The short answer: thinkorswim is free with a Schwab account and has strong charting, options and order-entry tools. Its scanner, Stock Hacker, is a scan you run against the market, and third-party testers report its dynamic results refresh every few minutes. Trade Ideas is a dedicated, scanner that runs all session. Streaming Alerts can fire on every trade, even several times a second, while the Top List keeps ranking the stocks that qualify. TI Premium is the plan that includes Holly AI Signals, OddsMaker and Money Machine. Keep thinkorswim. Add Trade Ideas when the free scanner starts finding moves late.
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Real Stock Race replay, recorded.
At a glance
Trade Ideas vs thinkorswim, side by side
thinkorswim details come from schwab.com and Schwab's thinkorswim Learning Center, checked in October 2026.
Question
thinkorswim (Schwab)
Trade Ideas
Cost
No charge for Schwab clients. $0 online equity commissions; options $0.65 per contract.
$127/mo TI Standard or $254/mo TI Premium (about $89 and $178 billed annually). Works with any broker.
Scanner
Stock Hacker: set criteria, click Scan, get a watchlist-style result you can save and alert on.
Pick from 308 alerts (events) and 249 filters, combined with AND. No scripting needed. Streaming Alerts (Scanner) watch every U.S. stock and report events as they print.
How results update
Schwab: "dynamically updated"; pattern-filter scans update hourly. DayTradingToolkit: about every 3 to 5 minutes.
Trade Ideas connects to many brokers, like E*Trade, Interactive Brokers, TradeStation and Alpaca, so you can place live and simulated trades right from the app.
Markets
Stocks, ETFs, options, futures and forex.
U.S. stocks, plus unusual options activity on those stocks.
TI Pro on Windows, or a Mac through Parallels. The web Dashboard runs in a browser, so it needs no download: stock details and news, Top Lists, Races, TreeMaps, Market Pulse and charts with Picture in Picture.
List price (monthly / annual)
thinkorswim / Stock Hacker is included for Schwab clients (see costs section).
TI Standard $127/mo or $1,068/yr; TI Premium $254/mo or $2,136/yr. Money Machine, Holly AI Signals and OddsMaker are the TI Premium features.
Competitor prices and features checked October 12, 2026.
The real question
When the free broker scanner stops being enough
Here is the honest test. Open Stock Hacker during a busy morning and watch a momentum stock run. If your scan already had it on the list when the move started, thinkorswim is doing the job and you should keep your money. If the stock usually appears after it is already up several percent, the scanner is the bottleneck.
Trader tip
That lag is structural. Stock Hacker is a query: you describe what a stock should look like and it returns the stocks that look like that now. Schwab's manual says results are dynamically updated, and you can alert on changes, but third-party testers such as DayTradingToolkit report the dynamic list refreshes about every 3 to 5 minutes. In a fast small-cap, a few minutes can be the whole move.
Key point
Trade Ideas works the other way around. Our servers watch every trade on every U.S. stock, and when something happens, such as a new high, a volume burst or a five-minute opening range breakout, that event is the alert. Nothing waits for the next pass.
The five-minute range is one choice; breakout and breakdown alerts also run at 1, 2, 10, 15, 30 and 60 minutes (10-minute breakdown). Indicator events work the same way, such as a 15-minute stochastic crossing below 80 or a 15-minute piercing pattern, with no thinkScript to write. In total, our help documents 308 alerts and 249 filters; any alert combines with any filters, each set by min and max, and 191 alerts add their own setting, such as the lookback days on a New High. The scans you can assemble are effectively unlimited.
Web Dashboard replay, narrated by Daniel Mirkin · press play for sound
What is better, Trade Ideas or thinkorswim?
thinkorswim is a broker's trading app, and Trade Ideas is a dedicated scanner built to find the stock first. Most folks run Trade Ideas right next to their broker, so it is often less a choice than a pairing.
Why consider Trade Ideas over thinkorswim?
Mulling thinkorswim or Trade Ideas? Each point below checks out.
