What you can chart
FreeCharting draws professional candlestick charts for US stocks and ETFs such as Apple, Nvidia, Tesla, the SPY S&P 500 ETF and the QQQ Nasdaq-100 ETF. With Twelve Data or Marketstack you can also chart stocks listed outside the US.
- Timeframes from 1 minute, 5, 15 and 30 minutes, through 1 and 4 hours, to daily, weekly and monthly (depending on the data provider).
- Chart types: solid candles, hollow candles, OHLC bars and an area chart.
- 27 technical indicators, including moving averages, Bollinger Bands, MACD, RSI, stochastic (KDJ) and volume. Add as many as you like at the same time.
- Drawing tools for trend lines, channels, Fibonacci retracements, price lines and notes. They're saved for each symbol.
- Snapshots and share links: save the chart as a PNG, or copy the URL to share the exact symbol and timeframe.
Popular charts to start with:
AAPL NVDA TSLA MSFT AMZN SPY QQQ
Without a key, Twelve Data's shared demo key only covers AAPL. Add your own free key to chart everything else.
How to chart a stock in three steps
- Get a free data key. We recommend Twelve Data: its free plan covers intraday and daily stock data with 800 requests a day. Sign-up takes about a minute.
- Paste it into FreeCharting. Open the chart, click API keys, paste your key and save. It's stored only in your browser.
- Type a ticker. Search for a company or ticker, pick a timeframe, and add indicators from the Indicators menu.
Which free data source is best for stocks?
| Provider | Best for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|
| Twelve Data | All-round charting, intraday to monthly | 800 requests/day |
| Alpaca | Years of intraday history | 200 requests/min, 15-min delay |
| Massive (Polygon.io) | Clean US data, two years of history | 5 requests/min, end of day |
| Financial Modeling Prep | Long-term daily, weekly, monthly | 250 requests/day |
| Alpha Vantage | Quick daily and weekly checks | 25 requests/day |
| Marketstack | Stocks on non-US exchanges | 100 requests/month |
Limits are from each provider's pricing page at the time of writing. If you already pay for a data plan, paste that key instead and you'll get its higher limits.
Reading a stock chart
Each candlestick shows one period: the body spans the open and close, and the thin wicks reach the high and low. Green candles closed higher than they opened; red ones closed lower. Volume bars underneath show how many shares traded, which helps confirm whether a move had conviction.
Traders often combine a trend indicator (like a moving average) with a momentum indicator (like RSI or MACD). Our guide to technical indicators explains what each one measures.
Frequently asked questions
Are FreeCharting stock charts really free?
Yes. FreeCharting itself costs nothing, and several data providers have free plans that are enough for charting. You only pay if you choose a paid data plan for real-time data or higher limits.
Are the stock prices real-time?
It depends on your data provider and plan. Free plans are usually delayed (for example, Alpaca’s free plan is 15 minutes behind) or end of day. Paid plans are often real-time. Click the reload button in the toolbar to fetch the latest bars.
Can I chart ETFs and indices?
ETFs such as SPY, QQQ and IWM work like any stock. Index values themselves (like the S&P 500 index) often need a paid plan, so many people chart the matching ETF instead.
Why do I need an API key?
FreeCharting doesn’t resell market data. Your browser fetches prices directly from the provider using your own key, so you get the full free quota to yourself and the data is licensed to you.
Can I chart stocks outside the US?
Yes, with Twelve Data or Marketstack. Search for the company and pick the listing on the exchange you want.