Stock charting software with advanced scripting for technical analysts

If advanced scripting is a primary criterion, my pick is TradingView.

My ranking

🥇 1. TradingView — best overall

The big advantage is Pine Script v6. It's a real programming language rather than merely a formula editor: you get user-defined functions, loops, arrays, matrices, maps, objects, libraries, multiple timeframes/data sources, and dedicated strategy functionality.tradingview.com

For a technical analyst, that means you can build:

• Custom indicators from scratch
• Complex multi-condition signals
• Market-structure indicators
• Multi-timeframe systems
• Custom scanners/alerts
• Fully coded backtestable strategies
• Reusable libraries
• Automated alert/webhook workflows

Pine strategies can simulate market, limit, stop and stop-limit orders and produce strategy-performance reports.tradingview.com

The alert system is particularly powerful: Pine scripts can generate dynamic alerts, strategy order-fill alerts, and webhook POST requests to external systems.www.tradingview.com

The major caveat: Pine is deliberately sandboxed. It isn't Python/C++/C# and doesn't give you unrestricted access to external data, files, databases, or arbitrary computation. For extremely sophisticated quantitative research, you'll eventually outgrow it.

TradingView Pine Script documentation

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🥈 2. TrendSpider — arguably better for technical-analysis workflow

This is the one I'd investigate most seriously if your definition of "technical analyst" includes automated chart analysis, scanning and strategy research, rather than simply "I want to write code."

TrendSpider lets you create custom indicators using JavaScript, and those indicators can be reused across charts, strategies, scanners, alerts and bots. Its current platform also supports AI-assisted creation/refinement.trendspider.com

Its Strategy Tester can backtest stocks, futures, crypto, forex and OTC instruments, with historical data extending 50+ years depending on the instrument/data availability.help.trendspider.com

A particularly nice feature is that its scripting/logic can be reused throughout the platform: the same scripts can feed scanners, alerts and backtests.help.trendspider.com

Where I'd choose TrendSpider over TradingView:
If your workflow is:

scan thousands of stocks → identify technical setups → analyze automatically → backtest → alert/automate

rather than:

write increasingly sophisticated code → build a quantitative model

TrendSpider can be the better environment.

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🥉 3. thinkorswim — excellent if you trade through Schwab

thinkScript is surprisingly capable for custom studies, scans and alerts, and thinkorswim's charting is excellent.

I'd put it below TradingView/TrendSpider for pure scripting, though. Pine has a much larger ecosystem and is designed specifically around programmable chart studies and strategies.

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4. TC2000

TC2000 is exceptionally good for stock/option scanning and technical-condition construction. Its Personal Criteria Formula system now supports user-created reusable functions, which makes complex screening considerably more powerful.help.tc2000.com

I'd choose it if your priority is:

fast stock discovery + excellent charts + custom screening

rather than sophisticated strategy programming.

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5. Quantower — the wildcard

If by "advanced scripting" you mean actual software-development-level algorithmic trading, Quantower becomes much more interesting.

It exposes an open C# API for custom features and algorithmic strategies and connects to numerous brokers, exchanges and data providers.www.quantower.com

That's a fundamentally different proposition from Pine Script. You have much more programming freedom, but you sacrifice some of TradingView's simplicity and enormous indicator/script ecosystem.

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My recommendation

I'd divide it this way:

Best overall technical analyst: → TradingView

Best technical-analysis automation/scanning: → TrendSpider

Best if you want serious software-development-level algo programming: → Quantower

Best broker-integrated active-trading environment: → thinkorswim

Best stock scanner/custom-formula workflow: → TC2000

If I were choosing one platform specifically because I wanted to become extremely proficient at coding my own technical indicators and systematic strategies, I'd start with TradingView/Pine Script. Its combination of charting, scripting, strategy testing, alerts, libraries and enormous community makes it the best balance.

One important distinction: "advanced scripting" and "advanced quantitative research" aren't the same thing. If you're looking to implement things like statistical arbitrage, machine learning, portfolio optimization, order-book models, custom datasets, or sophisticated walk-forward/Monte Carlo research, I'd recommend a different architecture—TradingView for visualization + Python for research/backtesting—rather than trying to force everything into a charting platform.