Thursday, October 18, 2012

Four Top Considerations for Choosing Stock Charting Programs

By Reece Mathews


It should be obvious to you now that you need a stock charting program to excel in trading. As you might have already guessed though, making a choice is quite complicated. There are so many programs across different price ranges.

The truth is that you don't have to spend a great deal of cash to get a good piece of software. In a lot of instances, software prices are greatly inflated. They do this on purpose of course just to give the impression that their products are of the highest quality, thereby justifying the price. The thing is, many cheap packages work the same as expensive ones.

This is not to say though that you should buy the cheapest option there is. Some cheap packages have low prices to encourage traders to buy. They then tie up their more expensive data plan with the software, forcing traders to buy the plan as well.

It's safe to say that price shouldn't be your main criterion for choosing a package. There are many other features and traits you should be looking into. Here are some of them.

One of things you should research about first is the duration that a tool has been around. How long has it been in the market? Some tools are here today gone tomorrow. Sadly, when they disappear, so will product and customer support. That'll be a nightmare for you since you'll get stuck with software that'll essentially be useless in the long run. Hence, you should stick with packages with longevity.

You should also look into the size and quality of a tool's user base. Search for forums and communities related to the product and you'll find out if there are many active product users. It's best to go for software with lots of users simply because this is proof that it's good enough to sell like pancakes. Also, a broad user base means there are more experts who can help you out when you need a hand.

Check that a tool is compatible with testing programs or facilities. Back testing is one way you can find out if a system works well with trading data. You need to back test any plan that you want to use to trade before you use it. You won't actually be trading real stocks but testing with historical trading information should be sufficient to let you know if your system is rock solid and likely to give you the results you want at the risk levels you're willing to take.

One final point of evaluation is the availability of data plans. Some charting packages are so rigid and limit you to data plans that are exclusive for their software. It's generally not a good idea to settle for arrangements like these because not all data plans are reliable. You'd be better of with a package that will let you use a data plan of your choice.

Just like any product, charting software can come in many different kinds and types. As a buyer it should therefore be your top priority to evaluate your options to make sure you get the best tool for your money.




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