Trade Ideas Review 2024 - Key Features, Pros and Cons

What is Trade Ideas?

The Trade Ideas stock scanner was developed in 2003 by a group of financial experts who literally pioneered automated intraday trading in the 1990s. Today, the scanner is the property of Interactive Brokers, one of the largest U.S. brokers and the world leader by the number of trades with average daily income. The company is headquartered in Greenwich, Connecticut.

Trade Ideas uses cloud technologies, machine learning and artificial intelligence to analyze stock charts and alert users about abnormal price action in accordance with selected presets. For you to better understand what it means, Trade Ideas can be compared to card counting in a Las Vegas casino, which undoubtedly gives a player a serious edge. nlike card counting, however, the scanner is entirely legal.

At first glance, the Trade Ideas subscription fee seems rather high: $84 or $167 per month (including the annual discount), plus additional paid features. But when you take a closer look, it becomes obvious that, with proper approach, every dollar invested in access to the scanner pays off completely. The service evolves actively, adding latest solutions. For example, Trade Ideas recently introduced alert streaming, automated trading, and such a unique feature as a trading simulator for signal testing.

However, a comprehensive review of Trade Ideas, including user feedback, shows that this is not the main benefit of the scanner. It can give you a clear trading strategy with particular trade entry points, based on the analysis of thousands of probabilities, huge arrays of statistical data, and mathematical predictions. Even a group of several dozen financial experts with modern software would not be able to do this.

The Trade Ideas scanner is a fully autonomous and self-reliant resource. A user does not need other sources of information. He doesn't spend time analyzing charts by himself or studying news or financial calendars. Trade Ideas makes it unnecessary for beginners to use additional channels of information and other analytical tools. A trader sets a goal, and the artificial intelligence finds the shortest path to achieving it.

Trade Ideas’ Investing Tools

Trade Ideas Features

Trade Ideas is quite expensive. In fact, it’s more expensive than other similar tools. We say “similar” because by the number of features and their types this service makes Trade Ideas one of a kind. There is no other stock scanner, which uses machine learning and artificial intelligence to process information in the cloud and provide it to the user in a chart and interpretation of his choice. Notably,there is a PC app that can be downloaded from the Trade Ideas official website. The service has a browser version but does not have a mobile version, which is, in a way, an undoubted drawback.

One of the key benefits of Trade Ideas is its incredible performance when it comes to providing traders with an uninterrupted stream of strategies during a trading day. On the other hand, this tool is flexible enough for traders to be able to use statistical information and alerts to develop and apply their own strategies, constantly evaluating their effectiveness. However, there is no reason why you should not combining your own solutions with ideas provided by the scanner. For that, you do not need to know programming languages or be very experienced in trading.

Trade Ideas Features

Channel Bar

This is an interesting feature, which Trade Ideas obviously borrowed from live streaming services that also have thematic channels. On the left side of the app’s home page, there are links to market environments. A click on the link changes the appearance of the screen to fully show the selected environment. The channels are devoted to cryptocurrencies and NFTs, stocks of top technology companies, leaders of power industry, biotechnologies, ideas for swing strategies, etc..

Channel Bar

Idea Surfing

This is the first feature users are introduced to. After you first open the app and select a channel, the highlighted stocks in the chart start changing by themselves. Trade Ideas developers are well aware that taking the first step is the hardest part. That is why the program begins to automatically view stocks on the selected channel.

Moreover, the service highlights not only potentially gainful assets, but also particular patterns and trends with probable trade entry points. Experience has proven that novice traders do not see 98% of what the scanner shows them in the first seconds. By pointing the mouse cursor to a diagram, users stop surfing for ideas and get more detailed information on the selected situation.

Idea Surfing

Real-time alert streaming

In some reviews of Trade Ideas, this feature was called “Twitter on steroids”. Instant alerts reflect market conditions “here and now”, and this process doesn’t stop. In fact, alert streaming is the foundation of all Trade Ideas capabilities. The idea that was developed and put into action almost 20 years ago is still super important.

Of course, users can customize alerts. For instance, you can adjust a window to display a stock with the highest volume, which reaches its maximum price within a 20-day period, crossing a 50-day moving average; or a stock that is traded right now below its own last-week minimum.

As a matter of fact, real-time alert streaming significantly changes the rules of the game, allowing even beginners to easily compete with hedge funds that used to win in any case due to their speed. Trade Ideas displays data without delays, which allows traders to make quick decisions, especially when they use other prediction tools as well.

Real-time alert streaming

Favorite stocks

All channels and charts have “heart” pictograms for marking assets you are interested. All assets, which you mark with a “heart”, are added to a separate chart on the “Stocks I Like” channel.

