Hey traders.
I'm Mike Obucina,
and in this video,
I'm going to give
you a high level
walkthrough of the
thinkorswim trading platform.
Let's jump in.
To start, we're going
to download thinkorswim
to our computer.
Now, if you're an existing
TD Ameritrade client,
simply navigate to
TDAmeritrade.com
and log into your account.
Once you're logged
into the website,
navigate your mouse
to the Trade tab.
And below, under
Trading Platforms,
you'll see a link
for thinkorswim.
When you click on
that link, you'll
be navigated to a
page that allows
you to download thinkorswim.
Click that button and start that
thinkorswim program installer.
Once you've completed
downloading thinkorswim
to your computer, you'll
notice that an icon now
appears on your desktop.
Double click this icon to
begin the login process.
Once the login screen
appears, enter your username
and password.
Click log in.
Now as a new user
of thinkorswim,
it's important to understand
how the platform is laid out.
Specifically, we have, on
the left, our left sidebar.
We'll talk about
this in a little bit.
And then the right,
we have nine tabs
that essentially hold all
the different features
of thinkorswim.
And within each of these
tabs are different sub tabs.
For example, our nine tabs,
we have our Monitor tab,
Trade, Analyze, Scan,
Market Watch, Charts, Tools,
Education, and finally, Help.
And below each of these
tabs are sub tabs.
For example, under
the Monitor tab,
we have Activity and Positions,
Account Statement, FX Reports,
and Strategy Roller.
And as we move from tab
to tab, those sub tabs
also change based on whatever
tab we are working in.
Now let's jump into
our first activity,
and that's going to be to
set up our left hand sidebar.
So for this particular
demo, I'm actually
going to clean this
entire sidebar up.
By default, we're set up
with live news, our Trader TV
gadget, a watch list, and
if we click this arrow down
at the bottom, you'll
notice that we have
a quick chart also enabled.
This is by default. So if
this is your first time
logging in to the platform,
you'll see those four gadgets.
Let's clean that up.
I'm going to click
this gear wheel
at the bottom of the screen.
And you'll notice that we have
all these gadgets that I just
showed you.
And let's delete them all.
I want to show you what a
clean sidebar looks like.
I just click those
Xs, and you'll
notice the only thing left
is our account info screen.
And that is the one gadget
you can't get rid of.
You can hide it
with this carrot,
but you can't get rid of it.
And really, that's
because this is
an important section
for every trader
to have available to them.
Now, let's set up our sidebar
with two gadgets, Trader TV
and a watch list.
So I'm going to go
to this plus sign.
If I want to add a
gadget, and you'll
notice our whole menu
of available gadgets
appears, and we're
going to hit Trader TV.
It allows you to watch
live news in real time.
Every day, TD Ameritrade streams
throughout the market day
market news, information,
different shows,
great, great tool.
Now, if I want to make this
screen a little bit bigger,
I'm just going to put my
mouse in this dividing line
and we're going to
stretch that out.
And now have a nice,
large video player
that we can have docked
to the side of our screen.
If you want to switch
between TD Ameritrade
Network and other channels,
you can do that right here.
But now, we have our
Trader TV set up.
I'm going to pause
that for a second,
and then the next
thing we're going to do
is add a watch list.
Now, this is probably the
single most used gadget
on the left hand sidebar.
Makes sense, right?
Because as you're trading
throughout the trading day,
it's great to have a watch
list available so you
can keep track of the markets.
I'm going to click that.
And by default,
you'll see that we
have a default loaded watch
list that we've created here
at TD Ameritrade, but
let's change this.
For example, if we change
this menu from default
you'll notice a whole
sub menu appears.
And you'll see we have our
personal created watch lists,
but then we have a number of
different public watch lists.
For this example, let's add the
Dow Jones Industrial Average,
which are the 30
stocks of the Dow.
We're going to hover our
mouse over percent through G.
You'll notice these are
alphabetically listed.
Then I'm going to go
over here to our sub menu
and go down to Dow Jones
Industrial Average.
And just like that, we have a
watch list of the Dow Jones.
Same thing as we
did with Trader TV.
