How to Create a TradingView Watchlist

In this post I will provide a step by step guide to the TradingView watchlist.

The TradingView watchlist is a really convenient tool to quickly access all your favorite and most viewed stocks, indices, currency pairs, cryptocurrencies or futures contracts. It’s an essential component of any traders workstation charting setup. So its worth taking the time to understand how the TradingView watchlist works and the features available.

Its possible to have multiple TradingView watchlists. The FREE TradingView plan offers a single saved watchlist. For convenience and a well organized setup I find it most useful to have several watchlists. For multiple watchlists requires an upgraded plan. Any TradingView upgraded plan comes with as many watchlists as you want!

In this post I’ll also answer some of the common questions about watchlists.

Can I Create a Watchlist on TradingView?

Yes, TradingView offers a Watchlist feature. This feature is one of the core product offerings of the platform. It’s also among the easiest features to set. 

In this post, we will look into everything about TradingView’s watchlist – what it is, how to create, delete, export/import, and add/delete symbols. 

What is a TradingView Watchlist?

The TradingView watchlist is a collection of symbols that is personalized by the user. The name itself takes on a literal sense as it displays a list of those symbols that a user would like to keep watch of. 

The users can use the watchlist to quickly view and browse through watched symbols without having to manually search each symbol one-by-one. The Watchlist color codes symbols (red for down, green for up) and displays performance metrics (i.e., percentage change) dynamically. 

How do I view my Watchlist on TradingView?

The Watchlist is located at the right panel of your TradingView window. 

You can open the Watchlist either on a chart or from the homepage. 

Step 1: Locate the Watchlist and details denoted as a “notepad” icon on the right panel > click on the icon

The panel will expand showing the default watchlist created by TradingView.

Of course, the watchlist can be modified to reflect the symbols you are interested in. 

---

Tip: If you’d like to expand the Watchlist window, click and drag the faded line at the bottom of the window. See black box below

Expanded watchlist below:

In the latest update, a single Watchlist can be sectioned into parts with label names personalized by the user. The screenshot above shows the default sections – stocks, futures, forex, and crypto 

---

How to create a TradingView Watchlist?

Creating your own TradingView Watchlist is simple and free. 

However, TradingView has limits on the number of watchlists available. The limit will vary depending on the user’s account subscription. 

Here is a quick table comparison from the website:

	Basic Plan	Essential Plan	Plus Plan	Premium Plan
Multiple enhanced watchlists	1	YES	YES	YES
Flagged symbols colors	5	5	5	5
Import/export	NO	YES	YES	YES
Custom columns and sorting	YES	YES	YES	YES

Important: The Basic account can only run one watchlist and doesn’t offer the import/export feature. 

Creating a New Watchlist

To create your watchlist, follow the simple steps below: 

Step 1: Locate Watchlist 

• For web browser, follow steps outlined above 
• For mobile application, the Watchlist has a designated icon tab located a the bottom left of screen.

Step 2:  Open Watchlist to view options

• For desktop/web browser: click the down arrow beside the named watchlist tab.

• For the mobile application: Tap on the Watchlist tab to the left of the bottom menu.

Step 3: Create New list

Note: A prompt for a plan upgrade will appear if you have reached the limit for the creating new lists.

• For web browser: Click Create new list.

• For mobile application: click the plus (+) button at the top right. 

Step 4: Give your watchlist a name

Step 5: Add your symbols by keying into the add symbol field

The selected symbols will be added, and populated into your watchlist 

• For web browser:  click on the plus (+) icon on the top right of the window.  

• For the mobile application: click on the plus (+) icon in the top right of the screen. 

---

Tip: Adding Sections to your TradingView Watchlist

Adding sections to your watchlist will help better organize your symbols. 

Here’s how you can do this: 

Step 1: Hover then right click on the place where you would like to place your section.

Step 2: Select Add Section (See black box below) 

“Section 1” will be the default name. To rename, simply double click > type in your new name > hit enter. 

Tip: a common way to name your watchlists is either by markets (i.e., stocks, cryptocurrencies, forex) or the type of trade setup (i.e., swing, day). 

---

Tip: Flag Watchlist Symbols

As symbols in your watchlist grows in number, it becomes difficult to track and highlight those names that have attracted your attention. This is where flagging comes in handy. 

A good example of this is when a stock/symbol is showing signs of a developing trade setup. You can flag this stock on your watchlist to make it stand out from your list. Additionally, flagged symbols are automatically added to the Flagged watchlist. 

This is what a flagged symbol looks like from a watchlist. Take a look at the red “bookmarks” on the left of the symbol. 

To flag a symbol, simply hover on the left of the symbol name. A “shadow” flag will appear. 

Click on the shadow flag > then select color. 

To view all your flagged symbols, click on the down arrow beside the watchlist name, then select Red (or any chosen flag color) list: 

---

How do you Delete a TradingView Watchlist?

To delete a watchlist, follow the steps below. This section describes deleting watchlists for both the web browser and mobile application versions. 

Step 1: Open watchlist options 

• Web browser: locate watchlist > click the down arrow beside the watchlist name. See black circle below. 

• Mobile application: Tap on the Watchlist tab 

Step 2: Select the watchlist you would like to delete 

• For web browser: Hover on the number on the right side of the watchlist you would like to delete. Tip: the number denotes the quantity of symbols currently on that watchlist.

Step 3: Select delete 

• For web browser: when hovered, the number will turn into an “X” which denotes delete. 

Click to proceed with deleting this watchlist. 

• For mobile application: While hovering over the watchlist you would like to delete, slide your finger to the left. Two icons should appear:
  • Trash (colored in red): Delete
  • Pencil (colored in blue): Rename 

Select the trash icon to delete the watchlist.

How do you export/import a TradingView watchlist?

Watchlists can be exported as well as imported to TradingView. 

Users can only import a .txt file (from Notepad in Windows) as long as the format follows the EXCHANGE: TICKER format. See sample below from the TradingView website: 

The import and export feature is only available beginning from the Pro account. 

To begin exporting/importing, follow the simple guide below: 

Step 1: Click the triple-dot icon on the upper right hand side of the window 

Step 2: Select Import/Export 

Selecting Import list will open your device folders 

Selecting Export list will automatically prompt the download of the .txt file of your watchlist

How do you add/remove stocks from the watchlist?

Adding stocks to a Watchlist

You can add stocks by simply clicking the plus (+) icon on your watchlist window: 

Add the symbols you are interested in by keying the ticker symbol into the field. 

Another method is to right click on any area of the symbol’s chart then click “Add to watchlist” or Alt + W. See black box below

The same method applies on the mobile application. Tap on the plus (+) icon on the top right to open the add symbol field. 

Removing stocks from a Watchlist

Removing symbols from your watchlist varies between the web browser and mobile application. 

• For web browser: Hover on the name you would like to delete > click the X symbol on the right. 

• For mobile application: Left swipe on the stock you would like to delete. A red ‘Delete’ button should appear, click this button to complete the action.

How many stocks can you add in the TradingView watchlist?

A default watchlist can hold up to 1,000 symbols.