” end-of-day pro-gram to over $1,000 for a high-end, real-time program. The additional cost of data can range from $15 per month for historical end-of-day data to over $100 per month and higher for real-time data delivery (excluding exchange fees). Among our top picks of online choices, only BigCharts.com does not have any fee-based offer-ings.

The question then becomes: Which route should you go?

If you are new to technical analysis, or are only looking for simple chart-ing and analysis on an end-of-day basis, a Web-based service is prob-

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Two prominent schools of investment analysis are funda-

mental analysis and technical analy-sis. Fundamental analysis involves analyzing a company’s fi nancial statements and health, its manage-ment and competitive advantages, and its competitors and markets. By contrast, technical analysis—in its purest form—assumes that all of these factors are refl ected in the price of the company’s stock. As a result, technicians focus on the price activity and trading volume of securities to gain an understanding of the supply and demand to help them time buy and sell decisions. The hope is that the analysis of past behavior may uncover patterns that point to future price movements.

Even if they don’t consider themselves technicians, many individual investors employ some form of technical analy-sis when making investment decisions. This can range from simple chart analysis using technical indicators—mathematical manipulations of price or volume data—to employing advanced techni-cal trading systems to decide when to buy and sell.

Using a Charting Service

To help you with technical analy-sis, there are a variety of Web-based services available for individual inves-tors. This comparison focuses on the top three sites for technical analysis and charting. These sites offer the best combination of charting options, technical indicators and educational resources for aspiring technicians. For a more comprehensive listing of technical analysis and charting options, an expanded comparison grid of additional services will be posted to the Computerized Investing website (www.computerizedinvesting.com) in conjunction with the January CI E-Newsletter.

23First Quarter 2011

comparison

using time increments of one minute, fi ve minutes, 15 minutes or longer, but the most recent price informa-tion is delayed (usually by 15 – 20 minutes). Only those securities priced throughout the trading day have intraday data available (mutual funds are typically priced once a day after the market closes and, therefore, do not have intraday pricing). The delay allows the site to avoid paying ex-change fees for real-time data. Again, all of our top picks offer charting on an intraday basis.

Real-time data is the timeliest data available and represents an attempt to capture the latest price at which a security has traded. Services chartreal-time data in two ways. The fi rst is “static” real-time data, mean-ing you must manually refresh the chart to capture the latest price. The other is streaming charts, which automatically update as new price data becomes available (data can also be streamed on a delayed basis). FreeStockCharts.com offers stream-ing, real-time charts. However, the real-time quotes are based on trades placed through BATS, an exchange founded in 2005 that currently does about 10% of the trading volume in the U.S. (ranking it third behind the New York Stock Exchange and NAS-DAQ). The data in FreeStockCharts.com that is less than 15 minutes old only consists of the trades reported by BATS trading. All data more than 15 minutes old is complete data from all the exchanges. This allows FreeStockCharts.com to offer free real-time streaming charts to non–investment professionals.

StockCharts.com also offers BATS real-time data to those not subscrib-ing to its ExtraRT! service. Other-wise, you will be getting “real” real-time data. However, the site does not offer streaming charts at any level.

Historical Data AvailabilityOne advantage Web-based technical

analysis and charting services have over software is that there is no need to accumulate a historical database in order to plot securities. However,

ably your best choice. For technical analysis neophytes, there are enough high-quality Web-based services available to avoid making the fi nan-cial commitment to software and data. In addition, some sites—such as StockCharts.com—offer an extensive collection of educational content to expand your knowledge of technical analysis.

In the end, if you have no desire to create your own indicators or create and backtest technical trad-ing systems, a Web-based service should offer everything you need. On the other hand, if you want robust technical analysis capabilities, includ-ing custom indicators and trading systems, chances are that only a software-based application will satisfy your needs. If you want to learn more about software-based technical analy-sis tools, the comparison in the First Quarter 2010 issue of Computerized Investing is available in our archives at www.computerizedinvesting.com.