If we want to enlarge
this, just hover your mouse
over that dividing line.
And we're going to
stretch that down.
If we need to see more
room, we can click that up.
The other thing, if we want
to close or shrink Trader TV,
you'll notice our video
players start shrinking,
but then the available room
for our watch list increases.
Now let's move on
to our Charts tab.
Charts are probably one
of the most used features
of thinkorswim.
The charting package
is excellent.
There's a number of
different things you can do.
One thing that every trader
should know how to do
is set up a type of
chart you want to see,
whether it's a candlestick, a
bar chart, but also time frame.
So let me show you
how to do that.
So by default, you'll see we're
on a one year, one day chart.
And you can see that duration
here in the left hand corner.
When you navigate
the chart, you'll
see that we are our mouse is
highlighting with crosshairs
where we're at on the chart.
And as we move
throughout the chart,
the different values up
here from the opening price,
high, low, close, that's
going to be based on whatever
candlestick we're looking at.
If we want to switch mean
a different drawing tool,
we can click this button and
we can change to a pointer.
So there I've
changed to a pointer.
Now if I want to zoom in
on a section of the chart,
I click my mouse, hover
it over, and now we
can look at a closer
version of this chart
over the last few months.
If I want to zoom out, I can
click this magnifying glass
out.
If I want to zoom in, you
click the magnifying glass
to zoom in really close.
Either way, it's a very
simple charting package
to get used to here
with these basic tools.
Now, first thing,
let's imagine we wanted
to change this to a bar chart.
Well, if you right
click on the chart,
you can see that we have
this button called Style.
Well, we have another
sub menu from there.
And essentially, the one we're
going to look at is Chart Type.
So right now we're on
a candle, but if we
want to switch to a bar, a
candle trend, line chart,
we just simply
select right there.
And you'll notice
now our candlesticks
are now bar charts.
Really easy to switch.
The other thing you can do is
you can go to this gear wheel
at the top, Chart
Settings, and essentially
do a lot of different
customization
from just general
settings of the chart,
adjust things on
your price's axis,
your time axis, you can create
time frames for your chart,
which we'll talk about
here in a second.
But more importantly, and
everyone asks about this,
is appearance.
So what I just did with
a couple of clicks,
we can go into this
Appearance section.
We have that same types of
charts that we can choose from.
Let's switch back to candle.
You'll notice our preview
has switched the candle.
We can change the
color of our candles.
So if we want to go
from a green to gray,
whatever really you want to
see, you can do right here.
It's a very widely used
feature of the platform
to customize your chart look.
Once you're ready
with the changes,
you can hit Apply
and OK, and now you
can see where we're
back to that candle
setting with the original colors
that we saw when we started.
Next I want to show you how
to change the time frame.
So you'll notice,
right now, like I said,
we're on a one
year, one day chart.
If we want to switch that to
an intraday chart, for example,
there's this little
drop down that
says D, which stands for
Day, or time frame setup.
And when we do that, we'll have
some preloaded time frames.
So one day, one minute.
And you'll notice, now, we are
on a one day, one minute chart,
and that D changed to 1m, so
it lets you know you are now
in a one minute chart.
And we're looking at one trading
day with one minute candle
increments.
So every one minute of market
data will be a new candle.
If we want to switch
that, maybe look
at a five day, five minute,
that will change as well.
And more importantly, if you
want to create your own custom
time frame, well, you
just switch from Favorites
to Time frame, and we just
switch to whatever day period
we want to see.
Let's say we want to
look at five days,
and then go to a 30 minute.
You can also move
this bar at the bottom
if you want specific
customized time frames.
It's extremely
customizable, I guess,
is my point I'm
trying to get at.
Really based on how you trade,
how you look at the markets.
So now we're on a five day,
five minute chart for this Intel
example.
Next, I'm going to
show you probably
the most important activity
that a trader should know
how to do on
thinkorswim, and that
is how to buy or sell a stock.
First thing I'm
going to do, though,
is going to collapse
the left hand sidebar
by clicking this button.
Gives us some more
real estate so I
can show you the entire Trade
tab, All Products sub tab.