In this respect, the Trade Ideas scanner does not seem to be unique because many other platforms also have features similar to“favorites” or “wish lists”. But this feature is a little more interesting. The “Stocks I Like” channel has built-in filters and its own statistics, which allow you to summarize your trading experience and display it under required parameters. Also, the scanner uses this information to adapt to your preferences and display events that will most likely be interesting for you.

Favorite stocks

Profit/Loss

As soon as the user opens a chart, Trade Ideas automatically analyzes the situation and estimates what is good to buy or sell at the moment. Then, based on the average number of transactions, the scanner determines Profit/Loss Levels (stop loss) and displays risk percentage, transaction amount in USD, or a fixed number of traded stocks. Of course, you can always set individual parameters.

Profit/Loss

Single stock window

In the window with a selected stock, users can click the “Similar” button to get a list of stocks of competitors in the same industry or a list of stocks traded by the same principle as the selected stock. This is the easiest and the most convenient way to expand your investment portfolio within one trading strategy.

Single stock window

Stock races

In Trade Ideas reviews, many experts say that this feature is priceless for novices. That’s true but it can be equally useful for experienced traders. A user selects 10 or 20 stocks, and the system compares them over a specified time period in terms of potential profitability. All this is graphically displayed in the form of assumed cars on a race track. This tool is extremely convenient for risk diversification and improvement of trading performance.

Stock races

Market pulse

This is another unique feature proving that the cost of Trade Ideas is more than justified. No other service simultaneously displays positive and negative market events in one window, graphically demonstrating who is winning. Experts call such information highly sensory because it gives traders a distinct sense of the market at the moment they open a trade. This way, traders know for sure whether or not they are making the right decision.

Market pulse

Chart-based trading

In the case with Trade Ideas, the feature that is typical for most services has some unique traits. As soon as a new chart appears, the program immediately starts analyzing it, estimating what you would like to buy or sell. Analyzes your past actions and preferences, giving you specific recommendations regarding risks.

The scanner compiles risk and profit data at a given moment for every stock. This feature is integrated into the modeled trading account, and upon clicking the “buy” or “sell” button the system places an order based on the chart level. The image below shows how the scanner automatically generates a stop loss after a click on the “buy” button.

Chart-based trading

Event testing

This feature also seems standard because many scanners allow users to test their solutions under modeled conditions. Trade Ideas, however, works based on preferences of the trader himself. The system asks questions. For example, “Do you think it’s a good strategy to use a 200-day moving average crossovers for your selected stocks?”

Moreover, most scanners try to identify signals for a selected stock based on formal signs, whereas Trade Ideas looks at events happening in real time and gives traders specific instructions. To see how effective a strategy is, users just click “OddsMaker” and instantly get the test result.

Event testing

Holly

In most reviews of Trade Ideas, this feature is rightfully key. Holly is the name of the artificial intelligence program, which studies transactions with every stock, looking for statistical patterns that have occurred before. The aforementioned OddsMaker backtesting mechanism is also based on Holly’s operation. As soon as the system finds a recurring pattern formed in real time, it posts it on the “Holly A.I.” channel, and users get a signal to buy or short sell.

Interestingly, Holly is constantly active. Even when the app is off, the A.I. analyzes all stock statistics, looks for breakouts, moving average crossovers and income reports, and tests thousands of probable scenarios, selecting the most realistic ones. That is why, when a trading day begins, Holly already has strategies, which it starts to adapt to current charts. sers can test all Holly’s suggestions in simulation right away and understand what works and what does not, without risking real funds.

Very conveniently, Trade Ideas Simulated Trading is completely identical to the Brokerage Plus trading platform. However, this feature can only be used by owners of the Premium subscription.

Holly

Brokerage services

The Brokerage Plus trading platform, which is built into the app, can be integrated with other brokers. It means that users can register a Trade Ideas brokerage account or use their account with E-Trade, Interactive Brokers, TD Ameritrade, or another broker that is a partner of Trade Ideas.

Brokerage Plus is convenient in that you can trade directly from the chart or alert window and place the buy and sell buttons in any part of the screen. Traders have permanent access to statistics and performance charts and can use the platform as a trading robot for automated transactions.

Brokerage services

Trade Ideas Additional Features

We have discussed basic capabilities that are mostly based on the Holly A.I. and real-time alert streaming above. However, Trade Ideas review shows that this is a multi-purpose platform aiming to improve profitability of trading in the stock market and offering a wide variety of tools that can be used by traders with any trading style and individual preferences. Here are some other capabilities of the Trade Ideas scanner:

Outage notifications

Sometimes the servers of an exchange get overloaded. When it happens, Trade Ideas immediately warns you about an outage with a special notification (its parameters are adjustable). This is important because success in the stock market is achieved by those who are the first to find out about crucially important events, including technical problems.

