MultiCharts Cost in Taiwan: License, Quotes, Commissions

Contents

1. What makes up MultiCharts costs, and how much is one license?
2. Should you buy MultiCharts once or subscribe monthly? Let the years you will use it decide
3. Which futures brokers give you MultiCharts for free, and on what conditions?
4. How are quote fees calculated at Taiwan futures brokers?
5. Futures broker commissions and exchange fees: how cost per contract eats a strategy
6. What other MultiCharts costs are hidden? VPS, add-on modules, a second computer
7. How do you estimate your total yearly MultiCharts cost?
8. Frequently asked questions
9. References

What makes up MultiCharts costs, and how much is one license?

MultiCharts cost is not one number. It is the sum of four parts: the software license (one-time purchase or monthly subscription), live quotes, futures broker commissions and exchange fees, and hidden costs such as a VPS. The official pricing page is the source for license prices. Over time, the commission per contract is often the biggest part, so work out your cost per contract before you buy the software.

Many people search “how much is a MultiCharts license” hoping for one figure. But the software license is only one part, and you pay four different parties. The software license is what you pay the software vendor (or a futures broker or reseller) to use the program. Live quotes are the service that streams exchange prices to your chart, paid to a futures broker or quote vendor. Commissions and exchange fees are what you pay the futures broker and the exchange on every contract you trade. Hidden costs are the extras that come from running a strategy around the clock and from using more than one computer.

Cost part	Paid to	How often	Varies with contracts traded?
Software license	Software vendor, or through a futures broker or reseller	Once (one-time purchase) or monthly (subscription)	No
Live quotes	Futures broker or third-party quote vendor	Monthly	No
Commissions and exchange fees	Futures broker and exchange (including the futures transaction tax)	Every trade	Yes
Hidden costs	Hosting provider, software vendor, your time	Monthly or one-time	No

MultiCharts offers both a one-time purchase and a subscription. Prices change, so this article does not state any license price. Check the official pricing page, and record the amount and the date you checked on your own cost sheet. Of the first three parts, only commissions and exchange fees grow with the number of contracts you trade. That is why, the more often you trade, the smaller the software license is as a share of your total cost.

Should you buy MultiCharts once or subscribe monthly? Let the years you will use it decide

The difference between buying and subscribing is only time. If you plan to use MultiCharts for longer than the crossover period, the one-time purchase costs less. If you will not use it that long, or are not sure you will keep using it, a monthly subscription is more flexible. A one-time purchase is paid in full and gives you long-term use. A subscription is paid monthly, and when you stop paying, you stop using it. The year where the two cumulative cost lines cross is your decision point.

Finding the crossover takes one division:

Crossover years = one-time price ÷ (monthly price × 12)

Here the one-time price is the single payment listed on the official pricing page, and the monthly price is the monthly subscription amount. Multiplying it by 12 gives the yearly subscription total. The result is how many years pass before the two lines cross.

1. Record the one-time price and the monthly price from the official pricing page, along with the date you checked. Prices change, and the date tells you later whether to recalculate.
2. Check whether the one-time purchase includes future version updates. If it does not, add your estimated upgrade fees to the one-time line.
3. Multiply the monthly price by 12, then divide the one-time price by that number to get the crossover years.
4. Compare it with an honest estimate of how many years you will use it. People new to algorithmic trading who are still testing whether it suits them usually use it for fewer years than they expect.
5. Then consider futures broker plans. If you meet the free conditions in the next section, a futures broker plan may replace both lines.

Which futures brokers give you MultiCharts for free, and on what conditions?

Some Taiwan futures brokers let account holders use MultiCharts, but “free” usually comes with conditions, and the version may not match the one you buy yourself. Common conditions are: opening an account with that futures broker and depositing funds, reaching a set number of contracts traded each month, and quotes and orders limited to that futures broker's account. Each futures broker's terms and thresholds can change at any time, so this article gives no broker's specific numbers. Ask the futures broker's sales representative or website for the current terms, and note the date.