Impact of Operating System & Web Browser

When it comes to software, your choice of either the Windows or Mac operating system (OS) will impact the options available to you. For the most part, websites are “OS neutral,” meaning you can access and use a site whether you are on a Win-dows or Mac OS system. We visited each of our top picks as well as the services in the expanded comparison grid using Windows 7 and Mac OS X 10.5 and found no signifi cant differ-ences in functionality between these operating systems.

Your choice of Web browser can also affect your ability to get the most from certain websites. Many sites are optimized for Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser. While other browsers will allow you to view most of these websites, there are some exceptions. We visited each of the sites in this comparison using some of today’s popular Web brows-ers—Chrome 8.0, Internet Explorer 8, Mozilla FireFox 3.6, Opera 10.63 and Safari 5. Within the individual

write-ups of our top picks we note any differences in experience we had. The expanded comparison grid also notes any browser requirements pro-vided by the respective sites.

Changes Since Last ComparisonOur last comparison of technical

analysis and charting websites, which ran in the March/April 2009 issue of Computerized Investing, listed Prophet.net as one of our top picks. Since then, the site was purchased by Investools and folded into their suite of fee-based services. In its place, we have once again made long-time favorite BigCharts.com an Editor’s Choice.

What the Services Offer

The comparison grid on pages 24 and 25 examines the features and functions found with a typical Web-based technical analysis service. Keep in mind that websites frequently un-dergo changes, so it is always a good idea to confi rm pricing and function-ality before subscribing.

Markets FollowedMost of our readers track indexes,

stocks, mutual funds, or exchange-traded funds (ETFs); each of our top picks offers U.S. and international coverage of stocks and indexes, as well as U.S. exchange-traded funds and closed-end funds. In addition, FreeStockCharts.com and BigCharts.com follow currencies.

Data Types and FrequencyTechnical analysis can be performed

on an end-of-day, intraday delayed, or real-time basis.

End-of-day charts require, at most, fi ve pieces of data for each trading day—the opening, high, low and clos-ing price for the day along with the total trading volume for the day. This data can also be used to plot charts covering long periods, such as weeks, months or years. All of our top picks offer data on an end-of-day basis.

Intraday delayed charts plot data during the course of the trading day

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comparison

Computerized Investing24

COMPARISON: THE TOP WEB-BASED TECHNICAL ANALYSIS & CHARTING SERVICES

Website/Product Name Company Web Address Subscription Price (may not include add’l exchange fees, when applicable) Trial Offered Browser/OS Requirements Markets Followed Data Data Provider(s)Elements Data Type(s) Used Data Frequency Historical Data Data Export FormatsCharting Popular Chart TypesElements Multiple Chart Timeframes Custom Timeframes Scaling (Linear, Log) Max. Securities Per Chart Save Chart Settings (Chart Templates) Printer-Friendly Charts E-Mail ChartsIndicators & # of Predefi ned Indicators/StudiesLine Studies Complete List of Indicators Customize/Modify Existing Indicators User-Drawn Trendlines Max. Indicators Per ChartTechnical Markets FollowedScreening Create Custom Screens # of Data Fields for Technical Screening Save Custom Screens # of Predefi ned Technical ScreensHelp Online Help Indicator Interpretation Help Technical Analysis Education

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this does put you at the mercy of the individual service as to how much historical data is offered. The amount of historical data provided by the services discussed in this article var-ies greatly. Users of StockCharts.com free charts have access to only three years of data, while BigCharts.com provides over 30 years of index and stock data on their charts (provided the security has been trading that long).

Export FormatsMore and more, people are looking

for free sources of price and volume data for use in spreadsheets and oth-er programs. One way to obtain this

data is by exporting it from an online source. The variety of exporting formats includes Excel spreadsheet, ASCII text format, and XML (Ex-tensible Markup Language). Among our top picks, only Free StockCharts.com offers true data exporting. StockCharts.com offers two months of data to free users and two years to subscribers. However, the data is in a tabular format that you need to copy and then paste into an spreadsheet or into a text document.

Chart TypesTechnical analysis primarily deals

with the graphical representation of price and volume data, so most of

your analysis will revolve around a price chart. The most common types of charts are line, bar and candlestick charts; all of our top picks offer these chart types.

