TradingView vs Thinkorswim vs Obelion: Why I Left TradingView

Written by the founder of Obelion. I've been trading for 11 years: nine in the options market and two in forex before that.

TradingView is the better pick for clean charts and a huge library of community scripts. Thinkorswim is the better pick for deep options analysis and scanning, and it's free with a Schwab account. Obelion is built for traders who want options positioning like gamma exposure, a practice arena and a charting workspace in one place, with the GEX tools free once you sign up.

Why I left TradingView

I used TradingView for a long stretch of my trading. Over time the quality slipped. Updates took away freedom users used to have, and the design got worse, especially in the mobile app, where good features were removed and replaced with clumsy UI. That's why I left and went looking for more.

Where I'd still send people to TradingView

I'd still send people to TradingView for its charts. Their data is very good, and in many ways it's a quality platform. Where they fall short is listening to their users. They've taken features away and let the design slip, and paying customers end up with a worse experience.

What you get there, per TradingView's own pricing page: a free Basic plan, and paid plans billed yearly at $12.95, $29.95, $59.95 and $199.95 a month. The plan decides how many charts you can put in one layout (1 on Basic up to 16 on Ultimate) and how many indicators fit on a chart (2 up to 50). Pine Script has more than 150,000 community scripts, and there's paper trading and trading from the chart through connected brokers.

Where thinkorswim is strong

Thinkorswim is a great tool for options data and analysis. It has one of the best options screeners around, Option Hacker, alongside Stock Hacker and Spread Hacker. It also has some features of its own: a Chart Describer that summarizes the technical picture of the chart you're on, color linking so a watchlist and a chart stay on the same symbol, and trading straight from the chart.

The platform is free with a Schwab account, on desktop, web and mobile. Online stock and ETF trades are $0 commission and options are $0.65 per contract, per Schwab's pricing page. It has its own scripting language, thinkScript, and a paper trading mode called paperMoney.

What Obelion does differently

• Gamma exposure built in. GEX levels, the gamma flip and the call and put walls for any ticker, with heatmaps and comparison maps, free once you sign up.
• The Arena. Practice on real historical markets with the ticker hidden, solo or against other players, any time of day.
• Indicators made for confluence. Real-time tools that don't repaint, like RV Explosion on the Obelisk tier, alongside the standard library.
• OmegaScript. Our own scripting language, familiar if you've written Pine Script or thinkScript, with an importer for Pine scripts. It's in private development and open to select members for now.

Obelion doesn't place trades, so you'd still use a broker for your orders.

Questions people ask

Is TradingView or thinkorswim better for options?

For options analysis and scanning, thinkorswim goes deeper. TradingView has an options chain and a strategy builder, but its strength is charting.

What is the best TradingView alternative in 2026?

It depends on what you're missing. For options positioning and practice, Obelion. For brokerage-grade options tools, thinkorswim. Our TradingView vs Obelion guide compares them feature by feature.

Is thinkorswim free?

Yes, with a Schwab account. You pay normal trading fees on what you trade.

Can I bring my Pine scripts to Obelion?

OmegaScript's importer converts Pine scripts on a best-effort basis and lists anything it couldn't convert, with the line and the reason.

The full side-by-side is in our TradingView vs thinkorswim guide. Prices are each vendor's published rates as of November 10, 2026, and they change, so check before you subscribe.