If you could give me some information I would appreciate it.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Even if someone before you has said something similar to how you feel, please reply anyway. I am gauging response by popularity so need to hear from multiple people even with similar feelings.
If you have any other thoughts to add please do so. Let's try to keep the thread on-topic, focusing on why you use the platform and leave all other discussion to other more appropriate threads.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
3+ years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
thinkscript. I found it easier for me to get a hold of over other platform languages.
5 different chart tabs to have various setups on. Each chart
tab can have a max of 32 charts on it. They can be adjust in grid
form or more freely adjusted using the flexible grid.
look, feel and ease of use what I like the most.
I also really like the expanded monkey bars over candles on
the higher time frames (4hr-monthly)
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
thinkscript. I have only been able to code my proprietary indicator in thinkscript.
I've tried using ninja and could not figure it out even though it's just math.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live Trades
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary. It's fairly simple, I hit buy, I hit sell. I right click the chart to insert a stop.
I can take a small chart, double click the header and it blows it up, then double click it again
to go back in to grid mode. It's super easy and efficient for me. Everything I need is a tab away.
I never have to go through multiple levels of tabs. It's click, unclick.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
I found it very easy to get accustomed to.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Top notch. They are always quick to respond. They always new videos and update any bugs that are found extremely quickly.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Yes, it's free. Commissions for futures start out higher than most but you can get them knocked down
to be competitively priced.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
I know it's one of the best. There's 10 or so chat rooms and always a feed
going with some pro or another on how they use the platform.
The following 7 users say Thank You to Massive l for this post:
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? 1.5 yrs
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?Mobile use it all the time as of late I sit very little behind pc trading but mobile keeps me in sycn with markets moves
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? Mobile
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? commissions to high for live use Ninja for orders
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? Discretionary How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?Mobile
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?super easy great support
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?Best Ive encountered after 4 platforms
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? yes/no bc in the end affects my PnL they are around 45% higher per contract, wouldnt budge even after 4 tries arm twisting my rep.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?Very good- Thinkscriptor
The following 2 users say Thank You to Rad4633 for this post:
I didn't know that!! duhh will now save a lot of mouse effort, thanks.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
5 years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
risk analysis graphs, watchlist, on chart order setup, thinkscript is an interesting strongly typed functional language with recursive support. Good for prototyping ideas. And great overall for quickly modifying indicators. Memory management can be improved; slowdowns common with more thinkscript indicators on chart. Downloadable versions of TOS desktop can also work on Linux ports and MAC OSX
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
the risk analysis graphs - best for options but can display any type of trade. ; thinkscript, can't imagine using TOS without modification via thinkscript integration on multiple platform features, not just the indicators.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live and lost :/
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary. Currently good support for algorithmic. Extensive instrument history support via a uniform service so no need for individual downloading. They dropped Prodigio finally which was a different platform, and now support thinkscript driven automated and algo trading internally. Great backtesting features particularly on option trading and p/l graph analysis.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Hard at first. Need to have comprehensive manual available easily on a new account. Tutorial videos not well organized and need more of a constantly updated training set to cover basic use. Otherwise learning while doing is still fine to get by. But one needs knowledge of options to understand and use the option chains and order entry interface for options and option spreads.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Account support great. Tech support could be better, But much better now.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Yes, free platform with an account or trial at TDA. No monthly fees. One of the best free sim platforms available. Great for new traders who want to start sim on any type of trading such as stocks, futures, options, forex, options on equities or futures, pairs trading.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Ok. Not as much thinkscript support. TDA integration probably helps the most as the big TDA customer based are introduced to the TOS platform now. With TDA integration, since the past two years, the new features available and performance of the platform seems effectively doubled.
The following 4 users say Thank You to Cloudy for this post:
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
2 years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
The options platform
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
nothing from the broker side, but the options trading platform is unrivaled (at least I haven't found anything close to it yet).
