Traders know how important it is to find the right analysis platform. TC2000 is one powerful option for technical traders, offering strong charting, trading, and screening functionality. This TC2000 review should help you assess whether it’s the right tool for you.
TC2000 Review
TC2000 does the basics well and offers a number of specialized features, including conditional indicators, customized layouts, and advanced options analysis. However, it lacks backtesting and strategy forecasting tools. Moreover, only U.S. stocks and options are supported. Its attractive price point, though, helps it stand out.
Pros
Conditional alerts & indicators
Specialized options trading & analysis
Customized interfaces
Direct trade execution
Good price
Cons
Only U.S. stock & option coverage
Complex interface
No backtesting or forecasting
What Does TC2000 Offer?
Our TC2000 Review reveals that the platform’s basic feature set is quite impressive. The platform excels at charting and analysis but also includes full trading capabilities that allow users to execute trades directly within the program. While these features are common to many competing platforms, TC2000’s offerings tend to be a bit more refined than others.
Charting
TC2000 includes all the basic charts you’d expect, like OHLC (open, high, low, close), candlesticks, lines, and more. The platform also includes some specialized charts, including Heiken-Ashi charts, a type of advanced candlestick chart that some traders prefer.
To help traders derive meaningful information from charts, TC2000 allows users to draw trendlines directly on the chart, as well as plot from a huge library of indicators. Taking it a step further, TC2000 also says that you can plot indicators of indicators, which can be helpful for more complex strategies.
One drawback to note is that the platform doesn’t seem to offer some of the automatic charting capabilities available from competitors like TrendSpider.
📊 Learn more: Explore the best stock charting software of 2024 with our thorough reviews and comprehensive comparisons.
Trading
A standout feature we noticed when writing this TC2000 review is the platform’s direct trade execution. And unlike competitors, TC2000 isn’t just doing some clunky integration of another broker to offer direct trading. Instead, TC2000 itself is a fully-fledged broker-dealer, registered with the SEC.
That’s a great bonus that gives traders more speed and flexibility. Since trading is truly integrated, users can place trades directly from charts or add multiple stop-losses based on different indicator criteria.
Even better, TC2000 offers a robust paper trading system. That system lets you practice your strategies in real time with actual market data without putting capital at risk.
TC2000 does rely on infrastructure from Interactive Brokers. That means you’ll be paying a premium over Interactive Brokers’ standard commissions to do any actual trading. As it stands, TC2000’s commissions are very high compared to those of most brokerages: $4.95 for stocks & ETFs, and $0.65 per options contract plus $2.95 per trade.
📈 Learn more: Discover the top paper trading platforms of 2024 to sharpen your trading skills without financial risk.
Watchlists & Alerts
TC2000 offers strong watchlist functionality, which can easily be paired with their alerts system. At their most basic, these watchlists are pre-built based on popular indices like the S&P 500 or Nasdaq-100. However, users can build their own watchlists in order to keep track of the assets most important to them.
Symbols can be added via search and organized via an easy drag-and-drop method. You can also link these watchlists with your charts, which causes your active chart to update as you scroll through the watchlist.
By building out a system of alerts in tandem with your watchlist, you can stay updated on your critical positions throughout the trading day. TC2000 lets users set alerts based on prices hitting specific indicators or based on a more complex, conditional methodology. Even if you’re away from your desk, you can still get notified of key alerts via email and text message.
TC2000 Advanced Features
In our TC2000 Review, we find that the platform’s basic features are certainly strong compared to its competitors, but it’s the platform’s advanced features that set it apart.
Certain tools that experienced traders may need are missing, including backtesting and strategy forecasting. However, the features that TC2000 does offer are particularly well-developed. As such, the functionality should be perfectly sufficient for most traders.
EasyScan Screener
The basic idea of a stock screener is to filter a list of stocks based on certain data points to save traders valuable research time. TC2000 takes this idea to the next level with its EasyScan feature. The EasyScan system is by far one of the most impressive parts of the whole platform and stands out in comparison to the scanning functionality of competitors.
EasyScan has a tremendous amount of built-in data points, including technical indicators, fundamental values, price action behavior, and more. Users can easily combine these data points conditionally by using and/or logic. If you need to build a more complex scan, you can use their “Personal Criteria Formula” (PCF) scripting language to do so.
Condition Wizard
TC2000 says that their condition wizard is the “heart & soul” of TC2000. While this is somewhat of an exaggeration since traders can find plenty of use for the platform without the condition wizard, the tool is fairly impressive.
