Stock investing is one of the time-tested methods of attaining financial freedom.
Some people trade stocks with a trusted broker, letting professionals handle their trading decisions and manage their assets for a fee.
There are also those who turn into trading experts themselves by doing their own investing, learning from their mistakes, and developing their investment strategies.
As a DIY investor, you should never prevent yourself from learning on your own and exploring other tools and platforms that will help you diversify your investments portfolio.
There are plenty of other software and online resources to learn from. Why not learn a thing or two about foreign currencies or read a post about what an options trade is?
While getting your feet wet with stock investing, here are five of the trading tools that investors can’t live without:
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Finviz
All brokerage websites and online stock trading platforms have their charts, but even investors who use these services still use a third-party tool for data visualization.
It is undeniably easier to screen a stock and identify movement trends while observing a clear and well-detailed chart.
Finviz is the go-to stock charting tool for analyzing stock industry sectors that can be modified for different timeframes.
You can easily switch between watching intraday, daily, weekly, and monthly market events with a single click, which is a simple yet powerful feature that suits long-term and short-term investors alike.
One of Finviz’s main features is the technical analysis overlays that can help you a stock's performance at a glance.
You may also use the screener feature, which allows you to set specific parameters when picking strong stocks.
These parameters are categorized as descriptive, fundamental, and technical, while there is also a tab in the screener page that will show all of them.
A good way to start is to set specific parameters, particularly the volume, industry sector, and price range to isolate the stocks that are feasible to you.
You may also conduct a performance-based analysis using the technical tab in the screener.
Just remember that the slightest adjustments in your stock picking strategy can have a tremendous impact on your investments.
eSignal
For DIY investors looking for a single software tool that can do everything for them, eSignal is probably the most popular option.
Aside from offering the basics such as customizable charts and real-time data for quick investment decisions, it also features back-testing and scanning tools that will allow you to scale your personal trading tactics based on the past market movements.
It is a complete stock investments environment that can help simplify your trading life.
eSignal also offers several product add-ons and apps that grant investors access to additional indicators, buying systems, harmonic patterning, and many more.
Some of these apps are free while you can also choose from third-party software that can be integrated with eSignal.
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Seasonalysis
Seasonalysis is an excellent analysis tool for long-term investors. It quantifies the seasonal movement patterns of stocks all year round, so you know when and what to buy for a stable investing life.
The tool covers more thab 5,000 stocks and counting in U.S. exchanges and presents data in an organized and attractive layout, so you no longer have to deal with complex algorithms and tracking to identify seasonal patterns.
Most importantly, Seasonalysis cuts to the chase and offers you actionable investment decisions based on the predictable annual cycles of the stocks you pick.
Don’t forget to take advantage of the tool’s 14-day trial to get used to the environment and be on your way to finding patterns to manage, watch, and leverage.
While there are preconfigured pattern screeners, Seasonalysis also offers members the ability to create personalized pattern screeners.
If you want to discover new patterns that fit your comfort and investment levels, you can easily specify your criteria search for new options using the “Discover Patterns” feature.
After which, it should be a lot easier to manage your patterns using various filters and constraints.
StockCharts.com
StockCharts is considered by many investors as the best stock charting tool regarding cleanliness, ease of use, and scalability.
Under the charts tab, you can have a quick glance at the significant stock data from major exchanges.
You may also customize the chart by configuring overlays, indicators, and chart attributes down to the most trivial details such as colors, line smoothing, and so on.
StockCharts is also free for simple charting purposes and offers a complete financial blog for self-learners. There are also instructional videos, documentations, and webinars for added support and education for DIY investors.
You may also opt to be a paid subscriber to access additional features such as real-time data, customized technical scans, bigger historical data, and access to the technical analysis input of financial writer Martin Pring and technical analyst John Murphy.
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TradingView
TradingView is a flexible stock charting platform that is more community-driven than the other tools on this list.
Its key feature is the ability for members to include annotations and useful notes on stock charts, allowing them to share ideas with fellow traders.
Users may also follow the Top Authors who write articles to help keep DIY investors updated on the latest strategies and market events.
TradingView also offers well-detailed charts that have neat-looking overlays and indicators for the quick evaluation of stocks.
With its modern interface, users can easily customize charts with drawing tools, price range scaling rulers, and a button for publishing a chart for others to see.
TradingView also has institution-calibre fundamental data on U.S. companies for having a firmer grasp of the historical and current performance of your stock picks.
Conclusion
The stock trading industry is like a maze that can make independent traders feel lost, especially without a set of tools that can be used for technical or fundamental analysis.
However, remember that with the right attitude and the will to learn, the only direction you could go is forward.
If you want to attain growth and financial freedom, you should always be up for new challenges and push yourself out of your comfort zone.
Good luck!