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Both.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Both but with TOS, I am only doing discretionary trades using Options.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Very easy. its a very intuitive platform.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
When I first started with TOS, they were great. Lately, support has been less than stellar.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Not initially, but after negotiations on commissions, yes.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
There is a pretty good community out there for TOS...not quite as robust as say Tradestations community, but pretty good.
The following 2 users say Thank You to ericbrown for this post:
1. 2+ years
2. Analyze tab, Studies, Chart tabs layout & customization, Thinkscript, OnDemand, PaperMoney, iPhone app. Love the platform UI.
3. See 2. I really like that the program is organized under 1 window, hate most other programs where everything is a separate window floating around the screen. I could not do without the entire platform, lol. Now with TD they are updating the platform more often so just keeps getting better constantly.
4. Both, but probably 95% live trades now a days.
5. Discretionary
6. I had a high interest level so it was quick. I can read how to do something or I can do it, I find I learn a lot more by doing. Went into Paper Money and tried out everything to get a feel for the program. Cut the learning curve a lot.
7. Well thinkorswim is now just a platform, they were bought out by TD Ameritrade. In the old days I would get immediate customer support with thinkorswim 24-7. With TD have not used that much customer support but it does get answered within a reasonable time frame.
8. I think it's in the middle. You get what you pay for. I have tried several other "cheaper" brokers and always go back to the thinkorswim platform.
9. It's great, a lot of people use the platform. There is a big community in the internets.
The following 2 users say Thank You to rmejia for this post:
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
5 Years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
-It is pretty much plug and play. Platform, feed & broker all there on day 1.
-Flexible charting. I can do a lot with just my mouse
-The Analyze Tab for options
-The Chat rooms. Market Cast (TradersAudio) is great for opens and when the market heats up; Brad on the shadow trader (Who I became friends with after stopping out and having lunch a few times) is good with helping along newer traders and can help keep an eye on the markets too. (But be careful, he does not show particular systems or position sizing when discussing his and others' trades.)
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
-None really, but I have not seen the Analyze tab elsewhere and guess I would miss that if ToS went away and I did not find another like it.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
-I used to do more, but their fees are not competitive. I still hold IRA accounts there, mostly so I can get the chat rooms I mentioned above.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
-Discretionary. I think the lack of ablitity to do much in the way of algorithms & back testing is their Achilles heel, but then again may reflect the attitudes of the folks who wrote it, who expect traders to be more intuitive.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
-Well it was my first, so I was learning trading in general so this is hard to anwser. That said, I think it is pretty beginner friendly.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
-The application was better before the company was bought by TD Ameritrade. Since then it has become less reliable & bloated, the new features are either not needed or poorly implemented. (e.g. "Monkey bars" crappy profile implementation)
-Their email and phone support I would say are pretty good. "Back in the day" they did not support weekends well, nowadays the support is more 24/7 but the number of less helpful support people has increased.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
-Well, you can't beat free to set up, but commissions and margins are not competitive for active traders.
-This point is somewhat an orphan, but the quality of their (free) datafeed has been questioned. I'm glad I have IQFeed on NT too, even if it costs more.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
-ToS gets pissed off if you mention 3rd party products or websites in their chat rooms. I understand they don't want people using the chats for commercial purposes, but they kinda throw the baby out with the bathwater; people who have found helpful tools can't share what they found.
I have had an account for over two years but never trade live. The commissions for stocks and futures are way too high to make any profit. I would only use it for options, but have never found a method using options that is profitable. Right now I trade live Interactive Brokers for stocks and Mirus for futures.
The following user says Thank You to jodistrict for this post:
I should mention that the theory behind my interest in these kinds of indicators goes back to my reading of Benoit Mandelbrot's "The (Mis) Behavior of Markets" in which he talks about "fractal time." (A GREAT read BTW.)
Actually, I want to muck around more, as there are sudden spikes of volume on very short time frames, and then again slower changes in the rate of trades that manifests itself as wider and narrower vertical lines on tick & volume charts. It would be nice to try and capture as much of this as possible.
