Chartmill Review – A Screener for Technical and Fundamental Traders

About ChartMill

Chartmill is an online stock research platform with sophisticated in-depth scanning, charting, and analysis tools. Unlike many similar platforms, ChartMill prudently does the legwork and provides daily trading candidates that meet its pre-built filters, ranging from pattern breakouts to fundamentally cheap stocks. Users can customize the filters and settings as they get acclimated, but I really find it refreshing being able to literally hit the ground running, plug-and-play style with trading ideas from the get-go. The software provides technical analytics and fundamental analysis for over 6,000 stocks complete with trading tools that provide a ton of useful probability stats. It also has its own ChartMill ratings to simplify and streamline underlying filters.

ChartMill offers some free analytical tools as well as paid subscriptions. Is the service worth paying for? Keep reading our ChartMill review to find out?

ChartMill Pricing Options

ChartMill offers three different subscription plans:

• Monthly – $29.97/month
• Yearly – $259.97/year
• Credits – $10/10,000 credits

The monthly and yearly plans are recurring subscriptions that offer unlimited access to all of ChartMill’s tools and reports. The only difference between these plans is the cost, with the yearly subscription saving $99.67 when compared to the monthly subscription.

The credits plan offers one-off credits that can be used to run a variety of different reports. For example, a technical analysis report or fundamental analysis report will cost 250 credits each. Viewing a chart will cost 10 credits (or 20 credits for an intraday chart).

The credits plan is ideal for subscribers who don’t plan to use ChartMill regularly but still want access to some of the tools.

The monthly plan is ideal for subscribers who are just starting to use the platform, and the yearly plan is ideal for subscribers who plan to use the platform year-round and want to take advantage of the savings.

ChartMill Features Breakdown

ChartMill offers a range of features that can be used for day trading, swing trading, and investing. Let’s take a closer look at each of the main features.

Charts

ChartMill offers advanced charts that are very similar to the format seen at BarCharts. Users can select from candlesticks, bar, and line charts for any number of time frames intraday to wider daily, weekly and monthly.  There are also overlays for trade management like Chandelier Exit, Moving VWAP, Pocket Pivots, Alligator and Fractal Exits.

The chart settings are limited, but you can make a few small adjustments.

One of the cool features of the chart section is that you can view multiple charts at once by entering a list of comma-separated tickers. This is a great way to compare stock charts and opportunities when doing research.

ChartMill stock charts also provide access to a wide range of technical indicators. You will find all of the indicators you expect, such as:

• Moving Averages
• RSI
• MACD
• Stochastics
• etc

You will also find technical indicators that are proprietary to the ChartMill platform. Examples include:

• ChartMill Value Indicator
• ChartMill Trend Indicator
• ChartMill Relative Strength
• ChartMill Setup Rating
• Etc

There is a learning curve associated with the proprietary indicators, but they definitely add some unique value to the charting feature.

Stock Screener

ChartMill features a robust stock screener with a broad range of filters.

The scanner is extremely flexible as users can combine technical and fundamental-based scans to find those rare needles in the haystack stocks under the radar.  The format is similar to FinViz. 

Filters are organized by theme. Here are a few examples of different criteria:

General

• Exchange
• Price
• Trading Volume
• Market Cap

Peformance

• Daily Performance
• Weekly Performance
• Price vs. Moving Average
• Gappers

Indicators (Technical Screening Criteria)

• Bollinger Bands
• RSI
• Stochastics
• ChartMill Trend Indicator
• ChartMill Value Indicator

Support/Resistance

• Price Relative to Support
• Price Relative to Resistance

Fundamental

• ChartMill Fundamental Rating (and other proprietary ratings)
• EPS Growth
• Price/Sales
• PEG

Overall, this is a great stock screener with a lot of valuable data. You can create technical screens, fundamental screens, or combinations of the two. Another benefit of the ChartMill stock screener is that it includes the company’s proprietary metrics (i.e. ChartMill Value Indicator, Trend Indicator, etc.).

Once you create your stock screeners, you can view the results in a variety of formats. You can view stock charts, price quotes, fundamental data, technical data, etc. This adds a level of versatility to the stock screeners.

Alerts

ChartMill enables users to place alerts directly on the charts and watch lists. Alerts are very flexible and precise as users can input triggers by price, set-up or condition. Alerts can be pop-ups, sounds, and even e-mail notifications.

Drawing Tools

From trend lines to Fibonacci plots and Gann Fans, there are tons of drawing tools to use to mark-up charts along with comment boxes. Be sure to save to your watch list to keep the changes.

Watch Lists

This is where everything comes together. Watch lists can be created and maintained with alerts, indicators and drawings on the charts. I like to keep multiple watch lists based on swing candidates, sectors/themes and current (today’s) candidates. ChartMill provides pre-built watch lists updated daily so users can check out the strongest breakouts/breakdowns and various patterns from the get-go.

Stock Analyzer

ChartMill provides a very comprehensive function that will analyze a stock complete with technical and fundamental analysis and their proprietary ratings with set-ups for consideration. The ChartMill Stock Analyzer is similar to the automatic reports we reviewed in the Stock Rover platform.

While all this information is algorithmically generated, I’m constantly amazed at how customized the content appears. The Stock Analyzer reports include:

• Technical Criteria
• Fundamental Criteria
• Financial Metrics
• And more

Keep in mind these reports take up serious credits for each report, so budget wisely if not on a subscription plan.  

Platform Differentiators

ChartMill makes the onboarding and acclimation process very easy. I like how it gives you stocks with high probability patterns right from the get-go and updates with new candidates daily. Newbies can start from there and see just how effective the results are and monitor the action. I found the selections compelling enough to delve forward. The Analyzer reports are in-depth with technical entry, exit and support/resistance and inflection price levels along with comparative metrics and ratings. The Position Sizing tool is a great way to quantify your risk and reward metrics along with optimal sizing and stops. Notably, comparing the ATR to your stop is a great way to avoid getting wiggled on trends.

Is ChartMill a Good Value?

ChartMill is a great value with the subscription plans. The credit system is a good way for users to trial the software, but it becomes evident quickly that the subscription is the way to go. The credit system really makes you appreciate the value of every tool, especially the Stock Analyzer.

ChartMill also offers a free plan that allows subscribers to get a feel for the platform without committing to a paid plan.

What Type of Trader ChartMill is Best For?

ChartMill is suitable for swing traders and self-directed investors of all levels. The platform can be customized for any investment strategy.

The onboarding is painless, and you get credits and ideas right away just for registering.  While all quote data from the stock exchanges is 15-to-20 minutes delayed, day traders can still fully utilize the scans to find rare pattern formations for trading opportunities throughout the day. The natural fit is for swing traders and active investors with a solid knowledge base of technical patterns and a methodology to manage triggers.

Pros

• Powerful scanner enables technical, fundamental and pattern-based stock scans
• Custom and exotic chart indicators and trade management overlaps
• Free watch lists of stocks triggering pre-built filters like breakouts and cheap value
• Flexible and highly customizable charts and watch lists
• Easy flexible-text language enables users to program their own filters and indicators
• Very responsive customer service
• Great value on monthly and annual subscription plans

Cons

• Delayed quotes can be irritating for intra-day traders
• Credit system can be prohibitive for heavier users of ChartMill tools