Key point
Stock Hacker comes free for Schwab clients, and for many people it's enough. When you want scans that update on their own, Trade Ideas sits next to thinkorswim. Streaming Alerts (Scanner) watch every US exchange, plus off-exchange trades and the NBBO, without waiting for a refresh. A common setup is Trade Ideas to find the stock and thinkorswim to place the trade. The Channel Bar gives you ready-made scans, and the AI Assistant comes in both plans. TI Premium adds Holly AI and OddsMaker. A free account is just an email, no card.
Same company since 2002.
Be fair
Who thinkorswim is better for
Options traders. thinkorswim is a full options trading suite with deep options analysis tools, at no charge. If options are your main instrument, it should stay your home base.
Multi-asset traders. Stocks, ETFs, options, futures and forex in one place. Trade Ideas is built around U.S. stocks.
thinkScript builders. If you enjoy coding your own studies, scans and strategies, thinkScript is deep, and it is free.
Swing traders and investors. If you plan entries at night or hold for weeks, a scan that updates every few minutes is fine.
Anyone who wants one free app. Charting, scanning, paper trading and execution with no subscription is a strong offer.
What you pay for
What Trade Ideas adds that thinkorswim doesn't list
Popular stocks in a Top List (Screener), refreshing as you watch.
A scanner that never needs a refresh
Streaming Alerts and Top Lists run on Trade Ideas servers with live market data, for every subscriber, all session. You can run several alert windows and Top Lists side by side, each with its own filters.
Holly AI Signals
Holly AI Signals fire during the trading day with a symbol, an entry and a stop to manage risk. Holly is designed to look for stocks with large long-term potential. Many signals won't work out. You choose whether to exit the same day or hold, based on your risk.
Trader tip
thinkScript lets you build logic. Holly is logic already built: she tests her strategies every night and only signals the ones that pass. Holly is on TI Premium.
OddsMaker without code
Formula
Pick a Streaming Alert or a set of Top List filters, set your entry and exit, and OddsMaker replays real past events across all stocks. You get the trades, win rate and profit factor without writing a line of thinkScript. If you do like scripting, the Formula Editor lets you build custom filters and test them the same way.
Past results, including backtests, don't guarantee future results.
Automation and more brokers
Money Machine trades from your own Top Lists and Streaming Alerts with a volatility-based stop for each stock. TI Pro connects to Interactive Brokers, TradeStation, E*TRADE and Alpaca by API, and to CenterPoint and Cobra through partnerships. Schwab is not on that list, so Schwab traders usually find in Trade Ideas and click the order in thinkorswim.
Options activity as a stock filter
Trade Ideas also monitors unusual options activity across all stocks, and both TI Pro and the Web Dashboard carry a dedicated channel for it.
The common setup: Trade Ideas finds, thinkorswim trades
Find: Streaming Alerts and the AI Assistant run in TI Pro (Windows, or a Mac through Parallels), and Holly AI Signals and OddsMaker come with TI Pro on TI Premium. The browser-based web Dashboard needs no download and works on a Mac, with Top Lists (Screeners), Races, TreeMaps, Market Pulse, an Unusual Options Activity channel, charting with Picture in Picture, and stock details and news.
Link: External Linking in TI Pro loads each symbol you click into another program's chart or order field, so your thinkorswim chart follows your scanner.
Analyze and execute: chart, check the option chain and place the order in thinkorswim.
Review: test the setup you keep trading in OddsMaker and adjust the rules.
If you are okay with static non-refreshing data, Trade Ideas is probably not your best choice.
Key point
If your trading runs on daily bars and you are happy with a scan that catches up every few minutes, thinkorswim alone is a sensible choice.
Pricing
What each costs
thinkorswim · no charge for Schwab clients
TI Standard · $127/mo or $89/mo annual
TI Premium · $254/mo or $178/mo annual
thinkorswim requires a Schwab brokerage account; Schwab lists no fees to open or maintain one, $0 online equity commissions and $0.65 per options contract. Trade Ideas is a subscription you add on top of whatever broker you use.