And what we're looking at is,
essentially, the current market
for Apple stock.
At the top here, we
have the stock name,
the last traded price, the
gain or loss for the day based
on dollars and percent, as well
as the current bid and ask.
ETB stands for Easy to Borrow.
So if you were shorting Apple,
it'd be an easy to borrow
stock.
And then where is
the stock listed?
It is currently
listed on the NASDAQ.
So if we click
this carrot you'll
notice we have a bunch
of different data points.
This section is an extremely
important section, but how do
you actually buy
and sell the stock?
Well, it's pretty simple.
You can do it a number of ways.
The first thing,
let's imagine we
wanted to buy 100
shares of Apple stock.
I'm going to hover my
mouse over the ask price,
and you see there's a
little buy badge that
shows up under my mouse.
If I were looking
to sell Apple, you
can see I hover my
mouse over the bid
and a sell button appears.
Now, if I click
the ask price, you
see an order appears
at the bottom
to buy 100 shares of Apple at
a floating limit price based
on the current ask price.
And it defaults to a limit
order in a day order.
We'll talk about
this in a second.
I'm going to delete
this order real quick.
One other thing I
want to point out,
let's bring back our sidebar,
you'll notice we had a bid
and ask price in our
watch list columns.
So if I click on the ask
price from the watch list,
guess what?
That same order editor appears
at the bottom of our screen.
So moral of the
story is, anytime you
see a bid price, an ask
price, or a main price
next to a symbol
name or lookup, you
can enter an order from
that part of the software.
So once again, let's
click on the ask price.
I'm going to walk you through
this order really quick.
We have stock.
We're buying 100
shares of Apple.
Current limit price
of $257.66, and it
is a day order, which means,
if we were to place this order,
it would be good for
today's trading date.
Now, let's say we just
want it to get filled.
We can switch that
to a market order.
We also have a number
of different order types
available in this order
editor, but let's switch
to a market, which means we
will get filled that the best
available ask price.
Hit Confirm and Send.
Now, this section
of the software
is extremely important.
It is the order
confirmation dialog.
This is where you
have your last chance
to review and order, double,
triple check all of this
before you place your order.
When you're ready, hit Send.
And you'll notice
up here at the top,
we have some messages
that appeared.
We bought 100 shares of Apple.
And then it goes away.
So what happened to that stock?
Well, this is where we move
over to our Monitor tab.
And Monitor tab, Activity
and Positions sub tab,
this will be the area
for you to monitor
all of your open positions
as well as your activity
for the trading day.
So for example,
remember we talked about
or thinkorswim has tabs,
sub tabs, and sections.
Well, under the Activity and
Positions sub tab section,
we have today's trade activity.
And this is where you'll see any
of your working orders, filled
orders, you'll notice
we have one fill,
and that was the
trade we just placed,
as well as canceled orders.
Now let's go back and
do one more example.
Let's say we wanted to buy
another 100 shares of Apple,
but this time we wanted to do it
if Apple dropped down to $250.
I'm putting my mouse
in there and I'm
entering a specific price.
That padlock is now locked
because it's no longer floating
with the current market.
And we have a limit order
that's good for the day,
and we're going to
hit Confirm and Send.
And now if we go back to
our Monitor tab, Activity
and Positions,
you'll notice we now
have a working order in
our working orders section.
And it's essentially all the
details we just looked at.
Now let's imagine we--
so you know what?
I want to place this
order good till canceled,
so that it works
until either I cancel
it or Apple fills it $250.
You can right click.
Now, in thinkorswim, the
right click of the mouse
is extremely important.
If you're on an Apple, it
would be the Command key
and your mouse click button.
But for PC users, if you
right click your mouse,
you'll see a menu will appear
and we can cancel the order.
We can cancel and
replace the order.
So we want to cancel and
replace this particular order.
So I'm going to
change that, and I'm
going to go here and change
this to good till canceled.
Everything else stays the same.
I'm going to hit
Confirm and Send.
And now you can see we've got
a message that our original day
order was canceled.
We can close it out by clicking
the X, and then Monitor,
we go back and you can see now
we have an order working good
till canceled.
So what happened to
our original order?
