Charting platforms at a glance: TradingView, MetaTrader, broker charts

You can describe the three common kinds of charting tools, what each is good at, and which questions to ask before choosing one.

Three kinds of tools

Every lesson in this course shows charts, and sooner or later you will want to draw your own. The choice of tools looks endless: websites, desktop programs, apps, each with dozens of indicators.

Most of them fall into three groups. Knowing what each group is built for, and where its prices come from, saves a lot of trial and error. Wickwise recommends no platform. This lesson only shows what to compare.

Browser, broker, app

A charting platform is software that displays price data as charts and offers tools to analyze it, such as indicators, drawing tools and alerts.

Web platforms such as TradingView run in the browser and on phones. They cover many markets, from shares to crypto, offer extensive drawing tools and social features, and have their own script language for custom indicators and strategies, Pine Script. Trading is possible only through connected brokers.
Broker-linked platforms such as MetaTrader 5 are installed and connected to a broker account. They are common for forex and CFDs, include a strategy tester and run Expert Advisors written in MQL5. The forex lesson on MetaTrader explains why the same platform can show different prices at different brokers.
The broker's own app or web platform has charts built in. Trading happens directly on the chart, but the analysis tools are often simpler.

Many traders combine them: analysis on one platform, execution on another.

Data first

Four questions help you choose:

What do you trade? Shares of one exchange, forex, futures, crypto? Not every platform covers every market equally well.
Which data source? Forex and CFD charts usually show the broker's own prices. Exchange data for shares and futures is often delayed unless real-time data is paid for; TradingView, for example, states that most stock and futures exchanges charge fees for real-time data.
Which tools do you need? A backtest needs history and a tester, an alert needs a reliable server, automation needs a script language.
What does it cost, and what is limited? Free plans often limit indicators, alerts or history.

Common mistakes

Choosing by the number of indicators. Data quality and the market you trade matter more.
Comparing prices across platforms without checking the source. Different feeds show different prices.
Trading on delayed data. Check whether the chart shows real-time prices.
Switching platforms constantly. Learning one tool well beats knowing many superficially.

The takeaway

Web platforms like TradingView, broker-linked platforms like MetaTrader and the broker's own charts each fit different needs. Prices depend on the data source.

Check yourself

Quick quiz

4 questions. Instant feedback, nothing is saved.

1Tap the platform you would use to run an MQL5 Expert Advisor.

Tap the chart.

Expert Advisors are written in MQL5 and run inside MetaTrader 5, connected to a broker.
2Why can the same instrument show different prices on two platforms?

Forex and CFD prices come from each broker's feed, and stock data can be real-time or delayed.
3What is Pine Script?

Pine Script runs on TradingView. MetaTrader uses MQL5.
4What is the most important first question when choosing a platform?

A great tool with poor data for your market is the wrong tool.

of 4 correct.

Sources

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