Trade Ideas is a stock scanner for day trading. Since 2003, Trade Ideas has known how to innovate and improve the software continuously. Their newest strike on the market is the so-called Trade Ideas Money Machine, an automated trade alert system that continuously alerts about new trades based on AI algorithms and stock momentum.
But let’s be realistic here. There is not everything gold that shines, so the question is whether its worth subscribing or not.
I know it’s a long post, and your time is valuable, but I’m sure that once you’ve read my Trade Ideas review (I think it’s the most comprehensive and newest), you’ll know for sure if it is worth it.
Trade Ideas Review Test Results, Ratings, Pros & Cons
Trade Ideas is the best stock screener for day trading. That’s because of their immense number of features, especially due to their integration of artificial intelligence as a trade ideas generator. Their unique IT infrastructure and data architecture make it possible for Trade Ideas to visualize market data in a way other companies can’t do.
Personally, I see automated trade execution as one of the main goals the company should go for, especially in combination with the latest AI models they have integrated within Trade Ideas AI.
My Opinion About Trade Ideas
I like it a lot that Trade Ideas as an always up-to-date day trading software with functionalities that are hard to find among competitors.
Instead of repeating classic feature integration like various other stock screeners and tools do, Trade Ideas aims to provide their subscribers with the best possible software and new concepts to help them make money in the stock market.
Yes, you sometimes have to leave your comfort zone if you try new features, but the fascinating thing with Trade Ideas is that the new and improved features beat what has been there before.
Pros
- Real-time AI trading signals
- Real-time market data for over 8,000
- Fully customizable stock scanner layouts
- Over 500 trade alerts and filters
- Up to 20 charts simultaneously
Cons
- Only the U.S. stock market supported
Which Trade Ideas Plan Is Right for Me?
Trade Ideas has one free plan and two paid plans. The free plan is more or less to play a bit around with the web-based version, check out the charts, test some alerts and get an impression of the stock racing features. Yet, the free Trade Ideas plan has the limitation that all seen stock prices are 15 minutes delayed.
The good news is that both paid plans have real-time market data for all U.S. Stock Exchanges (Nasdaq, NYSE, AMEX and OTC), so you can stream over 8,000 stocks intraday. Let’s take a closer look at both paid plans.
The best value for the money is the annual subscription in combination with the promo code STOCKAPP15 because it reduces the costs compared to the monthly plan by about 40%.
| Key Features 🚀 | TI Basic | TI Premium | TI Free |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2nd Gen AI Signals (The Money Machine) | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| 1st Gen AI Signals (Holly) | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| System Design & Backtesting | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Trade Automation | ❌ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Paper Trading, Brokerage Plus | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Chart Trading | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| One-click Trading | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Order Management | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
Trade Ideas Basic
The Trade Ideas Basic plan (formerly known as Standard plan) comes with real-time market data, allows you to open up to 10 charts at the same time, use the entire customizable layouts, and comes with in-app and paper trading.
No matter if you like it or not, it’s basically the Trade Ideas platform without artificial intelligence features. If you are a day trader primarily looking for real-time trade alerts based on stock scans with top-lists, pre-market action, paper trading capabilities, charting, customizable scans, over 500 data points, and pre market and after-hours market data, then you are good to go with the TI Basic plan.
- The cost of TI Basic is $127 if you pay month-by-month on the monthly plan or $1,068 if you pre-pay for one year (equals $89 per month). The monthly costs include all market data fees.
- Sign up with the promo code STOCKAPP15 reduces the monthly price from $127 to $107.95 and the annual price from $1,068 to $907.80 (equals $75.65 per month).
Trade Ideas Premium
The Trade Ideas TI Premium (formerly Premium plan) is the plan to choose if you want to use the latest innovations like AI-driven strategies and trading signals with the intent to help you maximize profits.
The TI Premium plan includes the 1st generation AI signals (HOLLY), and also the newest 2nd generation AI signals (Money Machine), which comes with backtesting and a full set of pre-defined scanner layouts within the Channel Bar (20+).
The TI Premium plan also lets you do automated trading by using the brokerage API, and you have access to smart risk levels and the RBI/GBI window.