Point & fi gure charts are based solely on price movement that does not take time into consideration. StockCharts.com is the only top pick offering these unique charts. For an explanation of how to use point and fi gure charts, see the Feature article in the July/August 2003 Computerized Investing, available in our archives at www.computerizedinvesting.com.

Charting Time FramesDepending on the service, you

BigCharts.comMarketWatch, Inc.www.bigcharts.comfree

Worked with Safari 5, FireFox 3.6, Chrome 8.0, and IE 8.0U.S. & international; stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, indexes, currencies, DJ industry groupsThomson Reuters, Dow Jones & Co, Comstockintraday delayed, end-of-day1, 5, 15 & 60 minutes; daily; weekly;monthly; quarterly; annualindexes from 1976, equities & mutual funds from 1976; currencies from 1971

bar, line, candlestick (7 in all)1, 2, 5 & 10 days; 1, 2, 3 & 6 months;YTD; 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 & 10 years; all data✔ (advanced & interactive charting)✔

unlimited✔

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30+http://bigcharts.marketwatch.com/help/glossary/default.asp✔ (moving averages only)✔ (interactive charts)1 (basic); unlimited (advanced & interactive)NYSE, NASDAQ and Amex exchanges

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FreeStockCharts.comWorden Brotherswww.freestockcharts.comfree; TeleChart Gold, $29.99/mo.; TeleChart Platinum,$89.99/mo. (www.worden.com/order)

Worked with Safari 5, FireFox 3.6, Chrome 8.0, and IE 8.0U.S. & Canadian stocks; U.S. pink sheets &BB stocks; indexes; ETFs; mutual funds; forexBATS Tradingstreaming intraday delayed & real-time1, 2, 5, 10, 15, 30, 60, 120 & 240 minutes;1-10 days; weekly; monthly; quarterly; annualindexes from 1915, stocks from 1984, mutual funds & ETFs from 1988ASCII textbar, line, candlestick (7 in all)day; week; 1, 3 & 6 months; YTD; 1 & 5 years

✔

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unlimitedfree: S&P 400 & 600 stocks, DJ utility, transportation& industrial indexes; Gold: U.S. & Canadian common& preferred; Morningstar industry groups; ETF families✔

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25First Quarter 2011

comparison

25First Quarter 2011

you will require from a service.Beyond a set of predefi ned indica-

tors, the ability to modify indicators to fi t your individual trading needs is a useful feature. Modifi cations allow you to adjust factors, such as the number of time periods used in a calculation. For example, 50-day and 200-day moving averages are two of the most commonly used indicators. However, depending on your trading style, the behavior of the underlying security you are analyzing, or market conditions, you may want to vary the period length. Our three top picks allow you to modify all of the indi-cators in their respective libraries. However, BigCharts.com only allows users to modify the time periods of moving averages.

Finally, many users of techni-cal analysis follow more than one indicator. They track the behavior of multiple indicators in conjunc-tion with one another to make buy and sell decisions. For this reason, it is convenient to have the ability to plot multiple indicators on the same screen. This may entail either plotting indicators on the same price chart or having them plotted in their own “window” below the primary price chart. All of our top picks allow you to plot multiple indicators.

In the comparison grid here and the expanded one online, we offer links to the listing of indicators each site provides.

TrendlinesOne of the main functions of

technical analysis is to identify trends in price and volume in the hopes of forecasting future price movement. Trendlines, which are lines used to connect two or more points on a chart, are a useful tool to this end.

Many sites go beyond static Web display pages to load actual programs within your browser that can manip-ulate data. Sun’s Java and Microsoft’s ActiveX are the two most popular Web-distributed programming lan-guages. Java and ActiveX technology have enabled charts to become more interactive—for example, by allowing

might choose among a variety of time periods to chart a security or you may be able to specify the exact pe-riod you want charted—for example, one year, fi ve years or 10 years. For an even greater level of fl exibility, you may also be able to specify the exact period you wish to appear on a chart. All of our top picks allow users to specify the charted time period.

Linear and Log ScalingWhen viewing price data, two

types of scales can be used—linear and log. Most of the charts you see are probably on a linear scale, where there is an equal distance between price points—the space between $1

and $2 is the same as the space between $100 and $101.