The difference between the futures broker version and the version you buy yourself is in the conditions, not only the price. The table lists six things to ask about before you open an account:

Item	Futures broker version	Version you buy yourself
License cost	Paid by the futures broker; usable once you meet the conditions	You pay the one-time purchase or subscription
Quote source	Usually limited to that futures broker's quotes	You can choose your own quote vendor
Accounts you can trade from	Usually limited to that futures broker's account	Connects to the brokers and futures brokers the software supports
Common conditions	Account opening, deposit, monthly contract threshold	No trading threshold
If you change futures brokers	The license mostly stays with the account; you must meet the new futures broker's conditions or buy your own	The license goes with you
Number of installs	Depends on the futures broker's plan	Per the official license terms; usually capped at a set number of machines

Platforms that the futures broker owns or resells are offered differently. A platform like Touchance is, at most futures brokers, provided to clients directly once they open an account. MultiCharts is third-party software, so what the futures broker offers is a license, on terms the futures broker sets. To learn about the features, costs and supported futures brokers of this kind of platform, see What Is Touchance? Features, Fees, Supported Brokers. When you choose, first answer this question: will I reliably reach the monthly contract threshold? In a month when you miss it, a free plan may turn into a paid one or stop working.

How are quote fees calculated at Taiwan futures brokers?

MultiCharts quote fees depend on where the data comes from. Futures broker quotes usually come with an account but work only with that broker's account. Third-party quote vendors charge monthly by product and exchange. Overseas futures often need an exchange data fee on top. A quote travels from the exchange through a quote vendor or futures broker to your chart, and each leg can carry a fee.

For domestic products like TAIEX futures, the futures broker's quotes are usually part of the account, so you pay commission, not a quote fee. Overseas futures such as ES and NQ add another layer: the exchange charges for live data, and the quote vendor or futures broker passes the charge on to you. The fee is often set by product group and by use (personal or professional) and billed monthly. If you want products from several exchanges, you will pay several data fees.

One more cost is often overlooked: historical data for backtesting. Historical data is the record of past bars used to test strategies. Live quotes are current prices used to place orders. Both may come from the same vendor, but they are often priced separately and subscribed to separately. How far back the history goes, whether it includes the night session, and whether contract month changes are handled correctly decide whether a backtest can be trusted. For details, see Backtest data quality: gaps, bad ticks, time zones and rolls.

Futures broker commissions and exchange fees: how cost per contract eats a strategy

Commissions and exchange fees are what you pay on every trade. For anyone trading even moderate volume, the yearly total often exceeds the software license itself, so a backtest should include the cost per contract from its very first run. Commission is the service fee the futures broker charges, per contract, once on entry and once on exit. Exchange fees are charged by the exchange and clearing house, and in Taiwan they also include the futures transaction tax. Contract specifications and related fees follow the exchange's announcements, and the exchange adjusts these values; for the TAIEX futures family, check the TAIFEX contract pages (for example, the Mini-TAIEX futures page). To convert tick value into profit or loss per trade, use the free Futures contract and profit calculator.

Another cost to include in a backtest is slippage. Slippage is the gap between the price you expected to fill at and the price you actually got. It is most noticeable with market orders and stop orders around the open and news releases. Commission and exchange fees plus slippage add up to the “cost per trade.” Compare that with the strategy's average profit per trade to see what is left in a real account. For how to set these numbers, see Trading costs in backtests: commission, slippage and the average trade.

The following backtest shows how cost per trade is counted. AlphaPrime (Valynox) ran it on ES daily bars, 2019-01-02 to 2025-06-30, long and short, 1 contract. It is the one kept, ranked by return to drawdown, from 1,024 candidates tried in the search. It uses a stand-in rule built on the Bulls Power indicator as the only entry and exit condition, with no stop loss, no profit target and no filter; the rule itself is not the subject of this article. Each trade is charged $20 commission and $25 slippage, and every number below is after those charges.

Two things to know when you read this table. First, the average trade of $397.07 is the figure after $45 of cost on each trade, over 249 trades. Set costs to zero and the same rules show a very different picture. That is why cost per contract belongs in the search itself, not subtracted after you pick a strategy. Second, this is the best performer picked in hindsight from over a thousand candidates, and picking in hindsight flatters the result. Bailey et al. (2014, 2017) showed that the more variants you try, the more likely the best backtest is overstated. So you cannot say this rule or the Bulls Power indicator “earned” this money, and you cannot treat it as a result anyone can expect. AlphaPrime's backtest charges commission and slippage on every trade of every candidate and fills on the next bar. The trade list in the performance report shows how the cost was deducted trade by trade.

What other MultiCharts costs are hidden? VPS, add-on modules, a second computer

Hidden costs come from two things: keeping a strategy running without interruption all day, and using MultiCharts on more than one computer. These costs are not on the pricing page, but they show up in your yearly spending. Check the five items below, and write them into your cost sheet before you open an account or buy.