The condition wizard underlies the complex scanning functionality of TC2000’s EasyScan Screener, but the conditional logic can be used in almost every area of the platform, including watchlists, trading, and alerts. Use of the PCF scripting language is only necessary for advanced conditions; simple ones can be created without coding.
Overall, the condition wizard allows users to create their own custom indicator logic by combining a wide library of pre-built data points. In addition, TC2000 offers what they call “flex” conditions, which must occur within a certain period of time.
Workspaces
In this TC2000 review, we take a closer look at the platform’s user interface. At first glance, it might not be the easiest to decipher. If you’re used to trading platforms, it may feel natural, but for newer traders, the layout can be difficult to interpret.
With time, though, TC2000’s interface begins to make sense – which helps unlock the power behind it. The workspaces are highly customizable, allowing users to tailor the interface exactly to their needs.
TC2000 includes a number of built-in layouts that offer unique visualizations of key information. For instance, with the Drilldown layout, TC2000 automatically lists the specific stock components that make up a particular industry. This lets users quickly identify individual opportunities within a sector.
Another built-in interface is the 4-timeframe layout, which automatically pulls up 15-minute, daily, weekly, and monthly charts for the selected asset. But the real power in TC2000’s workspaces involves the ability to adjust the various pre-built components to create a unique layout that complements your particular trading style.
Specialized Asset Features
One drawback of TC2000 is that it doesn’t support assets like crypto, forex, or futures. But the upside of that drawback is that TC2000 has worked hard to develop focused features for stocks and options, the assets they do support.
That focus is evident in TC2000’s charting capabilities. The platform allows traders to plot options and their underlying stocks together on the same chart so they can easily see the relationship between the two. Moreover, TC2000 lets you plot bid-ask data in certain cases, which ensures you have a usable chart for assets that don’t trade frequently, like certain low-volume options.
TC2000 also allows users to implement complicated, multi-leg options strategies in just one click. This makes it easier to execute the trades you want and reduces the likelihood of an incorrectly specified entry. Finally, mini-pictures and shaded profit & loss zones for certain options strategies help traders intuitively understand the structures of their trades at a glance.
How Does TC2000 Work?
One of the most important things to understand when getting started with TC2000 is that the platform offers two separate types of accounts. One is the software account, which allows you to use its trading and charting tools. The other is the brokerage account, which allows you to place trades through the platform.
Software Account
If you want to get up and running with TC2000’s software, you’ll need to purchase one of the plans on offer. While it is possible to set up a free account and use the web platform, its functionality is so limited that it’s likely not worth pursuing in most cases. Potential users will be much better off searching through TC2000’s library of YouTube videos to get a better feel for the platform.
With that being said, TC2000 does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee, although you need to call their support number to request it. Plans are competitively priced for the industry, so users should be able to find a tier that aligns with their needs.
Once you find a pricing plan that works for you, though, the charges aren’t done. Users need to pay extra for real-time stock, options, and index data. On top of that, you can pay more for a streaming news feed. Finally, TC2000 also offers users the option to expand the capability of the software’s alert and scanning system with some extra fees.
TC2000 offers a strong online web platform. However, most traders will be better served by downloading the desktop software, which is available for either Mac or Windows. TC2000 also offers a mobile app, although the functionality is somewhat limited.
Brokerage Account
As we mentioned in this TC2000 review, you’ll need to sign up for a separate brokerage account to use TC2000’s trading features. However, if you opt not to trade through TC2000 (perhaps because of the high commissions), you’re not required to set up a brokerage account to use the software.
Like any other brokerage, you’ll need to supply documentation to TC2000 to open up an account, and it can take a few days to be approved. Once your account is activated, you’ll need to link a bank account and fund your brokerage account before you can start trading.
📈 Learn more: Explore our selection of the 5 best online brokers for stock trading in 2024 to elevate your investment strategy.
