// the instruments

TrendSpider review: how the charts in the journal get marked

Short answer: TrendSpider is a charting platform that draws trendlines and levels for you, then lets you check your own work against them across several timeframes. It suits traders who chart every day and want a second pair of eyes. If you open a chart twice a month, a free platform is enough.

People ask what I chart with, so here it is. Honestly the tool matters less than the person using it, but some tools save a ton of time. This is how TrendSpider fits into the work behind the AnonMav chart journal, written plainly, warts kept in.

What it does that a free chart does not

• Automated trendlines. The software finds lines from price pivots and draws them. I do not trade its lines blindly. I draw mine first, then switch its lines on. Where we agree, the mark goes in the ledger. Where we disagree, I look again.
• Multi-timeframe analysis. You can lay a daily level over an hourly chart without flipping between tabs. That alone stops a lot of trades taken against the larger tide.
• Raindrop charts. A different way of drawing a candle that shows where volume traded inside the bar. Odd at first, useful once the eye adjusts.
• Alerts on drawn objects. Price touches your line, you get told. The screen does the watching so you do not have to.
• Backtesting without code. You can test an idea against history before risking a cent on it. Treat the results as a rumour, not a promise.

Where it falls short

It is not free, and it is not simple. The first week feels like walking into a counting house where every clerk speaks at once. The automated lines can make a lazy trader lazier; if you stop drawing your own, you stop learning to see. And it is a paid subscription, so it earns its place only if you chart often enough to use it.

How a chart gets marked here

1. Open the weekly chart. Draw the obvious shelves by hand, the places price has paused more than once.
2. Drop to the daily. Keep only the levels that still matter.
3. Switch on automated trendlines and compare. Note agreement and disagreement in the journal.
4. Set alerts on the two or three levels that matter most this week. Walk away from the screen.
5. When price arrives, screenshot it and file the entry, whatever it did.

The method is explained further in the support and resistance guide, and the record sheet behind it is the free trading journal template.

The habit it builds

The real gift of a good charting tool is not the lines. It is the routine. When the levels are drawn and the alerts are set, the trader stops hovering over the screen like a nervous clerk over the till. That distance is where better decisions come from. Use the tool to buy back your attention, then spend that attention on the journal.

Who should try it

Traders who chart daily, who already keep a journal, and who want to test their eye against a machine. Who should skip it: anyone still learning what a candle means. Learn on a free chart first. The craft comes before the instrument.

Trying it

If you want to check it out, this is the link we use: Open TrendSpider (affiliate link, I may earn a commission). More tools we keep on the shelf are in the vault and the indicators page.

Questions asked at the counter

Is TrendSpider worth it for beginners?

Usually not at first. Learn to read and draw levels on a free chart, then upgrade when the free tools start to slow you down.

Does TrendSpider tell you what to buy?

No. It is a charting and analysis tool. Decisions, and their consequences, stay with the trader.

What do you use TrendSpider for most?

Checking hand drawn levels against automated trendlines across timeframes, and setting alerts so the screen does the watching.

Disclosure: the TrendSpider link on this page is an affiliate link. If you subscribe through it, AnonMav may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Educational content only. Not financial advice. Markets carry risk; nothing here is a recommendation to buy or sell anything.