TradeWize
vs thinkorswim.
Both are free. thinkorswim’s paperMoney is a pro-grade simulator — real-time data, 400+ studies, deep options tools — but it lives inside a Schwab brokerage platform and assumes you already trade. TradeWize is a structured course that teaches you to trade from zero in the browser, no account required.
What each one costs.
The full 172-lesson course, 100+ mini games, and the simulator — no card required.
Optional Premium from $33/mo, billed annually. 14-day refund. Local price varies by region.
paperMoney and the thinkorswim platform are free, but you need a Schwab login (no minimum deposit) or a time-limited Guest Pass.
Both cost nothing — but they ask for different things. paperMoney needs a Schwab account (or a temporary Guest Pass) and assumes you already know your way around a trading platform. TradeWize needs nothing but a browser and teaches you from zero, so there’s no cockpit to decode before you learn.
Side by side.
| Feature | TradeWize | thinkorswim |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | A structured course that teaches you to trade — with a practice simulator | A professional trading platform with a free paper-trading simulator (paperMoney) |
| Best for | Learning to trade from zero, guided step by step | Practising execution once you already know what you’re doing |
| Teaching | A full curriculum — TA, fundamentals, options, risk — with drills and quizzes, taught by Coach Chad, an AI coach who also reads any chart and grades the practice trades you close | None built into the sim; Schwab offers separate education, but paperMoney is a sandbox |
| Setup | Open a browser and start — no account, no download, no card | Needs a Schwab login (no minimum deposit), or a time-limited Guest Pass without one |
| Simulator | Zero-risk coin sim tied to the lessons; real-time Pro mode on Premium | $100k virtual buying power, real-time data, 400+ studies, full options chains |
| Ease for beginners | Easy from zero — three-minute lessons in plain English | Powerful but dense — easy to get buried in menus, ladders, and settings |
| Platform | Any web browser — mobile and desktop | Desktop, web, and mobile apps (Charles Schwab) |
| Markets | Investing free. Premium teaches technical analysis, fundamental analysis, trading psychology and risk, options, crypto, futures, forex and advanced markets — every one of them tradable in its Pro desk | Stocks, options, futures, and forex — deep options tooling |
| Where you start | Anywhere. Beginners start at Foundations; if you already trade, go straight in at technical analysis or options — no track is a prerequisite for another | Wherever you like — it’s a sandbox, so there’s no path to enter |
| Real money | No — educational simulator only | Yes — a real Schwab brokerage platform; paperMoney is its practice mode |
| Price | Free; Premium from $33/mo | Free (paperMoney and the platform), tied to a Schwab account |
Start wherever you are.
TradeWize isn’t a beginners-only course you outgrow. It’s one platform with three ways in — and it teaches trading end to end, from your first candlestick to running a book with a written playbook.
Start at the beginning.
Foundations: 20 stages, 172 lessons, free — from “what is a stock?” to a finished portfolio playbook. It runs in order, because this is the one place order actually matters.
Skip straight to trading.
Go in at Technical Analysis, Fundamental Analysis, or Psychology & Risk — 206 lessons across three tracks. Premium opens all of them at once, so you never re-learn what a stock is to reach what you came for.
Learn just the asset class you want.
Only here for options? Start on the Options track and ignore everything else. No track is a prerequisite for another — pick your market and go deep on it.
Whichever market you want to trade.
Every one of them is tradable in the simulator today.- Stocks & ETFs
Free course + TA and FA tracks
- Options
Options track, ten stages
- Futures
Futures track, six stages
- Forex
Forex track, six stages
- Crypto
Crypto track, eight stages
He teaches every lesson — and still won’t tell you what to buy.
Coach Chad is your personal investing & trading coach. He teaches: every lesson in the free curriculum is delivered by him, and when you answer he reacts to the specific mistake you made rather than just marking it wrong. He also reads any chart before you trade, and grades every practice trade after you close it — naming the habit behind it and the lesson that fixes it. What a read never does is give a direction, a price target, or a call, which is exactly what makes him a coach rather than a signal service.
- In the lessons — he teaches you, and answers back when you get one wrong. Unlimited, and it costs no token.
- Chad’s read — a pre-trade briefing on any chart, blind to what you intend to do.
- The Debrief — a post-trade review of the trade you actually closed.
- Reads price structure visually, with an options lens for direction-vs-decay.
- Analyses are metered: one a week free, five a day on Premium. The lesson coaching never is.
Learn to trade, or practise at the pro level.
