Both do serious crypto research once they are connected to live data — whether the model can check matters more than which model it is. The practical differences are access and workflow: Claude accepts a custom connector on every plan, Free included, while ChatGPT needs a plan that offers custom MCP servers. Both use the same Basis server.
Most comparisons test which model writes the better market commentary from memory. For trading that is the wrong test: commentary from memory is a guess either way.
The useful question is which assistant you can connect to live data, how easily, and how it behaves when it works your chart.
One server URL for every assistant. There is nothing to sign up for and no key to paste.
https://www.basischarts.com/api/mcpPlugins → the plus button → Add custom MCP server. Paste the URL, accept the notice and press Create as a plugin. Then switch Basis on in a new chat.
ChatGPT asks you to confirm before a tool that changes something runs, and building a chart counts as one. Available on plans that allow custom MCP servers.
Customize → Connectors → + Add → Add custom connector. Name it Basis, paste the URL, then Continue and Add.
Works on every Claude plan, including Free (one custom connector). There is nothing to authorise: the connector has no login step because Basis does not ask for one.
Run this once in any project. It is saved for every session afterwards.
claude mcp add --transport http basis https://www.basischarts.com/api/mcpAdd to ~/.cursor/mcp.json, or .cursor/mcp.json inside one project.
{
"mcpServers": {
"basis": {
"type": "http",
"url": "https://www.basischarts.com/api/mcp"
}
}
}Every client, tool and limit is on the Basis MCP page.
Connected to Basis, both read candles on Binance, Bybit, OKX and Hyperliquid, order flow, funding, whale positions and 200 indicators, and both can hand you the same chart.
The server URL is the same. Add it to each, ask both the same question, and compare what they checked.
Each one asks the assistant to check something specific, and says what it will look at — so you can tell a measured answer from a fluent one.
On Binance BTCUSDT perpetual, 4h: trend, RSI, funding versus its history, and the two levels that matter. Show what you checked and give me the chart.
Checks: Candles, indicators, funding history and a chart link.
Backtest buying ETH on the 1h when RSI(14) falls to 30 and selling at 50, long only, with fees. How many trades, and what drawdown?
Checks: The built-in RSI strategy with costs.
Which way are the screened Hyperliquid whales leaning on BTC, and how concentrated is that view?
Checks: A research-screened whale group's current positions.
Plans and menus change; these are the vendors' own descriptions at the time of writing.
If you already pay for ChatGPT and see Add custom MCP server under Plugins, use it — the habit you have is worth more than a model difference.
If you do not, Claude's Free plan is the quickest way to try trading research on live data without paying anyone.
With live data, both do the work well; without it, neither can see the market. Pick the one you can connect: Claude on any plan, ChatGPT on plans with custom MCP servers.
Yes. The Basis MCP server URL is the same for both, with no account to share.
Any client that supports remote MCP servers can use the same URL. Cursor and Claude Code do; check whether your assistant offers custom MCP servers.
Not through Basis. It reads public data and builds charts and alert links; it has no exchange access.
Paste the URL into your assistant, then ask it what the market is doing — and to show you what it checked.
https://www.basischarts.com/api/mcpSetup steps are as OpenAI and Anthropic document them in October 2026; menus change. Basis reports what venues publish and what the maths says about it. Nothing here is financial advice.