Charts

Perhaps, this is one of the few truly typical features of Trade Ideas. The scanner offers all types of charts with a full set of technical analysis tools, which you don’t need to download separately. These are indicators, trendlines, patterns, etc.

Notifications by email

sers can set any notification to also be sent to their email address. Such notifications are delivered almost instantly, related both to signals and strategies. You can use typical notifications instead of going deep into customization. But if you need an individual approach, you can refer to an expert who will adapt notifications to your requirements.

Trade Ideas filters

This is actually one of the key tools. You don’t need all the analytics that the scanner can provide. Otherwise, you risk overloading your perception, which will get in the way of making informed decisions. That is why for all types of the scanner’s actions you can use filters, i.e., limits under selected parameters. Comprehensive comparison shows that out of all FinTech platforms Trade Ideas has the most filters, and they can be applied to any window. The list of filters has its own search engine so that you can quickly find what you need.

Trade Ideas price

The scanner’s price depends on the selected plan (subscription type). The service does not provide a free trial period at the moment. Here are the plans, their prices and features:

As an additional service for $17 per month, users can receive a newslettern called ALERT, which is delivered every Sunday featuring 5 individual strategies based on user preferences in trading.

Trade Ideas price

Is Trade Ideas a Safe Scanner? Can It Be Trusted?

Trade Ideas is a subsidiary of Interactive Brokers, so it does not need to have its own regulation. The full legal responsibility for the scanner’s operation lies with Interactive Brokers, which is regulated by the SEC and FINRA and complies with the Commodity Exchange Act and the rules published by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the National Futures Association (NFA) and other commodity exchanges where Interactive Brokers has membership.

Therefore, there is no reason to doubt Trade Ideas. The company works transparently, has open financial statements, and does not have hidden fees or other pitfalls. However, you have to understand that the creators of Trade Ideas are not responsible for the scanner’s performance. No prediction can guarantee success. With proper use, the service can reduce the risks but not eliminate them entirely.

How to Start Working with Trade Ideas?

To use all Trade Ideas features, you have to register on the website and buy a subscription. You don’t need to download the PC app because there is a web version. The platform does not offer a free trial period. To register and start working with the scanner, you need to take the following steps:

1. Go to the Trade Ideas official website. In the top right corner of the screen, click “Download”.

The Trade Ideas official website

2. In the next window, choose a program type: for a PC or the web version. In this example, we use the web version, so click “Open TI for the Web”.

Choosing a program type

3. Click on “Create or Activate Account”. You cannot log in, if you don’t have a username and password.

“Create or Activate Account”

4. Review available plans and choose the one that is suitable for you, and click “Purchase”.

Choosing a trading plan

5. If you have a discount code, enter it. Then provide your email, phone number, and other information.

Providing the information

Then just follow the on-screen instructions. You will need to enter the details for your bank card or PayPal wallet you are planning to use to pay for subscription. As soon as you make the payment, you will get access to your user account. You can start using the web version any moment. The link to it is in the “Download” tab on the homepage of the website. Install the app and use your registration data to log in. The Trade Ideas app and the web version have the same features.

The “Download” tab

Other Things You Need to Know about Trade Ideas

Review of the Trade Ideas scanner shows that, apart from the main features, additional options and registration rules, you should consider several special capabilities of the service. In the following, we discuss the key ones, which novices often miss.

What is a discount code and where do you get one?

A discount code allows you to buy a subscription at a reduced price. The code is valid for a limited time. You can get it from an official partner of Trade Ideas. If you don’t know such partners, use a search engine or profile forums. The code can be used only once: during registration, after you choose a plan. Just enter the code in the corresponding field and the discount will be applied automatically.

Premium subscription test drive

Five times a year, the platform conducts a test drive. During this event, new users can register on the Trade Ideas website and buy the Premium subscription for $11.11 for two weeks. This is a unique opportunity to discover all the features of the service at the lowest possible price. To find out when the next test drive is, keep track of the posts on the home page of the Trade Ideas website and in the blog.

Education with Trade Ideas

The platform provides an interactive training class, which consists of several sections with educational materials. The first section is a short guide on the scanner’s features. The second section explains how to register, download the app, and start working. The third section is online support that holds daily sessions.

Next section is a free trading room hosted by a professional financial expert named Barrie. He trades online and tells viewers how to properly use various strategies. The education page also has a link to a section with video lessons for different levels of traders. Here you can find detailed documentation on how the platform works and sign up for a next webinar.

In addition, Trade Ideas offers individual classes with financial experts and active traders. Such classes cost $129 per hour. Note that the service has a YouTube channel with numerous video materials for novice and experienced traders, as well as for analysts.