If you want to be taught how to trade before you touch a pro platform.
- You’re a beginner and want the fundamentals in plain English first.
- You already trade and want the options, valuation, or psychology track — start there directly.
- You want zero setup — no brokerage account, no download, no card.
- You want a structured, finishable path rather than a blank sandbox.
- You want an AI coach that grades the practice trades you close, not just fills them.
If you want a pro-grade simulator to rehearse execution in.
- You want real-time data, 400+ studies, and full options chains to practise with.
- You plan to trade for real with Charles Schwab.
- You want advanced order types and deep options analytics.
- You’re comfortable with a dense, professional desktop platform.
- You want to rehearse execution as close to the real thing as a sim gets.
The honest take.
Where thinkorswim wins: the simulator itself. Real-time data, 400+ studies and full options chains make paperMoney the most faithful free rehearsal of real execution there is.
thinkorswim is a cockpit. TradeWize teaches you to fly.
paperMoney is about as deep as a free simulator gets — but a cockpit assumes you already know the instruments, it teaches nothing, and it sits inside a Schwab brokerage platform you have to open an account with. TradeWize teaches you to trade in the browser with no account — from zero if you need it, straight in at options or technical analysis if you don’t — and Coach Chad grades the trades you close, which paperMoney never does. Graduate to paperMoney afterwards to rehearse execution; that order is the point.
Things people ask before they pick.
- Q01
Is thinkorswim paperMoney free?
Yes. paperMoney is completely free and gives you $100,000 of virtual buying power with real-time market data and the full thinkorswim toolset. You need a Schwab login to use it (no minimum deposit), or you can request a time-limited Guest Pass to try it without opening an account.
- Q02
Do I need a Schwab account for paperMoney?
For ongoing access, yes — paperMoney lives inside the thinkorswim platform, which requires a (free, no-minimum) Schwab login. A Guest Pass lets you use it for a limited time without an account. TradeWize needs no account or download at all — you learn in the browser.
- Q03
Is thinkorswim good for beginners?
It is extraordinarily powerful, which is exactly the problem for a beginner: real-time data, 400+ studies, and deep options tools are a lot to face before you know what any of them do. It shines once you understand the basics. TradeWize is designed to teach you those basics first, in plain English, so paperMoney makes sense when you get there.
- Q04
TradeWize or thinkorswim?
Use TradeWize to learn — it teaches you what to do and why, from zero. Use thinkorswim paperMoney to practise execution at a professional level once you already know the fundamentals. They complement each other: learn on TradeWize, then take pro-grade reps in paperMoney.
- Q05
Does TradeWize use real money?
No. TradeWize is an educational platform with a virtual-coin simulator — no real trades, no real money, and no personalized financial advice. thinkorswim, by contrast, is a real Schwab brokerage platform whose paperMoney mode simulates trading.
- Q06
I already trade — do I have to start from the beginning?
No. Premium opens every track at once, so you can go straight in at technical analysis, fundamental analysis, psychology & risk, or options without touching the beginner course. No track is a prerequisite for another. Only the free Foundations course runs in sequence, and you can skip it entirely.
- Q07
What is Coach Chad?
Coach Chad is your personal investing and trading coach, built into TradeWize and included on the free tier. He teaches: every lesson in the free curriculum is delivered by him, and when you answer he reacts to the specific mistake you made rather than marking it wrong. He reads: open any chart and he lays out trend, support, resistance, momentum, moving averages, volume and pattern, scores how many of six technical lenses agree, and marks the two prices whose breach would break the structure. He grades: close a practice trade and he tags the habit behind it and links the lesson that fixes it. What a read never does is tell you what to buy or sell, give a price target, or predict anything. There is one opt-in paid exception, and it is not a call either: a Trade Setup turns a read you have already run into a practice trade plan — an entry zone, a structure-based stop and targets, every one of them a level the chart’s own maths computed rather than a forecast. The lesson coaching is written by the people who wrote the curriculum, so it is unlimited and costs nothing — only a chart read or a trade review spends an AI token, one a week on Free and five a day on Premium.
Other comparisons.
Take the structured path.
TradeWize is free. No credit card, no experience needed. Your first lesson takes about three minutes.
Comparison based on publicly available information as of September 2026; prices and features change, so check each provider for the latest. Prices are shown in USD for a like-for-like comparison; your local price may differ, as TradeWize and some competitors localize pricing by region. All product names and trademarks belong to their respective owners; this page is not affiliated with or endorsed by them.