MotiveWave

MotiveWave is a desktop charting and technical-analysis platform that also supports live trading through a connected external broker. It’s built as one application rather than a family of separate products: the same charting, order-flow, and (at higher tiers) strategy-testing tools sit inside every edition, with paid tiers unlocking more of them rather than switching to a different product.

What MotiveWave is

At its core, MotiveWave is charting and technical-analysis software: a trader works with customizable charts, indicators, and drawing tools, and can connect one of 30+ supported brokers or data providers for market data and — from the Standard edition up — to place live trades. MotiveWave doesn’t supply market data — that comes from whichever broker or data provider a trader connects, and live trades are placed through that same connected broker.

Charting and technical analysis

Every edition, including the free one, includes 280+ built-in studies and indicators, general analysis tools (lines, channels, forks, harmonic and Gann tools), Fibonacci retracement/extension tools, and customizable chart layouts. A free Java SDK is available from the Community edition up for building custom indicators. Additional bar types (non-linear and second-based bars) and Cloud Workspaces are added at Standard.

Trading through a connected broker

MotiveWave supports connections to more than 30 brokers and data providers, but placing a live trade specifically requires at least the Standard edition — the free Community edition can connect to a broker or data provider for charting and market data, but MotiveWave’s own documentation states plainly that “placing trades is not supported” there. PRO and above add the ability to connect multiple brokers at once, useful for anyone routing orders or data across more than one account.

Order flow: base tools vs. the full toolkit

Order-flow functionality exists across the whole platform, but at two different depths. Community, Standard, and EW Lite include limited/base order-flow tools such as Volume Profile, VWAP, and a basic DOM. The full Order Flow Studies Pack — Volume Imprint/footprint charts (in five display modes: Profile, Bid/Ask, Ladder, Delta, and Volume), Market Profile/TPO, Advanced DOM, and Time & Sales — is specifically gated to the Order Flow, PRO, and Ultimate editions. A trader who wants the complete order-flow toolkit, not just the basics, needs one of those three editions specifically.

Replay, strategy testing, and backtesting

Replay Mode — stepping back to a specific date and time to replay historical market data — is available from the free Community edition up, so basic historical practice doesn’t require a paid edition. Standard adds Advanced Replay, an expanded version of the same idea. Building and backtesting a systematic strategy, with optimization, is a separate and more substantial capability that’s specifically limited to the PRO edition and above; it isn’t available on Community, Standard, Order Flow, or EW Lite. This is a testing/practice capability inside a broader live-trading platform, not MotiveWave’s central purpose.

Editions explained

MotiveWave’s current lineup is Community (free), Standard, Order Flow, EW Lite, PRO, and Ultimate, and each paid edition builds on the one below it rather than being a separate product line. Community covers charting, the base order-flow tools, Replay Mode, the SDK, and broker/data connectivity, but not live trading or mobile. Standard adds live trading, mobile access, Advanced Replay, and Cloud Workspaces. Order Flow adds the full Order Flow Studies Pack, Advanced DOM, and a Trade Copier. EW Lite adds a dedicated Elliott Wave tools pack on top of Standard (without the full order-flow pack). PRO adds multiple broker connections, Strategy creation and backtesting with optimization, harmonic and study scanners, custom instruments, and the full order-flow toolkit. Ultimate adds the most advanced Elliott Wave tools, an Elliott Wave scanner, and Hurst Cycles on top of everything in PRO.

Pricing: lease vs. purchased license

Every paid edition can be acquired two ways: as a recurring lease (1, 3, or 6 months, auto-renewing, with continuous updates for as long as it’s active) or as a purchased license (a one-time payment, or four installments on some editions, that includes 1 year of updates and support; after that year, a trader can keep using the version they’re on, or optionally buy another year of updates for a separate fee). Monthly lease and one-time purchase prices, as currently listed: Standard $24/month or $245 one-time; Order Flow $49/month or $595 one-time (also available as 4 payments of $175); EW Lite $89/month or $1,395 one-time (4 payments of $415); PRO $99/month or $1,495 one-time (4 payments of $445); Ultimate $159/month or $2,295 one-time (4 payments of $685). Standard doesn’t offer the 4-installment option that the other paid editions do. Additional 1-year updates/support after a purchased license’s included year runs out is priced separately per edition, from $55 (Standard) up to $295 (Ultimate).

Free Community edition and 14-day trial

Community is a genuinely permanent free edition, not a time-limited trial — it stays free for as long as a trader wants to use it, with the limitations described above. Separately, MotiveWave offers a 14-day free trial that needs no credit card and defaults to the full Ultimate edition (a different edition can be requested through sales). If nothing is purchased by the end of the trial, the license simply switches over to the free Community edition — there’s no automatic charge to worry about.

Market data and external-provider costs

MotiveWave doesn’t include market data. Both real-time and historical data come from whichever broker or data provider a trader connects, so the software’s own price isn’t the whole cost of using it live — what data actually costs, and whether it’s included with a given broker relationship, depends entirely on which of the 30+ supported providers a trader picks.

Desktop, mobile, and platform support

MotiveWave is a desktop application, with native support for Windows, macOS (Intel and Apple Silicon), and Linux. Companion mobile apps exist for iOS and Android; from the Standard edition up, MotiveWave describes the mobile app as letting a trader “trade and monitor markets on the go.” Whether the mobile app matches the desktop application feature-for-feature isn’t specified, so it’s worth treating as a companion tool rather than assuming it replaces the desktop experience.

Where MotiveWave falls short

The clearest gap for a budget-conscious buyer is how much sits behind the higher tiers: the full order-flow toolkit needs Order Flow, PRO, or Ultimate specifically, and strategy backtesting needs PRO or above — Community and Standard cover general charting and (from Standard) live trading, but not much beyond that. Market data is a real added cost that depends entirely on the connected broker or provider, not something MotiveWave’s own price reflects. And because MotiveWave is built as a desktop application with companion mobile apps, someone wanting a browser-first platform is working against the grain of how MotiveWave is currently documented.

Best for

MotiveWave fits traders who want charting, order-flow analysis, and live trading through their own broker in a single desktop application, and it’s most complete for traders on Order Flow/PRO/Ultimate who specifically want the full order-flow toolkit, or on PRO/Ultimate who want strategy backtesting and optimization alongside their charting. Elliott Wave-focused traders have a dedicated path through EW Lite or Ultimate.

Who should look elsewhere

Traders who want the complete order-flow toolkit or strategy backtesting without paying for the Order Flow/PRO tier or above should budget for the upgrade rather than expect it on Community or Standard. Anyone who expects market data to be bundled into the software price will need to arrange and budget for that separately through whichever broker or provider they connect. And traders specifically wanting a browser-first platform should know that MotiveWave’s current, documented model is a desktop application with companion mobile apps, not a web app.