• VPS monthly fee (running all day). A VPS is a cloud computer you rent from a hosting provider that stays on twenty-four hours a day, so your strategy does not stop when your home computer shuts down or loses power or internet. People who trade the night session or overseas futures almost all need one. It is billed monthly.
• A second computer or extra license (multi-machine use). A license usually limits how many computers you can install on at once; the exact number follows the official license terms. One machine for research and one for sending orders may exceed the limit and require a second license.
• Add-on modules (advanced features). Some features or data connections may need an extra purchase. Check whether the features you want to use are included in the base license.
• Power-cut and disconnection backup (risk management). A UPS, a backup internet connection, or a device besides the VPS that can close positions manually are all money spent so you do not lose control while holding a position.
• Time to export and compare settings (switching platforms). If you research a strategy in another program and import its source code into MultiCharts, you must check the execution settings one by one after importing: session, commission, slippage and fill timing. That work is your own time, and it belongs in the cost too.

The last item deserves a few more words, because it is the one most often underestimated. Importing a PowerLanguage source file takes only minutes, but lining up the MultiCharts backtest settings with the settings you researched under means checking, one by one, the data session, how contract month changes are handled, commission and slippage per contract, and order timing. How to import a strategy into MultiCharts and match the backtest lists these check points step by step, and From generated strategy to MultiCharts: a PowerLanguage comparison checklist turns them into a checklist you can tick off. If AlphaPrime is where you do your research, it exports strategy source code in the formats of six platforms, including MultiCharts (PowerLanguage). The full list of supported platforms is on the Platform export page, and after export the job is still the same settings check.

How do you estimate your total yearly MultiCharts cost?

Convert the four parts to one unit (NT$ per year) and add them up. Then divide the parts that do not vary with contracts by your expected yearly contracts to get the fixed cost per contract. This figure plus the commission and exchange fees per contract is what each contract you trade really costs, and it is the number to enter in the “cost per trade” field of your backtest.

1. License share: divide the one-time price by the number of years you plan to use it; for a subscription, multiply the monthly price by 12.
2. Quotes: enter 0 if they come with your futures broker account; for a third-party quote vendor or overseas exchange data fees, multiply the monthly fee by 12.
3. Commissions and exchange fees: the round-trip commission per contract plus the futures transaction tax and exchange fees, multiplied by yearly contracts.
4. Hidden costs: the monthly VPS fee times 12, plus one-time spending on extra licenses, modules and backup spread over a year.
5. Add the four parts, then divide the total of parts 1, 2 and 4 by yearly contracts to get the fixed cost per contract.

The next step is concrete: open your futures broker's fee schedule and the TAIFEX contract page, fill your own four numbers into the five steps above to get your real cost per contract, then go back to your backtest, change “cost per trade” to that number and rerun it to see how much average profit per trade remains.

Frequently asked questions

How much does MultiCharts cost?

MultiCharts offers both a one-time purchase and a subscription. Prices change, so use the official pricing page and note the date you checked. Some Taiwan futures brokers provide it to account holders, usually with conditions such as opening an account, depositing funds or a monthly contract threshold. Your real total also includes live quotes, commissions and exchange fees per contract, and hidden costs such as a VPS.

If I use MultiCharts from my futures broker, what happens when I switch futures brokers?

A license from a futures broker is mostly tied to that futures broker's account, and quotes and orders are often limited to that account too. When you switch futures brokers, you usually need to meet the new futures broker's plan conditions or buy a license yourself. Before you switch, back up your strategy source code and workspace settings, and confirm the current terms with both futures brokers.

Do I pay separately for MultiCharts quotes?

It depends on the data source. Quotes for domestic products such as TAIEX futures usually come with a futures broker account, but only work with that broker's account. Third-party quote vendors charge monthly by product and exchange. Overseas futures such as ES and NQ often need a separate exchange data fee, passed on by the quote vendor or futures broker.

Are historical data for backtests and live quotes the same charge?

Usually not. Historical data is the record of past bars used to test strategies; live quotes are current prices used to place orders. Even from the same vendor, they are often priced and subscribed to separately, so list each on its own row when you estimate yearly cost.

References

• Bailey, D. H., Borwein, J., López de Prado, M., & Zhu, Q. J. (2014). Pseudo-Mathematics and Financial Charlatanism: The Effects of Backtest Overfitting on Out-of-Sample Performance. Notices of the American Mathematical Society, 61(5), 458–471.
• Bailey, D. H., Borwein, J., López de Prado, M., & Zhu, Q. J. (2017). The Probability of Backtest Overfitting. Journal of Computational Finance, 20(4), 39–69.
• Taiwan Futures Exchange. Mini-TAIEX Futures. https://www.taifex.com.tw/enl/eng2/mTX