Plans and Pricing
One area in which TC2000 stands out is its pricing. Even though the platform offers a fairly robust feature set with advanced functionality, its price is comparable with affordable competitors like TradingView.
| Plan | Monthly Cost | Annual Cost | Bi-Annual Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Silver | $9.99 | $8.32/month | $7.49/month |
| Gold | $29.99 | $24.99/month | $22.49/month |
| Platinum | $59.99 | $49.99/month | $44.99/month |
Overall, the Silver plan offers little to traders. The Gold plan, though, provides users with an attractive middle ground between functionality and price. The Platinum plan will likely be most valuable to users whose strategies depend on intraday price analysis and trading.
| Silver | Custom layouts, No EasyScan, Basic watchlists, No conditions, No drill down, No alerts, No real-time refresh, No point-in-time filter, No brokerage discount |
| Gold | Custom layouts, EasyScan, Advanced watchlists, Conditions via wizard or formula, Drill down, Up to 100 alerts, No real-time refresh, No point-in-time filter, No brokerage discount |
| Platinum | Custom layouts, EasyScan, Advanced watchlists, Conditions via wizard or formula, Drill down, Up to 1000 alerts, Real-time filter refresh and market gauges, Filter for a specific point in time, $300 brokerage discount per year |
In addition to charges for your chosen plan, you’ll also need to know the brokerage fees that TC2000 charges to trade on the platform. As it stands, TC2000 charges high commissions. In addition, they appear to charge a 1% spread over the standard Interactive Brokers margin rates.
| Service | Charge |
|---|---|
| Stock Trade | $4.95 commission |
| ETF Trade | $4.95 commission |
| Option Trade | $0.65 per contract plus $2.95 per trade commission |
| Margin, Acct Value $0 – $100k | 7.83% |
| Margin, Acct Value $100k – $1 million | 7.33% |
| Margin, Acct Value $1 million – $50 million | 7.08% |
| Margin, Acct Value $50 million – $200 million | 6.83% |
| Margin, Acct Value $200 million+ | 6.83% |
When compared to what TC2000 charges for using their software, the relatively high brokerage fees may come as a surprise. In part, that’s likely a limitation of relying on the Interactive Brokers infrastructure to execute trades.
Is TC2000 Worth It?
TC2000’s software is impressive, especially when you consider the price point at which it’s offered. While there are a few tools missing, most traders will find themselves well-served by the platform. The pricing is also competitive; users would need to pay a much higher price to get the same tools elsewhere.
However, the same isn’t true for TC2000’s brokerage offerings. In 2023, there are plenty of opportunities for people to trade stocks and options commission-free. With that being said, it is convenient to have direct trading within your analysis platform. Whether using the TC2000 brokerage is worth it depends on how much you value the ease of transitioning from analysis to execution.
In this TC2000 review, we will break down whether the software is worth it, one offering at a time.
Silver Plan
The Silver plan is inexpensive but does not come with much functionality. While users can review various charts and create basic watchlists, all the features that make TC2000 valuable are inaccessible at this level.
At this price point, traders are likely better served by a platform like TradingView. Overall, the TC2000 Silver plan is unlikely to be worth it for most traders.
Gold Plan
With the Gold plan, you can access almost every feature that makes TC2000 special, including EasyScan, custom indicators, and advanced watchlists.
At $29.99, the monthly price is lower than one might expect for an analysis platform with these features. TrendSpider, for example, charges about $40/month for its basic level, which comes with strong limitations.
📚 Learn more: Get an in-depth comparison of TrendSpider vs TradingView with our detailed 2024 feature analysis.
Platinum Plan
The Platinum plan does come with a substantial jump in price, but that’s because it caters mostly to high-frequency and intraday traders. When seconds matter, traders are willing to pay more for tools that give them an edge.
This tier comes with a few improvements on the Gold plan, including real-time indicators for markets and assets. Ultimately, it’s hard to say whether or not the Platinum plan is worth it since its extra value is highly dependent on an individual trader’s style. If you frequently trade intraday, though, it’s worth considering.
Verdict
To wrap our TC2000 review up, this platform is a great option for trading software featuring strong functionality at an attractive price point. Its EasyScan stock screener, conditional logic, and customized layout set it apart from competitors. Moreover, its primary offerings, which include charting, trading, and alerts, are typically better developed than those of alternative platforms.
With that being said, TC2000 only offers support for stock and options trading. If you’re a forex, futures, or crypto trader, TC2000 may not be the right platform for you. Moreover, TC2000 does not offer backtesting or strategy forecasting capabilities. That’s a big drawback, especially when so many other platforms today offer these useful tools.
TC2000 is definitely a worthwhile option to explore for U.S. stock and options traders looking for a rigorous analysis platform that supports direct trading execution. While there’s no free trial available, the platform does offer a 30-day money-back guarantee if it’s not the right fit.
