StockCharts

What it is

StockCharts is a technical-analysis website that never became anything else: two chart engines (the classic SharpCharts and the newer ACP), a scan engine, scheduled scans, price and multi-condition alerts, and dashboards like MarketCarpets, PerfCharts and RRG. It has run since 1999 and is a chartist's tool that has since grown one order-entry door — a Tradier account linked into ACP.

Screening comes in two grades: the Screener applies pre-built technical and fundamental filters, while the Advanced Scan Workbench is the older query language, where anything specific has to be written. A scan can be run against a past date — as close to backtesting as it gets. Options quotes and chains are free; the strategy tooling (OptionsPlay) is a $40/month add-on.

Pricing

Basic $19.95, Extra $29.95, Pro $49.95 a month; pay twelve months up front and the thirteenth is free. What the money mostly buys is capacity, and the steps are large. Basic saves one ChartList, one scan and three alerts — enough to try the features, not to use them. Extra is the first level that works: 250 ChartLists, 200 scans, 10 scheduled scans, 100 price and 100 advanced alerts. Pro doubles or quintuples each of those and is the only level with 5-second refresh, 2500px charts, quarterly and yearly bars, history back to 1900 and the CSV download.

Data bills separately. Every account includes a free plan: BATS real-time for the US, at least 15 minutes delayed everywhere else. Official real-time for the US, Canada or the UK is $9.95 a month each, billed monthly even on an annual membership, and non-refundable. OptionsPlay is a further $40 a month on top of any membership — it is in no tier. New accounts get a free first month at the Extra level.

Data & coverage

NYSE, Nasdaq, Amex and BATS in the US; TSX, TSX-Venture, CSE and NEO in Canada; the LSE; the NSE in India. Over 30,000 symbols — stocks, ETFs, mutual funds (daily bars only), indexes, breadth indicators, economic series, commodities, futures and crypto. Very low-priced stocks are excluded on purpose.

Depth is gated by level: non-members get five years, Basic and Extra reach back to 1980, and only Pro gets the full archive. Intraday bars run from 1 minute to 195, but non-members get daily and weekly only; mutual funds report one point a day and chart as lines. Prices are split-, dividend- and distribution-adjusted by default.

Integrations

Everything that plugs in does so through ACP's Platform Integrations menu, bottom right, and there are two sockets. One is plug-ins, which add indicators: StockCharts' own Advanced Indicator Pack and the RVOL Relative Volume pack are free, the rest are paid third-party packs — GoNoGo Charts, MarketGauge, Larry Williams, Trend Investor Pro, Simpler Trading, MEM. The other is Tradier, the one broker connection. OptionsPlay is neither; it is a sitewide add-on.

ChartPacks go the other way — pre-built ChartLists, free or paid, installed into your account — and need Extra or Pro. The data behind all of it is bought in, and the footer names the suppliers: Xignite for market data, Pinnacle Data for commodities and historical indexes, CryptoCompare for crypto.

Limitations

• No API, no webhooks, no spreadsheet add-in at any price: nothing outside the site can read your scans, lists or data. The iOS and Android apps are companions to a membership, not a second door.
• No backtesting, paper trading or automation, and one broker only — a Tradier account, or nothing.
• ChartLists are watchlists, not a portfolio: no cost basis, no returns, no tax lots.
• The included real-time is one exchange's prints, not the consolidated tape: BATS covers only the last 15 minutes, carries no usable volume, and is missing for thinly traded names. The official feed is an extra line item annual billing does not discount.
• Downloading price history as CSV is Pro-only — Basic and Extra cannot. Scan results export at any member level.
• Scripted access is a terms violation, not merely unsupported: non-Pro members are also capped at one chart request per second, Pro at two.

Alternatives

TradingView for charting that is scriptable and backtestable, Finviz for free screening, Barchart for futures and options depth, Koyfin when the question is fundamental rather than technical. The rest are in charting platforms and screeners.