Advanced traders rely on tools such as backtesting and scanning to develop fast-paced trading strategies and find profitable setups. Two of the most popular platforms to help traders build strategies are Trade Ideas and TrendSpider.
Both trading platforms use artificial intelligence (AI) to find opportunities and accelerate trading decisions. Both also offer powerful tools for strategy testing, automated trading, and more. However, the two services are fundamentally different – Trade Ideas is primarily a stock screening tool, while TrendSpider is primarily a charting platform.
In this Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider comparison, we'll take a closer look at these two trading platforms to help you decide which is better for you.
About Trade Ideas and TrendSpider
Trade Ideas was founded in 2003. At the time, it was one of the only real-time stock screeners designed for day traders. The platform has continued to innovate, incorporating AI into its scanning processes and building dozens of ready-made stock screens that traders can jump into in seconds. Trade Ideas is widely popular among traders, although the service does not disclose how many users it has.
TrendSpider was launched in 2018. It features using machine learning algorithms to automatically draw trend lines, candlestick patterns, and other indicators on technical charts. Since its launch, TrendSpider has added features for scanning, automated trading, backtesting, and more. The service has more than 10,000 users.
Similarity
Trade Ideas and TrendSpider share several central features. Both platforms allow you to design custom trading strategies and test them using historical market data. Both platforms also include stock scanners and technical charts. Both platforms support brokerage integrations and allow you to automate your trading strategy.
However, there are important differences in how these features work in practice between the two services. Let's take a closer look.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Markets
One important difference between Trade Ideas and TrendSpider is that they provide data for different markets. Trade Ideas covers stocks only, while TrendSpider supports stocks, forex, cryptocurrencies, and futures. Therefore, you can use TrendSpider to develop and test Forex trading strategies, while that is not possible in Trade Ideas.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Strategy Development
Both Trade Ideas and TrendSpider offer comprehensive lists of technical parameters to help you build custom trading strategies.
In Trade Ideas, you can choose from a list of parameters that include price and volume changes, technical indicator events, trend line crossovers, and much more to define the strategy. It is fairly easy to choose the parameters that matter to you and set them as triggers in the context of your strategy.
The process of building a strategy in TrendSpider is similar, but a little more flexible. TrendSpider enables you to compile sets of parameters and logical factors as “scripts”, which you can then use as key elements within a trading strategy. You also get a broader range of strategic entry and exit controls to manage your risk. For example, you can exit a trade in TrendSpider if your profit is less than a certain amount after a certain number of candles have passed.
Another key feature of TrendSpider is that there are several parameters based on the platform's AI technical analysis capabilities. We'll cover these in more detail below, but TrendSpider's automated analysis enables you to build strategies around, for example, a stock price crossing a trend line or the formation of a specific candlestick pattern.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Backtesting the Strategy
Trade Ideas and TrendSpider enable you to backtest your custom strategies using historical data. Backtesting is very fast on both platforms, and much of the strategy performance data you get is similar.
However, Trading Ideas stands out for its perspective on improving strategy. You can see how sensitive your profitability is to each parameter of your strategy and quickly optimize your strategy to achieve maximum profitability. TrendSpider allows you to directly compare the profitability of two versions of your strategy, but it does not provide a similar sensitivity analysis to help you decide which parameters to adjust. You have to try by trial and error.
One of the features of TrendSpider is that you can view the entry and exit points of your strategy on a technical chart. This makes it very easy to see what is happening and make sure that your strategy is working as you expect. Trade ideas don't give you a way to visualize your strategy in action.
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Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Scanners
Trade Ideas is primarily a stock scanner, so it excels at that purpose. You can use any of your strategies as scans and the platform is set up so that you can monitor several scans at once. You can also set up an alert feed to notify you of new results from multiple scans running in the background.
Trade Ideas also comes with dozens of built-in checks and dashboards, called “channels.” Channels include ready-made layouts with scans, momentum visualizations, and more for specific strategies and market segments.