In addition, you can use the compare count window, use multi-strategy widows, customize the stock races, and create unlimited personal watch lists.
- The cost of TI Premium is $254 if you pay month-by-month, or $2,136 if you pay 1 year in advance (equals $178 per month). All market data subscriptions are included in the price.
- Sign up with the promo code STOCKAPP15 reduces the monthly price from $254 to $215.90 and the annual price from $2,136 to $1,815.60 (equals $151,3 per month).
Trade Ideas Standard vs. Premium
The main differentiators are surely the most innovative AI trade alerts and the broker integration for automated trading.
Whether we like it or not, the price for TI premium is on the upper level of stock scanners for day traders, but only Trade Ideas has the features that are included in the price. And if you focus on traditional stock scanner features, then the TI basic plan is well-positionized in terms of pricing range compared to competitors.
I have access to the TI Premium subscription and have always had it. I like to be in the front row whenever a new feature comes out. I sometimes even install the beta version of the installable Trade Ideas version to be one of the first who can test out new features and also to let you know about the newest innovations.
Yet, recently, I have focused using the web version because of the fascinating results of the Money Machine. It feels like this feature could leave all stock scanner competitors in the dust and catapult Trade Ideas to new highs in terms of popularity.
Core Components of Trade Ideas – Key Features and Tools
When it comes to the Trade Ideas features and tools, the list becomes long. It might (at first) feel overwhelming at first, but you’ll quickly realize that Trade Ideas focuses that well on its core component like no other day trading software developer.
Trade Ideas Real-Time Market Scanning
Real time market scanning is the major core component of Trade Ideas. You can (if you want) combine over 500 different alert types and filters when configuring your stock scanner. And all of this is possible without writing even one line of code. You simply drag and drop the filters together and set your values. Then, the scanner alerts you whenever the criteria are met.
Such criteria can be things like new daily high, break through previous day high, Pre-market high, 25% pullback from the high, high relative volume, sector breakouts, opening range breakouts, trading patterns, Fibonacci retracement values, narrow range bars, and many many more.
To make the first steps in the Trade Ideas platform more convenient, you’ll find a selection of pre-defined desktops within your Trade Ideas dashboard. Examples of pre-defined workspaces are the:
- Pre-market scanner
- Relative-Volume Scanner
- Meme-Stocks Scanner
- Gap-Scanners
- and over 10 other scanners
You can either visualize the scanner results in a classic table view, where you see the stock symbol, performance, trading volume or some of the other available columns, or use the new innovative stock race view, where the algo automatically sorts and visualizes the performance data in a unique and helpful way.
While all this is still highly innovative, there is one feature that beats anything ever seen in the stock scanner business – AI-powered analysis and trade alerts.
Trade Ideas AI-Powered Analysis (Holly AI, Momentum Waves, Money Machine)
Artificial intelligence disrupts the whole world and does not stop from finding its way to finance and its sub-niches like investing and trading. We all know about the cost-effective AI-based robo advisors, ETF rebalancing tools, etc., but what many people still don’t know is that AI can also be used to find trading strategies that work pretty well in current market environments.
Trade Ideas utilizes AI to identify those trading patterns that work best right now in the markets. It’s not about strategies that have worked on average over the past 20 years. It focuses on the most recent periods because the overall market environment continuously changes. AI helps Trade Ideas to identify those patterns and strategies faster than a human could. Trade Ideas gave their AI the name HOLLY.
Yet, HOLLY was just the beginning, and now the new Money Machine feature is making waves in the Momentum Wave section of your Trade Ideas dashboard. When you log in to Trade Ideas and select Momentum Waves, you’ll see 12 different stock race types and all types always have a Bullish and Bearish section for Long trades and respective Short trades.
And here, the newest enhancement unfolds its full power. The Trade Ideas algos scan over 8,000 U.S. listed stocks based on various criteria and the stock’s momentum. Then, the system automatically trades the top 3 of the best stocks and visualizes the profit in real-time.
No other tool I know of does something like this.
You’ll see trade signals in real-time.
Boom, with stock symbol, number of trades shares, trade entry, current profit, its position among the best stocks, and more. Wow.
