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Comparisons5 min read

ExpectancyIQ vs. TradesViz: Which Trading Journal Is Right for You?

TradesViz is one of the few journals in this space with an actual permanent free plan, not just a trial — and it backs that up with a genuinely large feature set even on the paid tiers. This is an honest comparison for a futures/prop-firm trader deciding between the two, not a case against a tool that does a lot of things well.

What TradesViz gets right

  • A real free-forever plan. No card required, essential journaling, import, and basic analytics included, not just a time-limited trial.
  • An enormous amount packed into low-priced paid tiers. Pro at $19.99/month (or $14.99/month annually) covers all asset types, 100+ charts, and powerful grid/filtering tools; Platinum at $29.99/month adds AI coaching, AI Q&A, trading simulators, and 600+ statistics.
  • Wide broker auto-sync. 250+ brokers supported, across stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, and CFDs on the paid plans.
  • Genuinely dense analytics. 600+ statistics and custom dashboards on the top tier is more raw data than most traders will use, but it's there if you want it.

Where the fit gets narrower

The free plan is stocks-only. A futures trader can't actually use TradesViz's free tier for their own trades — futures import requires at least the Pro plan, which changes the free-vs-free comparison a futures trader would actually be making.

It's a broad, multi-market analytics platform, not a futures specialist. Covering stocks, options, futures, forex, crypto, and CFDs with 600+ generic statistics is a real strength for a multi-asset trader, but nothing in that breadth is specifically built around a futures trading day's session boundary or a prop-firm evaluation account's drawdown rules.

Risk-simulation and AI coaching are Platinum-only. The features closest to what a prop-firm trader would actually want — risk simulators, AI review — sit behind the top $29.99/month tier, not the entry paid plan.

Where ExpectancyIQ is different

ExpectancyIQ's free tier is built around futures specifically, not stocks — up to 50 lifetime imported trades from Tradovate, NinjaTrader, cTrader, or Topstep exports, with a FIFO fill-matcher reconstructing exact per-fill commission from fills-based data. The 5pm CT trading-day rollover is handled as a core rule, so an overnight hold doesn't get split across two days that never happened. The Monte Carlo risk simulator — modeling probability of ruin and of hitting a profit target from your own R-multiple history — sits on the paid tier, similar to how TradesViz gates its own risk tools behind Platinum. Strategy, sub-strategy, confluence, and mistake tags feed dedicated cost reports, alongside day-level and per-trade journaling. A per-account deposits/withdrawals ledger, a running per-trade balance column, and per-account currency keep the balance figure reconciled for a funded account topped up incrementally, paid out, or denominated in GBP/EUR — international funded accounts TradesViz's stocks-first free tier doesn't address.

The honest trade-off: ExpectancyIQ's free tier caps out at 50 lifetime trades and one account, with no dedicated stock or options import and nowhere near TradesViz's 600+ statistics. If you want the widest possible free analytics on stock trades, or need options-specific tooling, TradesViz's breadth wins there.

Pricing side by side

PlanPriceNotes
ExpectancyIQ Free$01 account, 50 lifetime imported futures trades, 10 journaled trades, full dashboard minus Risk Simulator
ExpectancyIQ Paid$115.20 first year, then $144/yearAnnual only, 5 accounts, unlimited imports and journaling, all 10 tabs including Risk Simulator
TradesViz Free$0Stocks only, 1 account, 3,000 executions/month
TradesViz Pro$19.99/mo ($14.99/mo annual)All asset types, unlimited import, 10 accounts
TradesViz Platinum$29.99/mo ($22.49/mo annual)AI coaching, risk simulators, 600+ statistics, 20 accounts

Both companies adjust pricing and plan limits periodically — check current numbers on each site before deciding.

Who each tool is actually right for

If you trade stocks and want the widest free analytics available, or you trade across several asset classes and want one very deep, low-priced tool for all of them, TradesViz is a strong, honestly-priced option. If futures and prop-firm evaluation accounts are specifically what you trade, and you want a free tier that actually applies to your market plus session mechanics and commission accounting handled correctly by default, that's the gap ExpectancyIQ is built for. Which one is "better" genuinely depends on which market you're trading.

Curious how it looks on your own futures trades? Import a CSV into ExpectancyIQ for free, or read the broader case for journaling at all in Why Keep a Trading Journal?. If TradeZella is also on your shortlist, see ExpectancyIQ vs. TradeZella.