-Bob
The following 2 users say Thank You to bob7123 for this post:
I would agree it's hard to make money off of just option spreads without a big account or being a millionaire already.
A spread costing more than two legs is already biting into a lot of commission and bad fills multiplied. Some just use single options to day trade stocks with the leverage.
LOL, screwed up subject line: "An Apple a day keeps the Doc away"
What a day in AAPL today! No futures traded today, had way too much fun in AAPL weeklies....
Overall market look:
My Weeklies and how they look on daily charts:
Multiple trades …
re: TOS before TDAmeritrade. The active trader DOM is now a lot better than before TDA. Before, the slippage and lag on anything including futures was horrendous. Now even filtered, it's at least updated more comparable to other feeds making it possible to scalp.
My question is something i have been experiencing in data price feeds difference between thinkorswim platform prices and snap ticket. I run two computers one dedicated to thinkorswim and the other with ameritrade home page, with snap ticket. there is a noticeable lag in price quote changes with thinkorswim. The snap ticket quote seems to be reflective of the actual price, but who knows at this point. The other test would to open another brokerage account and compare the three data feeds.
Have any of you traders experienced this situation. Would this be the result of "ghost exchange" ?
Yes, ToS can lag sometimes, often when the exchanges get busy. Last time I noticed it was the day before yesterday. You can find examples on YouTube and also no shortage of complaints on ThinkScripter | thinkScript Indicators for thinkorswim. I hadn't seen it lag compared to a "sister" product before. Interesting.
I am used to the feel of ToS, and think it is great for longer term analysis. I think their option analyzer tool is unique in the industry.
But if you are looking to do real time/short term trading, then from a latency, commission and margin perspective, I think it would behoove you to look around some more...
-Bob
The following user says Thank You to bob7123 for this post:
Trading: Equities, index options and futures options
Posts: 175 since Apr 2010
Thanks: 65 given,
166
received
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
3 yrs
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
options analysis
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
options analysis
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
sim
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
analysis of discretionary options trades
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
easy
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
never used it
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
free with TDA account so yes
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
never used it
The following user says Thank You to Bookworm for this post:
Platform: colocated proprietary, IB for LFT, TOS and TS for options and scripted strategies
Trading: ES, NQ, GC, SI, CL
Posts: 22 since Aug 2013
Thanks: 2 given,
7
received
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? 2+ years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim? Options analysis tools
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? risk profile is the feature I use most so that would be a deal breaker feature for me.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? Live trading
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this? Discretionary. It helps me with the extensive charting an options analysis tools. Trading forums our also a big plus
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim? Quite easy to learn
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Excellent responsiveness and support
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? Yes. Plafrom and feeds are free. Commissions are negotiable based on activity profile
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim? As I mentioned earlier, the community part is very rich and supportive. I would give it a very high grade.
Overall I am very pleased with ThinkorSwim. It certainly look like a platform designed and developed by traders for traders. One of the best platforms I ever used.
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
The "Green Yellowizer"... heh, just kidding. I like the pricing, and trading from the charts, when they're working.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
price.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
simulator works ok.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
discretionary.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
I think its very unintuitive. For example, I consistently struggle with the order book. If there are several complex orders queued up, you can't tell one from the other because there's very little in the way of graphical delineation. Not all orders can be sent to the queue using the same procedure.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Customer service is always good.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
yes.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
very good. Their instructional strategy is to produce a constant stream of content for learning the platform and trading strategy development.
Additional comments: The charting side of the software has been in a steady decline for years, they constantly add new bells and whistles, but other essential functions like auto-scroll will break and stay broken for weeks (as it is at this time). Also, a right click on the chart will produce a menu, and another right click will produce a selection. This situation causes a lot of frustration with errant selections when the software struggles to debounce. The menu should require a left click for selection, which, I believe is the industry standard, thereby eliminating the requirement to debounce. IMO, the software has become an unmanageable behemoth (like windows).