Personally, I like the Long scan more because I prefer day trading stocks on the long side. But still, short sellers also have real-time trades for stocks that the system shorts.
In my opinion, this is the most innovative feature among all stock screeners ever seen in the past 10 years.
Trade Ideas Customizable Alerts and Notifications
All Trade Ideas alerts, filters and notifications are customizable. You can, for example, set up a scan for stocks ranging between $3 and $5 dollars that are trading above it’s EMA, another window with stocks between $20 and $50 making new highs and trading on high relative volume above the previous day’s high, or you simply adjust the values in the pre-configured screens. There is nearly no limit.
And now I tell you about something, most traders don’t know about (and most don’t need or want to use it). I said before you do not need to write a single line of code when using Trade Ideas. This remains true. However, those who want, can code if they want and create their custom filters or alerts with coding in #C. This is not needed at all, but if you want, you can do it.
Trade Ideas Backtesting Capabilities
The Trade Ideas backtesting capabilities differ from other stock screeners and trading tools. Most tools out there can test bigger time frames, such as the daily chart, the weekly chart, or the monthly chart. Some can do bigger intraday time frames, and some don’t.
Trade Ideas can test based on intraday data, and can go back in time for up to 60 days. You can test on a minute chart if you like, simulate the performance at specific times of a day, on specific days, with a specific stock symbol list, and your scanner setting. This way, you’ll find out if your current stock screener can also be used to, for example, automatically trade a strategy. And the good news here is that this backtest engine is really fast for an intraday backtester.
And yes, you can test strategies for long-trade and short trades, you can export the data, and you can optimize the strategies within the results.
Trade Ideas Chart Analysis Tools
What would you say if I told you that Trade Ideas did not have any charts 10 years ago? Would you believe me? Well, it’s a matter of fact. But Trade Ideas would not be Trade Ideas, if they would still be without charts.
But did they implement it to just have charts like many other stock screeners? Maybe, but they also use it for other innovative things.
For example, trading signals from their AI and from clients can be visualized directly within the charts. It’s even possible to trade directly from a chart with integrated buy and sell buttons.
You’ll find all important trading indicators active traders use and can apply them to up to 20 charts.
If you now say, what, only 20 charts, try it with other stock screeners and you’ll quickly realize, that 20 simultaneously open charts is market leading. You can have them on one monitor at the same time. No tabs are needed, just arrange them freely on your desktop.
And talking about innovations in charting. Trade Ideas recently integrated picture-in-picture charting. That means that you have the small time frame and a bigger time frame on one chart. This way you’ll quickly see if a current market move is huge relative to its action on the bigger time frame or if it is just noise.
Trade Ideas Risk Management Features
Who of you likes risk management? Well, you are not alone. Managing trades is typically the more boring stuff while spotting new trade opportunities is more exciting.
Yet, risk management is important and Trade Ideas helps manage risk.
For example, you can adjust trading size by choosing between trading a fixed number of shares or a specific amount in $, where the number of shares gets calculated automatically.
The new Money Machine goes even a step further and automatically opens and closes positions throughout the day, so the system takes care of any position by itself, and you can follow it in real time.
Trade Ideas User Interface and Ease of Use
I like the Trade Ideas user interface a lot. You can feel that it is developed by traders for traders. And just to have mentioned it, Trade Ideas is developed directly in the United States by a team that knows the software inside out.
Trade Ideas Dashboard Layout
If you open the web version, there is nothing you can do wrong. You have your channels on the left in the navigation, an option for settings, access to your user dashboard and resources. That’s it. Clean and simple.
The magic happens right in front of you when the trade alerts come in.
You can also type in a stock symbol of your choice, browse company profiles and stock news, watch the charts, add indicators, switch time frames or use drawing tools.
Trade Ideas Customization Options
With the downloadable Trade Ideas software, you can do even more. You can open up to 20 charts, open as many scanner windows as you want (I never tried more than 50 same time, but if you want, you can open more scanners), you can choose from over 20 pre-defined scanner layouts, do backtesting and go into more detail if you like. Everything is drag and drop, and all you have to do is change variables if you want to adjust something.
