Yes, I used it a few years ago in 2017. It was promoted as part of the training we received. I dutifully paid my monthly fee and was ‘granted’ access to ‘Smart Charts’. I stopped using it as it did not suit my purpose.
Smart Charts adds another user interface (screen/window) to MT4, called a ‘Strategy scanner’, where you see the different strategies (you paid for) and rows of currencies pairs. If a currency pair is ‘ripe for a trade’ the pair would be highlighted in green (now white in the new version). You’d click on it, jump to the chart for the strategy and currency pair, and you’d find some indicator, like an arrow, an entry point, SL and TP points. Ready for you to click the trade button. No need calculate your SL, you like what you see and are scared to miss the trade? Press the button and take the trade you top trader!! Of course you’d run through your trading plan checks and all that complexity from top to bottom. Wait too long (especially in short time-frames) and you could not take the trade with the proprietary button. The software also has additional functionality such as a trading journal (possibly the single most handy piece in the software - missing the ability to add notes) and news links. In 2017, the training videos ran badly but more than likely Smart Charts has fixed that issue. The learning section seems to have received more of an overhaul than the actual strategies.
So what drives these delightful highlights on the Scanner page?
Well, just like Bollinger Bands are visible in MT4 because of a set of code, so is each ‘Strategy’ is custom MT4 Expert Advisor code running through a set of pairs, activating a warning where certain parameters are met. Some strategies/indicators are said to be for trending markets, some for sideways markets, some for shorter or longer time-frames. On the website I can see that the Smart Charts 2 interface got a glamour work-over, but the transformational lipstick doesn’t hide that the same ‘strategies’ are promoted.
Are these strategies/indicators effective? In short, what are the specs? Before you buy the Smart Charts product it is hard to tell what they do, nor can you back-test the things without properly knowing the code behind them. There are no specifications that states: Between dates X and Y, for pair AUDUSD, the strategy gives you this curve, and here is the trading plan that was used to produce this outcome. Its a black box. These are NOT Expert Advisor (EA) robots, these are indicators.
One student trader spoke up in class telling the instructor that he back tested a strategy and its ‘proposed’ triggers, and it failed to produce a positive outcome. Promptly the instructor showed us a study by an actuary showing that… no just kidding. It was followed by a long awkward silence before the teaching banter continued as if nothing had happened. (Note: I don’t know what currency pair he used to test, time frame or duration he used)
The questions YOU have to ask are:
“Am I happy to run with training wheels at a cost?”
“Do I want limited information, or would I like more information before I hand over my money?”
“Does my risk management strategy include a section that accounts for indicators I don’t understand or know how the code was built?”.
Remember, randomness of price movements and outcomes limits the ability for historically reliable charting indicators to always work or allow traders to continuously make accurate assessments on price movement. And when you have no clue what you indicator does, you may as well drive in dense fog…
(And honestly, I can see no reason why they can’t tell students what the things do, and what combo of indicators it uses, it would increase confidence in the product)
If your trading education outfit wants you to use Smart Charts, then more than likely they will be an affiliate of Smart Charts. Click on the link called ‘Partner Agreement’ at the very bottom of the Smart Chart webpage for more information.