Compared honestly
Trade Ideas alternative for thesis-driven research
Trade Ideas streams machine-picked signals at you; AgentTrading tests the ideas you already have, on 20+ years of adjusted data, with the reasoning visible at every step.
- 1 THESIS
- 2 EVIDENCE
- 3 BACKTEST
- 4 RISK
- 5 VERDICT
02 EVIDENCE · FUNDAMENTALS
04 RISK · IN PLAIN ENGLISH
Sample scenarios, not a live backtest of what you typed. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Educational analysis only, not financial advice.
Credit where due - what Trade Ideas does well
- ✓ Real-time scanning that is genuinely fast and deep
- ✓ Holly AI generates a steady stream of trade ideas every session
- ✓ Built for the pace of full-time day trading
The honest comparison
Trade Ideas has real engineering behind it. Its real-time scanning is genuinely fast and deep, filtering the whole market on dozens of conditions as the tape moves, and Holly, its AI engine, generates a steady stream of trade ideas every session. For full-time day traders who want the market surfaced to them at speed, it is a credible, battle-tested choice, and if that is your workflow you should probably keep it. The boundary is the direction of travel. Trade Ideas pushes ideas at you: a signal firehose answering questions you never asked, with reasoning inside Holly that stays opaque, and at $127 to $254 per month month-to-month there is no thesis-driven research workflow, no way to bring your own idea, test it honestly, and file the evidence. AgentTrading runs the opposite way. You bring the thesis in plain English, it extracts the testable rule and shows it to you before running, backtests it on 20+ years of split- and dividend-adjusted daily data, explains the risks in words, and stamps an honest verdict, including UNDERPERFORMED when your idea loses to buy-and-hold. Every assumption is printed on the result, and because AgentTrading sells analysis rather than signals or automated execution, it has no conflict about telling you an idea failed. Pricing is $19 to $129 per month. It is educational analysis only, never advice and never a signal to act on: the bench shows what history says about your idea, and the decision stays yours.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Consult a licensed advisor.
SIDE BY SIDE
AgentTrading vs Trade Ideas
| What matters | AgentTrading | Trade Ideas |
|---|---|---|
| Thesis-driven research workflow | Yes | No |
| Real-time market scanning | Not a scanner, by design | Yes |
| AI reasoning you can inspect | Rule shown before it runs | Holly is opaque |
| Honest verdicts including UNDERPERFORMED | Yes | Signals, not verdicts |
| 20+ years of adjusted daily data under every test | Yes | Intraday scanning focus |
| Analysis only, no execution | Yes | Automated trading via brokerage link |
| Price | From $19/mo | $127 or $254/mo (Holly is Premium only) |
Comparison reflects general product positioning and public pricing, offered in good faith. Verify current capabilities with each vendor.
On the same bench
Thesis-first research is the whole product: AI stock research walks the loop from idea to evidence to verdict, and the trading strategy tester is where those verdicts get stamped. Leaving a scanner usually means comparing several tools at once, which the best backtesting software hub does side by side, with plans starting at $19 a month as the price anchor. On the two questions people ask before subscribing, Trade Ideas pricing breaks down both tiers and both billing terms, and does Trade Ideas have backtesting covers what the Premium-only OddsMaker can and cannot test.
QUESTIONS - ASKED AND ANSWERED
Trade Ideas alternatives: the common questions
How much does Trade Ideas cost?
TI Basic, which most reviews call TI Standard, is $127 per month month-to-month, or $89 per month billed annually ($1,068 a year). TI Premium is $254 per month, or $178 billed annually ($2,136 a year), checked against Trade Ideas' own pricing page in August 2026. The $89 figure quoted across most reviews is the annual rate on the cheaper tier, not a monthly price, and it is the single most common error written about this product.
Is Holly AI included in the Trade Ideas Standard plan?
No. Holly, the AI signal engine, is on TI Premium only, along with the OddsMaker backtester and broker-connected automation. TI Basic, labelled TI Standard in most reviews, gives you the real-time scanner and charts without the AI at $127 per month. This matters because most write-ups quote the Standard price and describe the Premium features, so people budget for one tier and expect the other.
What is the best Trade Ideas alternative?
It depends which half of Trade Ideas you actually use. If you want the scanning, TrendSpider at roughly $59 to $349 per month or Finviz Elite at $39.50 covers a lot of that ground more cheaply. If you want AI-generated signals, Tickeron at $60 to $250 per month is the closest match in kind. If what you actually want is to stop taking other people's ideas and start testing your own, that is a different product, and AgentTrading does it from $19 per month.
Is Trade Ideas worth it?
It is worth it for a full-time, active day trader who will use a real-time scanner every session and can evaluate signals independently. It is poor value for anyone who trades a few times a month, because the subscription is priced against constant use, and it is a bad fit for anyone hoping the signals will substitute for a strategy. The honest test is whether you would still find the scanner useful with Holly switched off.
Does Trade Ideas have backtesting?
Yes, through the OddsMaker, and it is Premium only. OddsMaker tests scan-based setups over recent history and reports the results per configuration, which is genuinely useful for evaluating a scan before you trade it. The limitation to keep in mind is sample size: testing many configurations over a short window is exactly the setup that produces impressive in-sample numbers with no out-of-sample value, a result Bailey, Borwein, Lopez de Prado and Zhu quantified in the Notices of the AMS in May 2014.
Can you cancel Trade Ideas monthly?
Yes. Both tiers are available month-to-month at the higher price, $127 for Standard and $254 for Premium, which is exactly why those figures differ so much from the annual ones. Paying monthly costs roughly 43% more than committing for a year, so the annual discount is doing real work in how the product gets marketed.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Consult a licensed advisor.
Other comparisons
All alternativesTest the next idea before you pay for another month
Type a thesis or a ticker. AgentTrading restates the rule, runs 20+ years of adjusted history, explains the risks, and stamps an honest verdict. Plans from $19 per month.
Past performance does not guarantee future results. For educational and informational purposes only. Not financial advice. Consult a licensed advisor.