Thinkorswim Active Trader: A Comprehensive Guide

thinkorswim Active Trader is a powerful tool for experienced traders who want to take their skills to the next level. It offers advanced features and customization options that can help you stay ahead of the market.

With thinkorswim Active Trader, you can create complex trading strategies and customize your charts to suit your needs. This is made possible by its robust backtesting capabilities and extensive library of technical indicators.

One of the key benefits of thinkorswim Active Trader is its ability to handle large volumes of data and perform complex calculations quickly. This is thanks to its advanced architecture and high-performance computing capabilities.

thinkorswim Active Trader is designed for traders who want to take control of their trading experience and customize their platform to suit their needs. It offers a wide range of features and tools that can help you stay organized and focused.

Thinkorswim offers extensive charting capabilities, allowing you to easily edit time frames, add indicators or studies, draw trend lines, and see upcoming earnings and ex-dividend dates.

You can customize your Thinkorswim layout to suit your preferences, making it easier to navigate the platform and use all its features. This includes creating custom layouts to see stock charts, indicators, positions, order windows, news, and watch lists all from the same screen.

The active trader Thinkorswim mobile (or PC version) option is simple to access, with features like one-click order, bid/ask ladder, data on bids, analytics on asks, and data on volume.

Thinkorswim users can trade stocks, options, and futures within a single account, which is a rare benefit that might be prized by some investors. This feature is advantageous for investors who want the flexibility to trade various types of securities without needing multiple accounts.

Trading futures and options in your account still requires separate applications in addition to the one you filled out to get your TD Ameritrade brokerage account.

Having the ability to trade multiple assets in one account is an efficient use of buying power and allows for more potential compounding.

Thinkorswim offers extensive charting capabilities, making it a valuable tool for traders who rely on technical analysis for making investment decisions.

The charts allow you to easily edit time frames, add indicators or studies, draw trend lines, and see upcoming earnings and ex-dividend dates.

You can customize your charts to suit your trading style, and the platform provides a full list of features available, which can be checked out in our guide to Thinkorswim charts.

Thinkorswim's scanning tool is incredibly powerful, allowing you to filter and search for stocks based on specific criteria or studies.

You can look for stocks selling for less than $20 per share or filter for stocks with more than a million shares of trading volume on average in the last week.

Thinkorswim also lets you base scans on studies, saving you time by automatically finding stocks that meet your criteria.

For example, if you like to make investments based on the Relative Strength Index indicator, you can choose to scan for stocks using that study as a filter.

Thinkorswim even allows you to write your own code for creating scans using their programming language, thinkScript.

This is particularly helpful if you have an algorithmic trading strategy and want a scan with specific but custom rules.

After running a scan, you can call the scan results into a watch list, which can auto-populate from the scan, saving you time and effort.

Call options give you the right, but not the obligation, to buy a stock at a specified price before a certain date.

In options trading, the strike price is the price at which you can buy the underlying stock if you choose to exercise your option.

The premium you pay for a call option is the cost of buying the option, and it's usually lower than the strike price.

Thinkorswim allows you to trade call options with a wide range of strike prices and expiration dates.

You can use call options to speculate on a stock's price increase, hedge against potential losses, or generate income through selling options.

Thinkorswim offers two options for traders: Thinkorswim and Active Trader Pro. Thinkorswim is better suited for professionals and experts due to its extensive features.

If you're new to trading, Active Trader Pro is a more beginner-friendly option. It allows you to easily tweak settings as per your needs by clicking or tapping on the "active trading" tab.

Thinkorswim is a powerful platform, but it may be overwhelming for beginners. If you're not sure which option to choose, consider your level of experience and the features you need.

Here's a quick comparison of the two options:

Thinkorswim's trading tools are designed to help you make informed decisions and execute trades quickly. The platform's active trading features allow you to analyze real-time data about stocks, giving you a clear understanding of market movements.

You can use the customizable scans tool to filter and search for stocks based on specific criteria or studies, saving you time and effort. For example, you can look for stocks selling for less than $20 per share or more than a million shares of trading volume on average in the last week.

Thinkorswim's Active Trader window is a game-changer for placing and editing orders. With just a few clicks, you can submit orders in seconds, compared to manually filling out traditional order forms.

