...although there is probably a subscription service of that sort out there. I mainly use Robinhood, which was the pioneer of zero-commission trading (though similar to the "zero closing costs" debate here last week, I'm sure many would argue that you're paying for the trade fees in other ways). I typically just set targets and place limit orders based on the targets. The problem with that is that supposedly the market manipulators like to "force" prices down to trigger stop loss trades before driving the price back up so they can maximize their profits. I've never really wrapped my mind around how exactly that works, but you read stuff like that a lot on the internet, so it must be true, right?

As far as technical analysis goes, I was using TD's "think or swim" platform. It is incredibly robust for a "free" service (it does require an account, but an opening an IRA qualifies). You can run custom scans to search multiple exchanges for stocks that meet certain technical analysis parameters. For instance, one of the ones I was learning to use was an Ichimoku cloud scan, which can help identify price trends (increasing or decreasing). But that is just one of dozens, if not hundreds, of scans you can set up.

The think or swim user interface is pretty intimidating at first, and I won't say that I ever got truly comfortable with it, but with time I was getting better. I haven't used it in quite a while now, so at this point I'd pretty much be starting over. However, as with most things these days, there is a wealth of information and tutorials on the internet about this stuff. It's very interesting to study if you have the time...I just don't right now.