Basics
Desktop, web or mobile — which TradingView to use
You don't pick one and stick with it. You run desktop for the session and keep mobile in your pocket for alerts — that's what most people settle into after a month. The choice isn't about which is best; it's about which fits the moment.
They're the same underneath
All three run the same chart engine and log into one account. Draw a trendline on BTCUSD in the desktop app, open the web version on a hotel laptop, and the line is already there. Watchlists, layouts, alerts, indicator settings — synced. So the real question is what each one does better, not what it can do at all.
What each one wins at
- Desktop: right-click a chart tab and Detach to fling windows across two monitors — chart on the left screen, watchlist and EURUSD depth on the right. Native OS notifications fire even when the app is minimized, and streaming isn't fighting a browser tab for resources. This is your workstation.
- Web: nothing to install, always the latest build, opens on any machine you're allowed to log into. When you're not at your own desk, this is the answer.
- Mobile: for the glance and the alert, not the analysis. Checking whether AAPL tapped your level while you're away from the desk — great. Marking up a four-hour structure with a fat finger on a 6-inch screen — no.
A setup that works
Install the desktop app for your trading hours (see the quickstart), then set your levels as alerts so mobile does the watching for you. Build the alert once and it fires everywhere you're logged in — walk through it in your first price alert.