With log scaling, there is an equal amount of space between equal percent changes in price. In other words, the space be-tween $5.00 and $10.00 is the same as the distance between $100 and $200, since in both cases the percentage change is 100%. Log scales are especially useful when viewing data over a long historical period. All three of our top picks offer log scaling for their charts.

User-Defi nedChart Settings

The ability to specify and save certain settings is an extremely useful feature found with more and more websites. All of our top picks allow users to specify such information as the time period, periodicity (daily, weekly, etc.) and chart type, as well as any applied indicators (however, Stock-Charts.com only offers this with its premium services). The service saves your choices so you can view charts with the same settings on subsequent visits. All you need to do is choose a security, and the “tem-plate” automatically displays the chart for you in the desired manner.

IndicatorsA technical indicator is the math-

ematical manipulation of price or volume displayed in a graphical man-ner, such as a 50-day moving average or stochastics.

The number and type of indica-tors provided are important factors to consider when deciding upon a Web-based service. Beyond merely the number of indicators a site pro-vides, you should make sure that any service you are considering includes the type of indicators important to your analysis. Taking a moment to consider your needs will be helpful in assessing the number of indicators

StockCharts.comStockCharts.comwww.stockcharts.comfree; Basic, $14.95/mo.; Extra!, $24.95/mo.;ExtraRT!, $34.90/mo. seven-day money-backWorked with Safari 5, FireFox 3.6, Chrome 8.0, and IE 8.0U.S. & Canadian stocks; U.S. ETFs,mutual funds, indexesThomson Reuters; IDC/ComstockBATS “real-time” (non-ExtraRT!); non-streaming real-time (ExtraRT!)free: daily, weekly; premium: 1, 5, 10, 15, 30 & 60 minutes; daily; weekly; monthly3 years (free); indexes from 1980, stocks from 1985, mutual funds from 1990 (premium)premium (2 months Basic, 2 years Extra!)bar, line, candlestick, point & fi gure, equivolume (18 in all)1, 3 & 6 months, 1, 2 & 3 years; 1, 2, 5, & 10 days; intraday (premium)✔

✔

2 (free); 4 (Basic); 6 (Extra!)✔ (premium only)✔

✔

40+http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school:technical_indicators✔

✔ (w/annotate function)3 (free); 4 (Basic); 6 (Extra!)U.S & Canadian stocks; U.S. mutual funds, premium

✔ (Basic & Extra!)130+✔ (Extra!)65+ (free), 80+ (premium)✔

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Computerized Investing26

comparison

users to draw their own trendlines on charts. Each of our top picks offers interactive chart features that include user-drawn trendlines.

Technical Screening/ScanningSome investors seek out securities

exhibiting specifi c technical behav-ior—price above or below a 50-day or 200-day moving average, over-bought or oversold price in terms of various indicator values, or a price chart that exhibits some pattern such as a double-bottom. In this compari-son, BigCharts.com and StockCharts.com offer predefi ned (“canned”) or custom scanning or screening based on price movement, indicator values, and/or chart patterns. The fi lters range from basic predefi ned scans looking for stocks reaching new highs or new lows or those making the largest percentage moves for the day to stocks with charts exhibit-

ing common candlestick or point & fi gure patterns and advanced custom searches or screens.

E-MailIn order to allow you to share your

charts with others, some services allow you to e-mail charts or links to charts. All three of our top picks deliver charts via e-mail or allow you to e-mail links to a given chart.

Technical Analysis EducationThe biggest mistake an individual

can make is to try to use technical analysis to make investment deci-sions without fully understanding it. The quality and amount of techni-cal analysis educational material available at the top websites varies greatly. StockCharts.com offers some of the most comprehensive educa-tional resources, all of which are also free.

Editor’s Top Picks

BigCharts.comBigCharts.com has been a long-time

stalwart among technical analysis and charting sites, consistently ranking among the most popular online chart-ing services. This free site blends together free charting, a library of key technical indicators, market and company news, historical quotes, and industry analysis.

BigCharts.com offers users sev-eral charting options: quick charts, advanced charts and interactive Java charts.

