Trade Ideas finds the trade first. Then it gives you the rest of the platform in the same place: analytics, full charting, AI, testing and live trading through your broker.
Named to the Inc. 5000 list of America’s fastest-growing private companies six years in a row (2017–2022).
Investopedia: Best Short Term Stock Screener, 2024
One screen: ideas, rankings, charts and news, with your broker one click away.
The short version
Key point
Most platforms start with a chart and wait for you to bring the idea. Trade Ideas starts with the idea. It watches every US stock in real time and shows you which ones are moving the way you care about, as it happens. Then the rest of the platform is right there: analyze the stock, chart it, ask the AI about it, test the setup, and place the trade through your broker.
We have built it since 2002, in the USA, and made the Inc. 5000 six years in a row. I wrote this page, and Trade Ideas makes the platform it describes.
1 · Find
Find the idea first
Idea generation is what we specialize in, so it comes first.
Top Lists (Screeners). Top Lists re-check which stocks qualify every 15 seconds, while the rankings, sort order and data on the list update in real time.
The Channel Bar. Ready-made channels, like premarket gappers or unusual options activity, so you never start from a blank screen.
Holly AI Signals. Holly, the AI we built, signals trades during the session, each with an entry and a stop (TI Premium).
Holly AI signals arriving in the Channel Bar.
2 · Analyze
Analyze it with data you can trust
Every number comes from our own database, fed by every US exchange plus off-exchange trades and the NBBO. The Data Difference page explains how.
Market Pulse and heat maps show where the money is moving across the whole market.
SCoRE, our Composite Rating from 30 to 100, ranks quality live. It is a filter, not a buy signal.
Stock details, fundamentals and news sit one click from any alert.
3 · Chart
Full charting, built for speed
Charts show the percent change for the range you are looking at and update as you zoom. Alerts are marked right on the chart. PiP charting puts a longer-term chart, from 3 days to 5 years, inside your intraday chart, and a double-click swaps them. Idea Surfing flips through the best ideas for you; rest your cursor and it stops.
An alert marked on a Trade Ideas chart.
4 · Ask the AI
AI that does the setup work
Type what you want, such as "a top list of the biggest gainers today", and the AI Assistant builds the live window. It comes with TI Standard and TI Premium. Holly, our AI on TI Premium, goes further: it tests its strategies every night and signals during the session, with an entry and a stop.
Proof
On August 12, 2026, we asked the Trade Ideas AI Assistant and TrendSpider's Sidekick the same question: the day's top gainers. The AI Assistant opened a live, whole-market Top List in under 6 seconds. Sidekick asked which universe we meant and ranked 21 S&P 500 names. One recorded test, no cuts; the full write-up and video are on Trade Ideas vs TrendSpider.
5 · Test
Test before you risk money
OddsMaker replays any alert-and-filter setup on about 64 days of one-minute market history and shows every trade and its stats, with no code (TI Premium). Then practice it in paper trading with pretend money.
Past results, including backtests, don't guarantee future results.
6 · Trade
Trade through your broker
Brokerage Plus connects TI Pro to your broker, so you place the order on the same screen where the idea showed up. It works with Interactive Brokers, Alpaca, TradeStation and E*TRADE, plus a simulator for practice. On TI Premium, Money Machine can place and manage trades from your own scans, with the rules you set. See all broker connections.
Shopping platforms
Not only a scanner
Some reviews file Trade Ideas under "scanners." The scanner is where we lead, and the six steps above are the whole platform. If you are comparing chart-first platforms such as TrendSpider, the difference is the starting point: TrendSpider automates chart work and runs scans on a schedule, from every 2 hours to every minute by plan, while Trade Ideas alerts can fire on every trade. Many traders find the stock in Trade Ideas first.
You trade only crypto, forex or futures. Trade Ideas covers US-listed stocks, with options volume filters.
You check stocks once a week. A free screener may be all you need.
You need a phone app today. Ours is in the works.
If you are okay with static non-refreshing data, Trade Ideas is probably not your best choice.
Questions active investors ask
Is Trade Ideas a full stock trading platform?
Yes. Trade Ideas specializes in finding trade ideas, and it is a full platform for active investors: analytics, full charting, AI, backtesting and live trading through your broker with Brokerage Plus.
Can I place trades from Trade Ideas?
Yes. Brokerage Plus connects TI Pro to Interactive Brokers, Alpaca, TradeStation and E*TRADE, and there is a simulator for practice. On TI Premium, Money Machine can trade from your own scans with the rules you set.
Does Trade Ideas have charting?
Yes. Charts show the percent change for the visible range, alerts are marked on the chart, and PiP charting puts a 3-day to 5-year chart inside your intraday chart.
Does Trade Ideas have AI?
Yes. The AI Assistant, in TI Standard and TI Premium, builds live scans from plain English. Holly AI Signals, on TI Premium, signal trades during the session with an entry and a stop.
Can I backtest a strategy without code?
Yes. OddsMaker, on TI Premium, replays an alert-and-filter setup on about 64 days of one-minute history and shows every trade and its stats. Past results, including backtests, don't guarantee future results.
Does Trade Ideas work on a Mac?
Yes. The Web Dashboard runs in any browser, Mac included, with no download. For the full TI Pro platform, Mac users run it through Parallels.
Is there a Trade Ideas phone app?
Not yet. A phone app is in the works. Today, the Web Dashboard runs in a browser and TI Pro runs on Windows.
How is Trade Ideas different from TrendSpider?
Trade Ideas starts with the idea: alerts can fire on every trade across every US stock. TrendSpider starts with the chart and runs scans on a schedule, from every 2 hours to every minute by plan. See Trade Ideas vs TrendSpider for the full comparison.
Is there a free version of Trade Ideas?
Yes, in part. A free account, just an email and no card, opens the web dashboards on delayed data, and you can also get a free Holly AI trade idea by email every week. Real-time data and TI Pro come with TI Standard at $127 a month.