Trading is the exchange of goods or services for something else of value, often involving a risk of loss.

It's a fundamental concept in finance and commerce, where buyers and sellers interact to meet their needs and wants.

Trading can be done in various markets, including stock markets, commodity markets, and foreign exchange markets.

These markets provide a platform for buyers and sellers to negotiate prices and terms of trade.

Trading involves a level of risk, as the value of the goods or services being traded can fluctuate.

This risk can be managed through various strategies, such as diversification and hedging.

Trading requires a good understanding of market trends, prices, and other factors that can affect the value of the goods or services being traded.

This knowledge can be gained through research, analysis, and experience.

Trading can be done by individuals, companies, and institutions, each with their own goals and motivations.

These goals can range from making a profit to meeting specific business needs.

Trading is a dynamic process that requires continuous learning and adaptation.

This is because market conditions and trends are constantly changing.

Trading involves a level of skill and expertise, which can be developed over time with practice and experience.

This skill can be applied to various types of trading, including day trading, swing trading, and position trading.

Thinkorswim's customizable layouts are a game-changer for traders. You can create custom layouts to suit your preferences, making it easier to navigate the platform and use all its features.

The initial layout may be overwhelming for some users, but Thinkorswim allows for customization. This means you can tailor the layout to your specific trading needs.

With a custom layout, you can see multiple features on the same screen, such as stock charts, indicators, positions, order windows, news, and watch lists. This can save you a lot of time and make trading more efficient.

Our custom layout allows you to see all these features from the same screen, making it easier to keep track of your trades and market activity.

Thinkorswim's customizable layouts are a key feature that sets it apart from other trading platforms. By creating a custom layout, you can streamline your trading experience and make the most of Thinkorswim's features.

Here are some of the key features you can include in your custom layout:

Thinkorswim's indicators and studies are incredibly robust, with hundreds to choose from. You can find a wide range of studies, including lesser-known ones that are harder to find in other trading platforms.

Thinkorswim does a great job of catering to these harder-to-find studies, making it a standout in the industry. The platform has one of the most extensive collections of studies available.

The sheer number of studies can be overwhelming, but Thinkorswim makes it easy to find what you're looking for. You can check out the studies starting with the letter "A" to get an idea of just how many options are available.

Thinkorswim's customizable scans allow you to filter and search for stocks based on specific criteria or studies. This means you can quickly find stocks that meet your investment criteria, saving you time and effort.

With Thinkorswim, you can even write your own code for creating scans using thinkScript, the platform's programming language. This is especially helpful if you have an algorithmic trading strategy that requires custom rules.

Thinkorswim's OCO orders are a game-changer for active traders.

Many trading platforms don't offer OCO orders, forcing users to manually set profit targets and stop loss orders separately.

This creates more work for users to keep track of and manage their positions.

Thinkorswim's OCO orders automate this process, saving users a lot of time.

Paper trading is a simulated trading environment that allows you to practice trading without risking real money. Thinkorswim offers this feature, which is a plus compared to brokerages that don't.

This feature is beneficial for gaining experience and confidence in making trades or investments. It's a great way to test your skills and strategies without any financial risk.

We really like Thinkorswim and think it's suitable for active traders.

Thinkorswim is a platform that offers a wide range of features that make it stand out.

The platform is highlighted in a video review that showcases its key features.

Thinkorswim is not an exhaustive list of all of its features, but rather a selection of the most noteworthy ones.

This review is not a comprehensive list of all the features that Thinkorswim offers.

If you're experiencing issues with thinkorswim active trader, start by checking your internet connection, as a stable connection is required for the platform to function properly.

A slow or unresponsive platform can be caused by an outdated browser, so make sure you're running the latest version of your browser.

If you're still experiencing issues, try clearing your browser's cache and cookies, as this can help resolve any technical problems.

Thinkorswim active trader requires a minimum of 1 GHz processor speed and 4 GB of RAM to run smoothly, so ensure your computer meets these system requirements.

If you're experiencing issues with your account, try resetting your password, as this can help resolve any login problems.

Thinkorswim active trader is designed to be user-friendly, but if you're still having trouble, reach out to TD Ameritrade's customer support team for assistance.