With quick charts, you enter a tick-er symbol and specify the timeframe to generate a chart. Quick charts do not support the plotting of multiple securities simultaneously, and the indicators and studies automatically drawn with the chart are those saved in the chart settings.

The advanced charts provide ad-ditional features. You have the option of selecting a predefi ned time period or specifying a custom time period. Intraday data is available in one-, fi ve-, 15- and 60-minute increments; daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and yearly frequencies are also offered. With each chart, you can select from a library of over 30 technical indica-tors and studies—including stochas-tics, relative strength index (RSI), Bollinger bands, and the MACD (moving average convergence/divergence). Perhaps the only nega-tive attribute of the entire site is the inability to modify the parameters of technical indicators. Users can only alter the time periods of moving aver-ages displayed on their charts.

There are also seven options for chart type, including open, high, low, close; high, low, close; candlesticks; and bar charts. Depending on the security or index you choose, data is available going back to 1976. Once you have made your setting choices, you can save them for future use.

With the site’s interactive Java charts, you can plot a variety of time frames, although you do not have the ability to plot a custom time frame as

BigCharts.com

27First Quarter 2011

comparison

you do with the advanced charts. You have the same collection of indicators from which to choose and, again, you are only able to modify the moving averages. The most useful feature of the Java charts is the ability to draw cus-tom trendlines.

For historical quotes, you specify a ticker and date and BigCharts.com provides the open, high, low and closing prices, as well as the volume for that date. However, you cannot view data for a range of dates or export historical data.

BigCharts.com has the ability to deliver custom charts to users via e-mail on a daily or weekly basis, or when viewing a chart through your browser. Both options require that the recipient of the charts have HTML-enabled e-mail software.

The site also offers 12 BigReport “scans” that identify U.S. and Cana-dian stocks with the largest percent-age changes in price or volume, as well as the most active stocks and those reaching 52-week highs or lows.

BigChart.com’s solid collection of free charting capabilities makes it an excellent choice for beginner and intermediate technicians.

FreeStockCharts.comThe FreeStockCharts.com is a rela-

tive newcomer to the technical analy-sis and charting arena, yet it offers an impressive array of tools. Developed by Worden Brothers, the company behind the TeleChart2000 technical analysis and charting software, the site is unique in that it offers totally free streaming “real-time” charts of indexes, stocks and ETFs, without exchange fees. It does this by provid-ing real-time data from the BATS ex-change. Any data that is less than 15 minutes old comes from BATS, while data older than 15 minutes is fi lled

in using complete exchange data. It is worth noting that the “real-time” data being displayed on the charts may differ from what you would see elsewhere, especially for stocks that are not actively traded. Furthermore, you may choose to display volume activity either for trades placed with BATS only or using an approximate total volume.

For charting purposes, FreeStock-Charts.com offers line, bar and candlestick charts. You can plot charts on an intraday basis as well as on a daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual basis. The site also boasts one of the larger indicator libraries available online: There are over 80 technical indicators, all of which you can modify to your needs. You can also draw your own trendlines.

Registered users can create chart layouts and save them for future use. A layout consists of the underlying symbol and any desired indicators. Once you save a layout you can ac-cess your pre-confi gured charts from any computer.

There are also built-in watchlists covering indexes, industries and ETFs. For example, you can click on the NASDAQ 100 Component Stock

watchlist or see all of the stocks that make up the PowerShares QQQ Trust ETF (QQQQ). Users can also create and save their own watchlists.

The site offers free technical screen-ing, but only for stocks in the S&P 400 and 600 indexes as well as those in the Dow Jones industrial, trans-portation and utility averages. A gold subscription, which costs $29.99 a month, allows you to screen on U.S. and Canadian common and preferred stocks, Morningstar industry groups, and ETF families.

Finally, the site offers streaming real-time news items.

While free streaming real-time charts are an attractive feature, the impressive collection of technical indicators, watchlists and real-time news are what make FreeStock-Charts.com an Editor’s Choice.

