TradingView vs Sierra Chart – which tool is better?

If you're in the market for an advanced charting platform, two of the best options to consider are TradingView and Sierra Chart. Both offer huge indicator libraries, market scanners, and many customization features. However, they differ greatly in ease of use and the types of traders they target.

Keep reading our comparison between TradingView and Sierra Chart to find out which of these charting platforms is right for you.

About TradingView and Sierra Chart

TradingView was launched in 2011 and has become one of the most popular charting software platforms in the world. It has over 50 million users and over 10 million community-contributed texts and cursors. TradingView charts seem to be everywhere, with the service integrated into many financial websites and brokerage platforms.

Sierra Chart has been running since 1996 and targets a much younger audience of professional and semi-professional traders. The platform does not provide information about the number of users it has.

TradingView vs Sierra chart: UI and data feeds

TradingView and Sierra Chart are very different in terms of user experience and target audience.

TradingView is an extensive trading platform. It's available for web, desktop, and mobile, and the UI is modern and sleek. Real-time data feeds for stocks, forex, futures, and cryptocurrencies are included. There are dozens of brokerage integrations ready to enable you to trade from your charts.

Sierra Chart is a professional trading software that has been improving its features since 1996, but not its user interface. The platform has a steep learning curve. It's only available as a desktop app, and for Windows computers only (you can use it on Mac or Linux computers with the Wine virtualization environment).

Sierra Chart supports stocks, forex, futures, and cryptocurrencies, but you must purchase third-party data feeds to get real-time price information. There is a ready-to-use integration for Interactive Brokers, but any other brokerage integrations require you to set up a custom connection using the Data and Trading Communications (DTC) protocol. This can be complex and requires programming in C++.

TradingView vs Sierra Chart: Charting capabilities

TradingView and Sierra Chart both offer advanced charting capabilities. You'll find a wide range of chart types, including Heikin-Ashi, Renko, line break, point, and intraday charts. Both systems come with drawing tools to help you annotate your charts and identify patterns.

However, there are some important differences. TradingView comes with around 100 built-in indicators, while Sierra Chart has over 400. You can fully customize the built-in indicators on both platforms.

Sierra Chart also provides more ways to manipulate data. You can overlay Level 2 data on charts to achieve an effect similar to what Bookmap offers. You can also draw volume profiles and create complex visualizations for almost any type of market data. These customization options make Sierra Chart more challenging to get started with, but the visualization capabilities go far beyond what TradingView offers.

TradingView, on the other hand, is mainly committed to letting you customize traditional stock charts. It offers some useful capabilities that Sierra Chart lacks, including the ability to automatically highlight candlestick patterns and replay the bars so you can see how a setup develops.

TradingView vs Sierra chart: custom indicators

TradingView and Sierra Chart enable you to create custom indicators. But the process is much easier in TradingView.

In TradingView, you have access to the Pine script editor, the same scripting language used by ThinkorSwim and other charting tools. It is fairly easy to create your own indicators or strategies for scanning.

TradingView also gives you access to community-contributed indicators and strategies. There are over 10 million custom studies available, but the TradingView team has selected our top picks to narrow down the selection. You can customize any community indicators using the Pine editor or apply them directly to your charts.

In Sierra Chart, you must use the Advanced Custom Study and Language (ACSIL) interface. This is based on C++, so you will need to be familiar with working with arrays and variables in this coding language. The advantage is that you can build very complex functions that are not possible with Pine. However, the learning curve is incredibly steep for non-programmers.

A number of third-party services offer ready-made indicators and strategies for Sierra Chart. You usually have to purchase these indicators. There is no built-in community for Sierra Chart like the TradingView community.

TradingView vs Sierra Chart: Pricing

TradingView and Sierra Chart are similarly priced, although you should keep in mind that you will need to spend more money on Sierra Chart's data feeds.

TradingView starts at $12.95 per month. The more advanced Non-Pro plan, which opens second intervals and offers up to 25 indicators per chart, costs $49.95 per month. You can try TradingView with its free plan or a 30-day trial of the paid plan.

Sierra Planner starts at $26 per month, but the Basic plan doesn't allow you to integrate real-time data. Real-time data plans start at $36 per month. You can try Sierra Chart free for 21 days.

What is the best service?

TradingView and Sierra Chart are both excellent charting platforms that meet different needs.

TradingView is the best choice if you are looking for a powerful and intuitive charting software that allows you to trade using modified versions of popular indicators and strategies. It is one of the best charting tools for non-professional traders and works very well for stock trading.

Sierra Chart is the best choice for professional and semi-professional traders who want maximum customization and don't mind an outdated user interface or steep learning curve. It provides data visualizations that are not possible with TradingView (or most other charting tools). Sierra Chart is ideal for futures and forex trading, but it also works well for stock trading.

Alternatives to TradingView and Sierra Chart

Possible alternatives to TradingView and Sierra Chart include TrendSpider and MetaTrader 5.

TrendSpider has a lot in common with TradingView, but focuses on automated technical analysis. It is a great tool for swing and momentum traders who want to identify trend lines, Fibonacci retracements, and candlestick patterns that can indicate setups. TrendSpider has a much smaller learning curve than Sierra Chart, but offers far fewer data visualization options.

MetaTrader 5 is a stock and forex trading platform that offers advanced charting and its own scripting language for developing custom strategies. It has a large community around it, so you can purchase third-party indicators and trading robots. It is much easier to use than Sierra Chart and is directly comparable to TradingView.

Conclusion: TradingView vs Sierra Chart

TradingView and Sierra Chart are both highly capable charting platforms. TradingView is best for intermediate traders who want a modern user interface, built-in market data, and the ability to easily code custom strategies. Sierra Chart is best for technically advanced and professional traders who want the most analytical power from their charting platform.