Key point
Because thinkorswim is free with a Schwab account, the subscription is what you pay for the scanning layer itself: a database Trade Ideas built and has kept refining for more than two decades, Streaming Alerts that can fire on every trade, Top Lists (Screeners) updated every 15 seconds and 308 alerts with 249 filters, all running next to the broker you already use.
Bottom line
Which one fits you
Keep thinkorswim for options, charts and execution. Add Trade Ideas when you need to see setups the moment they happen, want Holly's signals, or want to test an idea in OddsMaker without code. The AI Assistant builds a scan from a plain-English request, and the configuration menu lets you combine 308 alerts and 249 filters without scripting.
Formula
You can write your own filter in the Formula Editor as well; OddsMaker and the daily Holly AI Signals, each with an entry and a stop to manage risk, are part of TI Premium. If you are new, Trade Ideas is the premium experience with no configuration.
Key point
You get the Channel Bar and AI Assistant in TI Pro on any plan, plus a seat in the free Trading Room, from day one. See Trade Ideas for beginners. Comparing other scanners?
Because they do different jobs. thinkorswim is a free, full trading and charting suite for Schwab clients. Trade Ideas does one job, real-time scanning and screening, and adds Holly AI Signals and OddsMaker backtesting. If your thinkorswim scans find what you need in time, you may not need Trade Ideas. If you keep finding setups after the move has started, that is the gap Trade Ideas fills.
How often does the thinkorswim scanner update?
Schwab's thinkorswim manual says Stock Hacker scan results are dynamically updated and that scans with a pattern filter update hourly. DayTradingToolkit, in a comparison updated Sep 27, 2026, reports that Stock Hacker refreshes about every 3 to 5 minutes. Trade Ideas Streaming Alerts can fire on every trade, multiple times per second, with no refresh.
Does thinkorswim have AI trade signals?
Schwab's thinkorswim pages describe thinkScript, which lets you build your own studies, scans and strategies, but they do not list an AI signal engine. Holly AI Signals are part of the TI Premium plan. Holly AI Signals fire during the trading day with a symbol, an entry and a stop to manage risk.
Can I use Trade Ideas with thinkorswim?
Yes. Run Trade Ideas to find the stock and thinkorswim to chart, analyze options and place the order. With External Linking, TI Pro passes every symbol you click to the chart or order field of another program. Schwab is not one of Trade Ideas' connected brokers, so orders for a Schwab account are placed in thinkorswim.
Is thinkorswim better for options?
For trading options, yes. thinkorswim is a full options trading suite. Trade Ideas monitors unusual options activity across all stocks, with a dedicated channel in TI Pro, which helps you spot stocks where option traders are active, but it is built around finding and trading stocks.
Is Trade Ideas good for beginners?
Yes. Beginners wanting the premium experience don't need a setup step. The channels are made for you: the Channel Bar comes in every TI Pro plan, and so does the AI Assistant. Two of its themes are big momentum movers and S&P 500 stocks moving up fast. Stock Races present the market as stocks racing each other, live. A whole community of traders joins Barrie Einarson in the free Trading Room. You can paper trade first and risk nothing. 308 alerts and 249 filters, Money Machine, Holly AI Signals and OddsMaker give you room to grow. See our guide for beginners.
Method
How we checked
Schwab's pages for thinkorswim. Features and costs come from Schwab's thinkorswim page, Schwab's pricing page and the thinkorswim Learning Center entry for Stock Hacker.
One outside source. Schwab's manual says Stock Hacker results update dynamically without giving an interval, so the 3-to-5-minute figure is DayTradingToolkit's, from its comparison updated Sep 27, 2026.
Our plans: TI Standard at $127 monthly or $1,068 annually (near $89 a month), and TI Premium at $254 monthly or $2,136 annually (near $178 a month). Holly AI Signals, OddsMaker backtesting and Auto Trading require TI Premium, and every TI Pro plan has the AI Assistant. Since both sides update pricing, verify it before you buy.