The range of customized aggregations for volume profile is limited and there is no bar-centric volume average study. Maybe these functions can be scripted in. The data feed seems adequate in my limited experience.
Considering the fees, product range, data and software, its cheap, but the software is no stepper.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? +3 Years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim? Great Android App. Very easy to use once you tackle the initial learning curve. I can set up contingency orders based on option prices while looking at the underlying price. Doing this eliminates a great deal of 2nd guessing yourself.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? The analyze tab. Once the positions starting having legs, it is a god send... much better than the average brokerage who has clunky web apps that take forever to load.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? I place live trades but I have used the simulator as well as 'lookback'
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this? Discretionary. ToS helps me because it allows me to place the trade guidelines during AH/PM when there is little/no emotions in the trade
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim? It wasn't easy but I really liked trading so it was fun. If you are hungry to take advantage of the platform, you will learn a lot and enjoy the things you learn
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it? Very professional and quick responses. Once of the few brokerages with weekend customer service as well.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? Meh. Too expensive for my taste. I do most of my execution with OptionHouse nowadays
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim? I don't interact as much as I used to, but it was very lively. They have end of week market review seminars for free that were great. Podcasts are avaliable to download as well.
I have used TOS for almost 7 years now. While i like the system they have i feel that their pricing is not competitive any more.
I would like to know what you TOS users are paying. Please PM me and I will share with you my commission rate. I am thinking about calling them and asking for a lower commission rate.
I've used TOS for about 5 years. The thing I like best is that there's no monthly fees and no data fees, so there is no compulsion to trade. I use it live and sim. They used to have an automated system tool called Prodigio which I used a little - but not enough to come up with usable system - then they dropped it. That prompted me to open a TradeStation account and start learning EasyLanguage.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
Over 5 years now.
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
Easy to use for charting, checking option prices... much more user friendly than TWS.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Charting, we are not paying for live data, option chains - for manual trading OK.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Only simulation, why? Commissions - I told them they should give me better prices, they didnt -> I use IB :-)
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discreationary algorithmic trader... I work like pilot in aircraft. Computers fly it, but I just sit there in case something goes wrong :-)
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Easy, there was some kind of videotutorial back then, when Tom Sosnoff owned TOS.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Horrible! Time of constat improvments is over - at least for now. I have asked them some time ago when will they add VIX futures - they answered me something like this: "During next year we will probably make it available in TOS." Thankfully it is available finally... but what about gasoil, canola (cad), etc etc...
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
No, it is not. Their commissions are too high. Their interest for shorting stocks is too high...
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
I dunno about community support that exists for TOS.
This post is to recant my previous post in this thread. My lukewarm recommendation was too generous. To be clear, my complaint is focused on TOS charts and not Prophet Charts.
The past couple of months have seen consistent periods of missing data. Yesterday morning (Sat) we received a software update that rendered most charts unusable. We are missing Friday's daily bar, The weekly bar's close is Thursday's close and the intra-day charts show Friday data, but the close is wrong. There are variations of the problem, such that there may be a Friday daily bar print, bit the weekly bar is using the Thursday close, etc. Its a random mess. This is occurring for most of the issues that I look at. SPY, DIA, QQQ, IWM, CMI, HD, SBUX, UAL, V, 30y treasuries, gold, crude, copper, all the e-minis, CME & ICE, etc.
I tried to log on/off several times and the effect was also random. A particular missing Friday bar would appear and then disappear on a subsequent attempt.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
1 year.
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
Mobile trading. Excellent options platform. Free data feed, free cnbc feed (US. Asia, Europe)
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Great mobile platform, free CNBC streaming, Swim lessons
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live trade
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Easy/Medium. I pick it up in about a week . Still learning.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Excellent
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
It's alright. but consider the free data feed, excellent mobile platform. I also negotiated my commission before I open the account.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Its great. Swim lessons and free chat rooms
) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
1 Year
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
Free
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Free
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Simulator
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Very Easy
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Good and Fast
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Yes
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Good and Fast
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
About one year.
