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TradeCut vs OBS: a screen recorder for traders, not streamers
OBS Studio is an excellent free, open-source recorder and the standard tool for live streaming. If you want one long file of your session, or you stream, use it. If you want one clip per trade, cut at the entry and the exit and ready to post, that is the job TradeCut does on its own.
Side by side
| Aspect | OBS Studio | TradeCut |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free and open source | 7-day free trial, then from $14.99 a month |
| What you get | One recording of everything from start to stop | One clip per trade, cut at the entry and the exit |
| Starting a recording | You press record, or a hotkey | Records on its own inside the trading hours you set |
| Finding a trade | Scrub through the file yourself | Each clip is tagged with symbol, direction, time and result |
| Editing | In a separate video editor | Built in: fast-forward the hold, crop to the chart, captions written for you |
| Rendering | On your own computer | In the cloud, in vertical, square and wide formats |
| Sharing | Upload the file somewhere yourself | One share link; no account needed to open it |
| Live streaming | Yes, it is its main job | No |
| Scenes, sources and plugins | Very flexible, with a large plugin ecosystem | Not the goal: it records your trading screen |
| Operating systems | Windows, macOS and Linux | macOS and Windows |
Pick OBS Studio if…
- You stream live to Twitch, YouTube or anywhere else
- You want full control of scenes, sources, overlays and audio
- You want a free tool and are happy to edit by hand
- You record on Linux
Pick TradeCut if…
- You want a clip of each trade without opening an editor
- You trade on TradingView, or NinjaTrader 8 on Windows
- You post trades to X, TikTok, Instagram or YouTube Shorts
- You want every trade findable by ticker, date and P&L
Where OBS is the better tool
OBS costs nothing, its source code is open, and it runs on Windows, macOS and Linux. For streaming it is the default for good reason: scenes, overlays, audio mixing and plugins let you build almost any layout. If you only need a full-session archive now and then, it does that well.
It even has a replay buffer that saves the last few minutes when you press a hotkey, the closest OBS gets to per-trade clips. You still have to remember to press it in the moment, and what you get is a raw file to trim, crop and caption.
What TradeCut does that OBS does not
TradeCut knows when you are in a trade. On TradingView it watches the positions panel; on NinjaTrader 8 for Windows an add-on tells it when a position opens and closes. Each trade becomes its own clip, already tagged with symbol, direction, time and result, so there is nothing to find in a six-hour file.
The editing is the part OBS leaves to you. Fast-forward the hold from 5× to 100× while the entry and exit stay at full speed, crop once to your chart, keep or change the caption, and render in the cloud while you keep trading. Every clip lands in a library you can search, and a share link opens on any phone without an account.
Running both
They are not rivals for every job. Keep OBS for the stream or for a full archive of the day, and let TradeCut produce the per-trade clips. Pricing shows what the trial includes, and the TradingView trade recorder page explains detection in detail.
Questions
Can I use OBS and TradeCut together?
Yes. They do different jobs: OBS streams or keeps a full recording of the session, TradeCut turns each trade into its own clip. If you stream, you can keep OBS for the broadcast and use TradeCut for the clips you post afterwards.
Does TradeCut stream live?
No. TradeCut records and clips your trades; it does not broadcast. If you stream, keep OBS or your current streaming tool for that.
Is there a free version of TradeCut?
There is a free trial: 7 days, up to 14 clips, no card needed. After that TradeCut is a paid monthly plan. OBS is free for good, which is a real point in its favour.
Is my recording uploaded anywhere?
Recording happens on your own computer. Nothing reaches TradeCut's servers unless you sign in and turn on cloud sync, which is what powers cloud rendering, the web library and share links.
Let your next session clip itself.
7 days, 14 clips, no card. Install in two minutes on macOS or Windows.