Brief Overview

Market Gear is an online platform that offers educational, social networking, journaling, analysis, and even trading opportunities. With a free trial, it’s definitely worth checking out.

Services Offered

Market Gear’s first specialty is in trade analysis and journaling. Trades can be categorized by account type (live or simulated) and tracked with hashtags. The company’s software shows whether a trade is making or losing money. Trades can also be shared with the Market Gear community.

There’s no need to import trades because Market Gear offers direct trading through a linked brokerage account. Compatible firms include:

• Tradier
• Ally Invest
• E*Trade
• TD Ameritrade
• ChoiceTrade

Simulated trading is possible as well. Although it is labeled ChoiceTrade Virtual on the Market Gear platform, no ChoiceTrade account is required to use it.

Multiple brokerage accounts can be linked to a single Market Gear account. Each brokerage account has its own summary window with account value, buying power, margin balance, and other details.

On this page, I recommend turning on the toggle switch for Auto Journal this Account. Doing so will automatically add all trades to Market Gear’s journaling section (discussed up ahead).

Unfortunately, only equities, options, and exchange-traded funds can be traded. Cryptocurrencies are still not available, and neither are forex or futures contracts.

And then there are Market Gear’s educational tools. These provide information on a wide variety of topics, ranging from security research to news articles from Benzinga. Benzinga’s audio squawk service is available as well.

Software Overview

There are three software platforms that Market Gear has. One is a browser platform, another is a desktop program, and the third is a mobile app.

The first two are essentially the same platform. The desktop program is compatible with both Windows (7 and higher) and Mac (OS X and higher). The tools and interface are the same.

The mobile app functions on both tablets and phones. Android and Apple are both possibilities. The best experience with the app will be found on tablets. This is because the app does pack in quite a few tools, including graphing tools.

The best experience overall is on a computer because the largest number of tools will be found here. So that’s where we’ll start.

Computer Platform

A good place to begin on the program is the Home icon. This is where basic tools like heat maps, watchlists, market indexes, trade data, and small charts will be found. They will populate the main viewing area.

Some of these resources are in condensed form. For example, under the Find tab, there is a much larger heat map. And under the Watch tab, I found a much longer watchlist. There are pre-installed lists. Clicking on an industry tile on the heatmap will expand it to show the stocks that compose the tile.

On either the browser or desktop system, it’s possible to change the color theme. I found 7 of them under the account tab (just click on your name in the top menu). Other account functions such as billing will be found here.

In the lower-left corner sits the trading tools and list of accounts. Accounts can be color coded for easy reference.

 For help with the software, a Help Center link is located at the top of the screen.

Mobile app

Many, but not all, of Market Gear’s tools will be found on its mobile app. Resources include:

• Options trading (including strategies)
• Stock trading
• Security research
• Journaling
• Charting (in both vertical and horizontal modes with tools)

Security Research

Stocks and options can be researched at Market Gear (just look under the Find and Research tabs).

During my investigation, I especially liked using the equity screener. The over-the-counter marketplace can be included, and there are many search criteria. There are also lots of pre-installed screens for both options and stocks. Examples include: 

• Bullish Trend – Stock above 200 SMA
• Upcoming Earnings within 1 week
• Iron Condor – Stagnant Channel

Other resources include an economic calendar, insider trading details, and institutional holdings.

Charting

Once you find a stock or ETF you want to trade, it’s time to get down to business. To get a chart to display full screen on a computer, you must be on the right tab. Click on the Research tab and select Chart.

Market Gear offers some notable graphing features, including company events, notes, and drawing tools. I only found about 50 technical studies, one of the downsides here.

Market Gear also fails to include right-click trading. However, there are Buy and Sell buttons located in a vertical menu on the left-hand side of a chart. Here, there are other resources, including volume and bid-ask spread.

Trade Ticket

The first step to begin a trading regimen is to connect a brokerage account. This is easily accomplished in the lower-left menu. As I already mentioned, you can link multiple accounts and color code them. This makes it easy to switch between accounts on the fly.

The order ticket is right next to the list of accounts. There are several ways on the platform to populate the ticket.

On a stock’s profile or watchlist, there are buy and sell buttons. There are also buy and sell buttons next to a full-screen chart. Finally, you can simply enter a ticker symbol on the order form.

Market Gear’s trading ticket has 11 order types for stocks. These include on-the-open, on-the-close, and trailing orders. There are no bracket orders. Duration choices include extended hours.

The ticket for options is integrated with the stock ticket.

Day Trading

During my investigation, I didn’t find any resources typically used by day traders. Market Gear’s trade ticket doesn’t integrate Level II quotes, and there’s no field for direct-access routing.

Leverage is available through the broker-dealer chosen. However, margin details on a stock or ETF are not shown on Market Gear’s platform.

Journaling and Social Networking

Every trade on Market Gear can be placed into the journal. It’s possible to add hashtags to trades, and this helps to research them. Of course, comments can be added, and it’s possible to select a sentiment (bullish or bearish).

Trades can be shared with other Market Gear users. In fact, it’s possible to share an entire account with specific users on the platform. This is a good method to follow other traders. It’s not possible to copy trade, though.

Pricing

Market Gear has a new pricing schedule for 2022. It has eliminated the Essential plan, which was the entry-level subscription. Remaining are the Signature and Master plans.

The Signature plan costs $75 per month (although Market Gear currently is offering the first three months for $50). A Master subscription costs an additional $100 per month and includes Benzinga audio news feeds.

Real-time streaming data can be added to either Market Gear subscription. The price is $10 per month plus an exchange fee subscription of $5.25 per month.

Market Gear offers a free trial of the Signature plan in case you want to try before you buy. Unfortunately, real-time streaming data cannot be included in the trial.

Bottom Line

Market Gear has a good trading and journaling platform. But many day trading resources are missing, and social networking tools are also on the slim side. To judge for yourself, the free trial may be worth a shot.