Well, we go down to
Canceled, and there it is.
Canceled orders.
Buy 100 shares of Apple,
$250 limit for the day.
We canceled that, replaced it
with this good till canceled
order.
And you can see here,
we have our filled order
from a few minutes ago.
So this is, essentially,
where you're
going to keep track
of all your orders
for the current trading day.
This will clear out and
reset every single day,
and all of your order
history will then
be found under the
Account Statements sub
tab, Order History section.
Now let's show you how
to treat a call option.
We went through the
process to trade stock,
now we're going to
look at a process
to how to trade a call option.
Essentially similar, we're going
to trade from a different part
of the platform.
So instead of our
underlying section
here where we have our bid
and ask for the stock price,
we're going to go down
into the option chain.
Then for the example that
we're going to look at,
let's trade the
December expiration.
And if you want to trade
a call or a put option,
it's the same process,
we have our calls
on the left, our
puts on the right,
we can show a few more strikes
under this expiration series.
And as you can see,
we have that same bid
and ask column that
we see for the stock.
Same process applies.
If you want to buy an option,
we click on the ask price.
If you want to sell an option,
click on the bid price.
I'm going to left click my mouse
on this $260 call in December
on Apple.
Our order editor appears.
Our order quantity
defaults to 10.
You can change that by going
to the Setup application
settings, order default.
So we can go to Options,
and let's change that to 1
and apply those settings.
And now I'm going to delete
this and requeue the order up.
And look, our order
default has changed to 1.
Same process.
We can choose between
limit order, market orders.
With options, we generally
want to use a limit order,
so let's lock in that
$6.25, hit Confirm and Send,
and you can see we just
got filled on our long $260
call in December on Apple.
If we go back to
the Monitor page,
you'll now notice below
our stock position,
we have the December
$260 call, one contract.
And the same thing applies
with the P and L opening day.
You're going to see those
numbers vary from day to day.
But now we have a stock
position and an option position.
So you're probably asking, how
do I close this position out.
What we recommend is, go to the
Monitor tab, activity positions
page, and right click.
Or if you're on Apple,
command and click your mouse
to queue up the order.
So first, let's close
out our stock position.
I'm going to right click
Apple, create closing order,
and then you'll see
an order queues up
to sell 100 Apple at
the current price.
Whatever your
quantity is, whatever
your underlying instrument is,
when you right click and create
closing order, it
will automatically
populate the opposite of
your existing position.
Let's do this as a market order.
Hit Confirm and
Send, and now you'll
see we were filled on
our Apple, so we've
taken that small
profit from yesterday.
And as you can see,
our quantity is now 0.
And finally, let's take a
look at the Education tab
in thinkorswim, starting
with the Education sub tab.
Now here, we've embedded the
TD Ameritrade Education Center
into thinkorswim,
so you don't have
to leave the platform
to get access
to the great education
provided here at TD Ameritrade.
Specifically, you can get access
to videos recommended for you,
upcoming webcasts,
in-person event schedule,
different coursework
that we've created
to help you learn different
strategies and products,
as well as thinkorswim
tutorial videos.
Now, all of this can also be
navigated through this section
here, if you want to learn
about different products
and different portfolio
strategies, all of that
is exactly as it would
be as if you were
logged into TDAmeritrade.com.
One other thing I want to
show you is the support chat
feature up here on the right
hand corner, click support
chat.
And under Live Support tab, if
we hit Create Support Request,
we can send a text
message to our trade desk
right here from the platform.
Let's say you needed
help with an order.
You'd type that in and
hit Create Request,
and then a message will
be sent to our trade desk.
One of our representatives
will receive that and start
speaking to you over chat.
They can look in and
check out your screen
and answer any questions
you have regarding
any issue with the platform.
It's a great feature if you
don't want to give us a call
or if you're unable to.
And that's a look
at thinkorswim.
For more information, head
over to the Education Center
at TDAmeritrade.com,
and don't forget
to watch the videos
on our YouTube channel
for more in-depth walkthroughs
and tutorials of thinkorswim,
head over to the
thinkorswim learning center
at TLC.thinkorswim.com.