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
I never used other trading system so I can't compare but I find it easy enough to use.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Free
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
I practice sims but I do have an account that I do live swing trades with.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
I guess discrettionary trader.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Medium..still learning.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Good so far.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Yes
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Ok
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
6 months
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
The analyze tab for options
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Again, the analyze tab. Far superior to any other broker for options. (tradestation is a close second)
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live trades only.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
I only trade option spreads. No equities or futures
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Very easy interface and tons of videos on the web for use and support.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Top notch support when you need them.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Since I only trade options, my answer would be no. They charge a per contract rate of .70 plus a per trade rate of 9.95. The .70 rate per contract is competitive, but adding the 9.95 per trade on top of that puts them over the top as compared to other self-directed brokers such in Interactive Brokers.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Excellent. YouTube has an endless supply of how to videos on TOS. Also Tasty Trade has some very good videos.
Overall, I am somewhat satisfied with TD Ameritrade. TOS does has some limitations in so much as it is slow to load data at times. When you switch symbols in a chart, sometimes it takes 3-5 seconds to load. Also have noticed my fills are not as good as they are with Interactive Brokers. When I am trading I have both TOS (TD Ameritrade) and TWS (Interactive Brokers) open at the same time. I run 4 monitors so I can have them both open. I have placed the same trades in both platforms and always get filled faster with IB. Sometimes my fills are immediate with IB and I never get filled with TD. I am only talking about option spreads as that is all I trade in these 2 accounts. I have asked the customer support at TD why this is and have received varied responses. Although I am not aware the industry sells order flow in options, it sure acts that way to me with TD.
Register for free at dough.com and open a tda brokerage account through their link. Unless something has changed since I did, you will get a flat 1.50 rate on options (depending on your size, maybe your cheaper with the 9.95). I believe you can still buy back short options for free that are .05 or less. You will also support tastytrade.com and be able to use TOS. Not sure if your current structure has it, but beware the $15 assigment fee if you get exercised.
Thanks for the info. I am aware of the special pricing given to members of Tastytrade and the new platform Dough. The 1.50 per contract is a good rate if you are only trading a few contracts and that is what it is designed for. I usually trade in 10 lots. So an iron condor would be 40 contracts. You multiply that by 1.50 and you come up with $60.00. My current rate is .70 per contract plus 9.95 per trade. So the same 10 lot iron condor would be $37.95. The same trade in my Interactive Broker account would be $28.00. Since I often leg out of an iron condor when I reach a 50% profit, using my TOS account, I would pay the 9.95 trade fee twice. That is why I don't trade as much in my TOS account as I do in my IB account. I mainly use TOS for analytics.
Same here! Trading a smaller acct. Using the above and a larger one at IB.I know ib's commissions vary based on what exchange u were filled on and if u provided or took liquidity from the market. personally i like having both at my disposal especially because so much is done mobile for me. Probly getting off topic so best trading to you!
Samesies. I noticed you said there is chart lag. I used to love ThinkOrSwim charting personally, but I moved over to the (free) tradingview and haven't looked back since. They aren't a brokerage, they just strictly allow members to use their charts and have a community within. I use ToS for alerts on spreads and because their option chains are easier to load/read than OptionHouse but other than that, ThinkOrSwim is just a backup trading account for me that I occasionally execute low contract option trades or stock trades with.