Trade Ideas Performance and Reliability
My Trade Ideas never crashed in the past 10 years. Honestly, that’s why I consider performance and reliability as good as possible.
Trade Ideas Data Accuracy and Speed
Trade Ideas has real-time data and is fast. Is it tick-by-tick data? No, it is not. Why? Because 8,000 stocks with any tick ever printed on the NYSE, Nasdaq, AMEX and OTC markets would push any platform to its limit. Like brokers, Trade Ideas consolidates the data, but you won’t notice a big difference. If you use high frequency bots located next to the stock exchange, yes, then your HFT bot is faster. But it costs 100 times what Trade Ideas costs, so everything has to be put into perspective.
Trade Ideas Server Uptime and Stability
I never had any issues, but I’m still realistic. The Trade Ideas server uptime is surely not 100%, but I’d say 99.99% so that a normal user never notices when something goes dark for a second or two.
Trade Ideas’ Unique Selling Points
Let’s talk about the Trade Ideas unique selling points without repeating too much that was said before.
Ai-Driven Trade Suggestions
The Trade Ideas AI is market leading, and there is no competitor in the day trading stock scanner business that comes even close to what Trade Ideas offers. The AI-driven trade suggestions are on-point, accurate, and at a technology stage where no other scanner is available right now.
Cloud-Based Platform Accessibility
Trade Ideas web can be accessed from anywhere and from any device. Personally, I think day traders should always be on a desktop to day trade, but there are traders out there who successfully trade from their laptop, iPad or even mobile phone. So it’s good to have access to Trade Ideas via the web. And the good part here is, that Trade Ideas lets you save your scanner layouts in the cloud. So, even if you switch between your platforms, you have always access to the most recent layout you used.
Integration With Popular Brokers
Broker integration is still somewhat at its beginnings and something Trade Ideas could improve, especially with their newest AI Generation 2 features. Yet, if you compare it to competitors, Trade Ideas is still leading.
You currently can send trades via Trade Ideas API to Interactive Brokers (a direct market access broker) and E-Trade (a zero-commission broker). And the good news here is, that the API is free and there are no additional ticket fees for trades sent via the API. You might think, hey, that should be standard, but believe me, it’s not. Some vendors charge up to $5 just for one trade ticket sent via a brokerage API. This is insane. So, it’s good news that Trade Ideas lets you trade via API for $0. That means that only your brokerage fees apply, and if you trade with a zero-commission broker, then your trading fees are zero, just zero.
Learning Curve and Onboarding Process
Sure, if you are completely new, you might feel overwhelmed with the Trade Ideas installable software. So, it might be a better choice to start with the web version, especially since it combines all the latest innovations in one place. Watch the magic happen, how trades are opened and closed automatically, use your paper account to replicate trades and get used of the platform.
Trade Ideas Customer Support Quality
The customer support at Trade Ideas is amazing. From live webinars to extensive documentation of platform features and settings to a trader chat room and email support, you have everything you can think of when it comes to customer support. All the people there know what they are doing, and they help you solve an issue if you have one.
Educational Resources and Community
There is not really something I can think of that’s missing. All educational channels are there with Trade Ideas. You can watch videos, attend live live-demos, be part of the community and interact with other traders.
User Testimonials and Expert Opinions
I think it’s best to build your own opinions based on tests with Trade Ideas. You never know how people come up with ratings. It’s the same for my rating. In the end, the key question is whether you need the features Trade Ideas has and if you can use those features to improve profitability. Maybe you are in a trading community where you can get more feedback from professional trader or reviews by specific industry experts, but only if you test it yourself can you find out if it fits your demand. But please do yourself a favor, always test on paper and limit the risk to the costs of the platform.
Comparison With Competitors
If you compare Trade Ideas with its competitors, you’ll quickly notice that Trade Ideas is already at the top of day trading screeners.
I consider Stockstotrade and Scanz the biggest competitors to Trade Ideas. You can compare both to the TI Standard features, but neither competitor comes even close to the TI Premium features.