StockCharts.comStockCharts.com is our third

Editor’s Choice for top technical analysis websites. It is one of the most well-rounded sites of its type, offering robust charting and scanning capabilities, as well as a rich collec-tion of technical analysis educational content. The site offers free content

FreeStockCharts.com

Computerized Investing28

comparison

as well as fee-based subscriptions ranging from $14.95 to $34.90 per month.

For charting, StockCharts.com offers one of the best collections of charts available on the Internet. The site features line, bar and candlestick charting, as well as three options for point & fi gure charting. In point & fi gure charts, the site automatically displays pattern alerts. The site offers over 40 technical indicators and line studies. Non-subscribers can only plot three indicators at a time, while premium users can plot either four (Basic) or six (Extra! and ExtraRT!) indicators on a single chart. Sub-scribers and non-subscribers alike can modify the parameters of the technical indicators as well as dictate the time frame charted. Subscribers can save charts to a favorites list for future analysis and save their chart settings. The site’s free charting ser-vice displays data on either a daily or a weekly basis. However, only three years of historical data is available to non-subscribers. A subscription is required to chart intraday data; real-time charting, albeit not streaming, is available for $34.90 per month. Even if you are not an Extra! subscriber, you still get “real-time” data courtesy of the BATS exchange.

StockCharts.com offers a collec-tion of stock scans that allows users to apply technical formulas to a stock universe to receive a listing of stocks that meet those criteria. Non-subscribers can run predefi ned end-of-day scans based upon techni-cal indicators as well as candlestick and point & fi gure patterns. The site screens stocks traded on the NAS-DAQ, NYSE, Amex, and Canadian exchanges. Mutual fund scans are available as well.

For $14.95 per month, Basic sub-scribers are given the limited abil-ity to create but not save their own screens and can only view up to 10 results per scan. Both Basic and Ex-tra! members have over 130 technical fi elds at their disposal when creating their own scans. Basic members use a watered-down screening module,

StockCharts.com

StockCharts.com Chart School

29First Quarter 2011

comparison

which allows for scanning on up to four predefi ned chart patterns and technical indicators at a time. With an Extra! membership ($24.95/mo.), you can scan on an intraday basis and access an advanced user inter-face to enter in your own scanning expressions. Extra! subscribers can also create custom scans and view

all the results of a scan (up to 1,000 symbols).

If you want to learn more about technical analysis, extensive edu-cational content is available in the ChartSchool section of StockCharts.com. Articles cover the basics of in-vesting and technical analysis, as well as trading strategies and how to use

technical indicators. A discussion of charts explains the common patterns that appear on charts and how to interpret them.

While StockCharts.com offers some of the more robust collections of charts types, indicators and technical screening and scanning capabilities, what really sets it apart is its col-lection of free educational content. Anyone looking to learn more about charting and technical analysis would be well served by visiting this site.

Wayne A. Thorp, CFA, is editor of Computerized Investing and a senior fi nancial analyst at AAII. Follow him on Twitter @CI_Editor.

Table 2. Ratings of the Top Web-Based Technical Analysis and Charting Services

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Criteria are rated on a scale of one to fi ve, with fi ve denoting the best score. Performance rates how well the service accomplishes its stated objectives; Docu-mentation rates the quality of online help and support; and Ease of Use rates how simple the system is to learn and operate.

Performance

Cost Pros ConsBigCharts.com 4 3 1 2 5 Free +User-drawn –Can only modify movingwww.bigcharts.com trendlines w/Java averages +Over 30 years of –No technical analysis educ data for charting for such a robust site +End-of-day charts via e-mailFreeStockCharts.com 5 5 4* 4 4 Free; +Free real-time www.freestockcharts.com $29.99mo.— streaming charts TeleChart Gold; +Largest indicator library $89.99/mo.— of free services TeleChart Platinum +Stock lists for indexes & industries StockCharts.com 5 4 5 5 4 Free; +Extensive technical –Only three years of datawww.stockcharts.com $14.95/mo.—basic; analysis/charting educ for free charting $24.95/mo.—Extra!; +Free p&f charts –Powerful custom $34.90/mo.—ExtraRT! +Broad collection of scanner is diffi cult to use scans for technical conditions & candle/ p&f patterns

*with premium subscription.

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