Scanning seems like a secondary feature in TrendSpider. The scanner is designed to serve as a sidebar next to your technical charts and does not include color coding or accompanying visualizations as in Trade Ideas. You can also only have up to six scanners running at one time. There are dozens of built-in checks, but they are generally simpler than those that Trade Ideas come with.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Artificial Intelligence Features
Both Trade Ideas and TrendSpider involve AI, but in very different ways.
Trade Ideas has an AI system called “Holly” that scans the market every night using over 60 different trading strategies. It uses backtesting to determine the most profitable strategies for current market conditions, and then identifies dozens of trade ideas based on those strategies. During the next trading day, these ideas are presented in the form of executable trade signals complete with entry, exit and stop loss conditions.
TrendSpider uses artificial intelligence to automatically identify patterns on technical charts. You can automatically draw trend lines, Fibonacci retracements, Japanese candlestick patterns, and more. It's useful to have a fair amount of control over how sensitive the algorithm is. You can also draw trend lines across multiple time frames and display them all on one chart.
TrendSpider's automatic pattern recognition is especially useful when developing strategies and scans. For example, you can build a strategy based on the stock price crossing an automatically drawn trend line.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Integration of Brokerage and Automated Trading
Trade Ideas and TrendSpider allow you to automate your strategy for executing trades. Trade Ideas offers integrations with Interactive Brokers and TradeZero. TrendSpider has a sister software, SignalStack, that you can use to turn your strategies into robots and connect to most major brokers. SignalStack requires a separate subscription starting at $27 per month for 50 monthly implementations.
Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider: Pricing
Trade Ideas costs $84 per month (billed annually) for its scanning features. If you want AI-generated trading signals or brokerage integrations, you'll need to purchase a Premium subscription for $167 per month.
TrendSpider starts at $20.80 per month (paid annually), but this limits you to scanning on daily time frames and only lets you view up to 25 scan results. Most traders will need the Elite plan, which costs $24.70 per month.
Which platform is best?
Trade Ideas and TrendSpider are both premium platforms with a lot of features to offer traders. Which is better comes down to what you need in the trading platform.
If you primarily want a stock scanner, we recommend Trade Ideas. The pre-set scans are very actionable and the platform is clearly designed to help you find ideas across multiple strategies in a fast-paced market environment.
Trade Ideas is also a great option if you want ready-made trading ideas from the Holly AI algorithm. Although access to Holly is expensive, these trade ideas can help you discover profitable opportunities beyond those you find using your custom strategies.
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TrendSpider is the best choice for traders who want an integrated charting platform, strategy development software, and scanner. The main focus is on charting and technical analysis rather than scanning, although TrendSpider also does an excellent job at helping you build and test custom strategies.
TrendSpider is much cheaper than Trade Ideas, which is a big plus for traders with limited capital. Keep in mind that you will need to pay for SignalStack as well if you want to automate your trades.
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Alternatives to Trade Ideas and TrendSpider
One of the best alternatives to Trade Ideas and TrendSpider is TradingView. TradingView is a very powerful and customizable charting platform that also includes a stock screener and a strategy backtesting tool. It lacks the AI features of Trade Ideas or TrendSpider, but it's also much cheaper — plans start at just $12.95 per month.
Another option to consider is Scanz, formerly known as EquityFeed. This is a real-time stock scanner designed for traders in the same way as trade ideas. It's somewhat easier to use than Trade Ideas and offers a built-in news scanner as well as Level 2 stock data. Scanz costs $169 per month.
Conclusion: Trade Ideas vs. TrendSpider
Trade Ideas and TrendSpider are two powerful trading platforms that leverage artificial intelligence to help you find profitable market opportunities. Trade Ideas focuses primarily on screening stocks, while TrendSpider covers a broader range of assets and offers automated technical analysis as well as scanning.
Check out our full Trade Ideas review and full TrendSpider review to learn more about these platforms.