So, first of all, let’s check how often people search for those brand names per month on Google in the United States:
Stock Scanners for Day Traders
| Stock Scanner | Monthly Search Volume |
|---|---|
| Trade Ideas | 7,700 |
| Stockstotrade | 2,100 |
| Scanz | 1,100 |
As you can see, Trade Ideas is already the unbeaten innovator in the day trading scanner sector. Why aren’t stock screeners like TradingView and TrendSpider included in this comparison? Because those screeners do not focus on day trader’s needs.
But what does it look like when comparing the prices? As I said before, I compared the Trade Ideas Basic plan because the features in this plan are better compared. I compare the monthly plans:
| Stock Scanner | Monthly Costs |
|---|---|
| Trade Ideas | $127 with market data |
| Stockstotrade | $179 with market data |
| Scanz | $169 with market data, but plus $15 for OTC markets |
Now, to the supported operating systems. Where can you use your stock scanner:
| Stock Scanner | Versions |
|---|---|
| Trade Ideas | Web version + installable software |
| Stockstotrade | Installable software only |
| Scanz | Web-version only |
I know, there are so many other things that could be compared, but this would bring the review to an even more record-breaking word count. The main message here is Trade Ideas has a good standing among competitors.
Best Practices for Using Trade Ideas
Utilizing AI Effectively
To utilize the Trade Ideas AI efficiently, you’d start with the standard layout and see how it works for you with a one-month subscription. Only adjust parameters if needed. Monitor the performance over multiple days and weeks and study the stock charts, specifically the trade entries and trade exits. Conclude if Trade Ideas can help you improve trading results. Then, decide whether you should subscribe to the annual plan to save money compared to the monthly payments.
Setting up Custom Scans
Setting up custom scans is easy. Adjust the parameters you like and then save the custom scan on a separate layout. Compare the results of your custom scans to the standard layout results to see if your filters work better.
Integrating With Trading Strategies
Coding specific old-school trading strategies within Trade Ideas is not the best idea, because the #C coding capabilities of TI Pro are limited. If you want to code your own high frequency trading systems, you’d better choose a trading software specialized in such coding features.
Trade Ideas Future Developments and Updates
What can you expect from Trade Ideas in the next months?
Upcoming Features
Trade Ideas plans to release more AI Gen 2 features in the coming weeks. We can expect to have more pre-configured layout within the web-based platform. Also, there are plans to expand the list of compatible brokers for automated trading.
Trade Ideas is a stock scanner software and tool, which is available as web-version, and as downloadable software. Since web-based tools are the most frequently used tools, it’s a matter of time until Trade Ideas completely focuses on the web-based platform. It is fast, it is accessible everywhere, it needs only a few server resources and it can be used on any device.
Company Roadmap
Trade Ideas is based in California, Los Angeles, and it was on the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing companies in the United States for multiple years. With their focus on AI trade alerts, we can expect further company growth in the future.
Summary
AI expands in all sectors and business areas globally. Trade Ideas is the clear innovator in AI-based trading signals for retail traders trading the U.S. stock markets.
Considering what’s included in the subscription, the costs appear to be fair relative to what you get. Still, it is important that the expenses for Trade Ideas let you have a positive business case. So, if you can make more money than Trade Ideas costs you, then it’s a worthwhile decision to subscribe.
One month of testing is absolutely sufficient to build a clear opinion about Trade Ideas. If you give it a try, make sure to test the TI Premium version, which includes all features.
Final Recommendation
Day traders looking for a stock screener with excellent real-time trading signals, combined with charting, automated trading APIs, and custom scans, try the Trade Ideas TI premium subscription in combination with the 15% promo code STOCKAPP15. Click here to sign up now.
Investors who are looking for 10+ years of fundamental data and expanded technical analysis features consider alternatives like TrendSpider and TradingView.
All Stock Screener Reviews: Trade Ideas, TrendSpider, TradingView, Finviz, Stock Rover
| Trade Ideas Review Rating | |
|---|---|
| Features Overall | ★★★★★ |
| Stock Screener | ★★★★★ |
| Charts | ★★★★✩ |
| Ease of Use | ★★★★★ |
| Customer Service | ★★★★★ |
| Rating | ★★★★★ |