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? 1.5 years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim? The options analysis tab
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? analysis tab
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? Live trades
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this? discretionary trader. I scan for setups that meet my rules, use the analysis tab to select the right trade, and then place the trade
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim? moderate. I put several hours into learning what I wanted to know
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it? good to excellent
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? yes, the platform is free for me! I think I'm getting a good commission rate, too
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim? good to excellent
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? 0.5 years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim? Order entry
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? Ease of order entry for Options
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? Both
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this? discretionary Options trader
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim? Very easy compared other brokers Options platforms
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it? good but it is a bit confusing when you live in Canada as the platform is modified to not allow Futures which is a pain.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? It is a bit higher than others so I may switch
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim? good
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim? 6 months
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim? 1 click trades for complex option spreads, linked charts
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without? Ability to view multiple charts with links to watchlists
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it? Live trades only
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this? Discretionary trader, ability to view multiple charts with links to watchlists
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim? Very easy
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it? Very good
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced? Yes, when you factor in free real time data, and no platform fees
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim? N/A, I don't really use it
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
1 year
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
Free
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Benzinga squak box for free, able to link charts on seperate computers.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
use is for live trading but not as my platform. charts only
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
both
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
still learning, but there are tons of materials to help.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
4/5
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
free? YES! (I dont use it as my platform)
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
4/5
I downloaded the NinjaTrader8 demo this weekend. After 10 hours with it, I decided its not for me and I'll stay with the swimmers. My simple strategies don't require the complex tools that the NinjaTrader offers, and I saw that it would require more complexity in setup and in the day-to-day operation. NT8 sports accurate volume profile and I could have looked at 2y old intraday charts, but I can live without those. NT8 has some interesting looking order ticket tools, but I couldn't find a basic 1st triggers OCO, which is very accessible in thinkorswim's DOM and chart trading tools.
I don't use indicators or scripts, so I can't compare those. I pretty much use volume and drawings only and the NT8's drawing tools require approx 3x the clicks for routine drawing work. The toolbox for any one particular drawing type is just smaller. Even the "Stay in Drawing Mode" function required clicks between drawings just to get back into drawing mode. Thinkorswim lets you crank them out quickly and the right-click menu features all the tools needed to make changes.
Also, the data problems that I've complained about in previous years have become rare events. However, the cheesy volume profile continues to disappoint daily.
The following user says Thank You to Leon of Pizza for this post:
Thinkorswim offers an enormous amount of information for free. Imo everyone should have an account, even if unfunded. You get news, a polished platform, great customer service(this may change with the recent commission changes), straightforward coding, huge indicator database, free accurate level 2, backtesting(albeit average but still). I've tested nearly every platform and TOS is still in the top 5%, even though most of the others are not free.
The following user says Thank You to GreegT for this post:
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
Seven years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
Thinkscript, which allows for custom indicators
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Charting and think script
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live trades
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Easy to learn
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Very good
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
Yes, it is free
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
Very good
1) How long have you been using ThinkOrSwim?
4+ years
2) What are your favorite features of ThinkOrSwim?
I use TOS for charting. I trade using Tradovate b/c the fees are infinitely better.
Thinkscript and indicators are excellent.
3) What are some must-have deal breaker features in ThinkOrSwim that you could not do without?
Well, what the deal breaker for me (in terms of not actually trading there any more) was that
in early 2020 the chart would freeze for minutes at a time during the open period.
To answer the opposite though: "What features do I wish worked well?" OnDemand
It is a brilliant replay tool... if it only worked. Very buggy.
4) Do you use ThinkOrSwim in simulation mode only, or do you place live trades with it?
Live account... but just for charting. No trading.
5) Are you a discretionary trader or an algorithmic trader? How does ThinkOrSwim help you with this?
Discretionary. I must say that TOS's DOM (Active Trader), Time & Sales and Level II are excellent.
6) How easy/hard was it for you to learn to use ThinkOrSwim?
Pretty easy. Learning thinkscript was a bit more challenging. But thanks to
usethinkscript.com it has become a lot easier to learn.
7) How do you rate ThinkOrSwim's customer service/support, assuming you have needed to use it?
Excellent.
8) Do you believe ThinkOrSwim is competitively priced?
For futures, way too expensive.
9) How do you rate the community support that exists for ThinkOrSwim?
As I said, I frequent usethinkscript.com and it is an excellent resource.
will now save a lot of mouse effort, thanks.
