When it comes to trading tools and services, there are a plethora of them out there. If you aren’t careful, all of a sudden you are spending money on 10+ tools without even noticing it.

The good news is that just a few of them can cover all the bases. The ones below are tried and true. Many have raving fans behind them, and they also happen to be my personal tech stack as well.

First, you need a good charting platform and you usually fall into one of two camps. You either go the free route like I do, or you decide to use TradingView.

For me, the free route is Thinkorswim and I swear by it. I have been in the markets for eight years and have used it ever since. Even when I worked at a proprietary trading firm that had its own charting software, I still used Thinkorswim. It’s free, fast, and the UI is beautiful.

Second, you need a reliable stock scanning platform that is built specifically for intraday trading and overnight trading. You really can’t beat Trade Ideas when it comes to this. They were one of the first to do it and they are still one of the only platforms that allow for this level of customization.

The firm I traded at used scanning software that essentially mirrored Trade Ideas. Now that I have stepped away from prop trading, it’s my go to software. The nice thing is you don’t need to know how to code to build out your strategies into scans.

Into the close I focus on overnight momentum which includes stocks closing strong or closing weak that could see follow through the next day. I use Trade Ideas to filter for these opportunities. I am not just looking at a top gainers or top losers scanner. Instead I have my strategy built directly into my scans. If you want, you can sign up for Trade Ideas and replicate my overnight momentum filters.

You also need a platform that allows you to do deep research of fundamental analysis. This includes earnings data, looking through KPIs, reviewing charts, fundamental screening, and being able to check basic share structure metrics. You really can’t go wrong with Stock Analysis here. It is the most affordable tool that I pay for and the value relative to what is provided for the price is hard to beat.

If you trade small caps like I do, you probably want to know what the dilution risk and offering risk is. There are a couple tools out there but I swear by Ask Edgar. With Ask Edgar you just type in a ticker and it quickly tells you whether the dilution and offering risk is low, medium, or high. For the few dollars it costs per month it is well worth it. It saves time digging through SEC filings and reduces the risk of missing something important.

Finally, I think every trader should have a good morning newsletter that breaks down what is most in play and what is going on in the market. You can’t go wrong with Market Bullets. It is completely free and read by over 250,000 traders and investors. It hits your inbox before the open Monday through Friday and is honestly a gem.

For me, that’s it. That’s all I personally need, and the nice thing is it’s actually pretty affordable.

You don’t need ten different tools to trade well. A good charting platform, a strong scanner, solid fundamentals data, dilution checks, and a quick morning overview of the market will take you a long way.