StreetSmart Edge® to thinkorswim® Part 1

Upbeat music plays throughout.

Narrator: Hello everyone and welcome to this intro video on the thinkorswim^® trading platform. This video will make you familiar with thinkorswim, so you can take advantage of your favorite features and functions of StreetSmart Edge^® on the thinkorswim platform.

Animation: thinkorswim login screen appears.

Narrator: Let's start with the login screen. As you will notice, there are two options to choose from: live trading, which is your funded account or accounts, as you may link multiple accounts, or paperMoney^®, which simulates live trading in a virtual money environment.

Well, here at the login screen, you will also notice a gear. This is similar to the settings function on StreetSmart Edge.

Once you log in, you will be taken to the home screen.

Animation: thinkorswim home screen appears.

Narrator: For today's discussion, let's give you a quick lay of the land. The left sidebar is where you can find account information and customizable gadgets. On the main window, you'll see tabs where you can do things like monitor positions, place trades, and analyze charts. As you may notice, there's a lot here, from news to heat maps to charts to quotes, and it's all customizable. Two questions you may have are, "How do I see my account balances?" and "Where are my positions?"

Animation: Zooms into and highlights the Account Info area in the upper left.

Narrator: Account balances are located on the left-side task bar under Account Information. These balances can be displayed or hidden if you choose by simply turning on the privacy function. Your positions will show up in the Activity and Positions subtab on the Monitor tab, as you can see here.

You can also find more detailed account information from the Account Statement subtab. Notice the current stock and options positions under Position Statement, just like in StreetSmart Edge. All current account positions will show up here.

Also, just like StreetSmart Edge, positions can be closed or rolled from this page with a simple right click, activating this drop-down menu. Working orders, filled orders, and canceled orders will all appear on this subtab as well. We will revisit this in a moment.

On to the tabs. While the layout of nine tabs and subtabs are fixed, items can be detached to allow for simultaneous viewing of subtabs no matter which tab you're on.

For example, if I choose to close the left sidebar because I want more viewing space on the Charts tab, but still want to see my watchlist, I can simply detach it and have it running concurrently in the background.

Animation: Arrow clicks on Charts tab and drags a watchlist from the left sidebar onto the chart, then closes the left sidebar.

Narrator: The watchlist can either be one you create or it come from a variety of pre-populated watchlists.

Also notice, just like StreetSmart Edge, thinkorswim offers linking of pages as well. Just make sure the numbers and colors of the linked pages match. This is great for checking charts on your watchlist items.

Speaking of charts, let's spend some time here, as many StreetSmart Edge users will be delighted to see all the chart functioning available.

Animation: Arrow highlights a portion on the chart and then right clicks on chart to open a drop-down menu.

Narrator: You can highlight a section of the chart to zoom in, or use the magnifying tools in the lower right corner.

Similar to StreetSmart Edge, right clicking, or command-click if you're using a Mac, will open a menu from which you can change style of chart or add studies and drawings. With over 300 available studies, you are sure to find something.

Quickest way to adjust time frame of a chart is to open the time frame setup next to the gear icon. Instead of a menu to the right of the chart as in StreetSmart Edge, you can find a similar toolbox above your chart in thinkorswim, from which you can also change the chart style, add drawings and studies from the menu at the top of the chart.

Animation: A trendline is added to a chart.

Narrator: Let's add some moving averages and trendlines to this chart. Unlike StreetSmart Edge, you don't need to hold down the left click the entire time—just once to start the trendline and once to finish.

As in StreetSmart Edge, right clicking on the study will allow you to remove or edit it. We change the default time frame and color of the study by right clicking and choosing edit study, then Apply, and OK.

The gear icon allows you to further customize chart settings. You can also place trades or create alerts by right clicking.

Now let's place some trades, starting with a stock trade. One of the truly convenient functions of thinkorswim is that it allows you to place a trade anywhere you see a bid or an ask. Let's start with the Trade tab.

Animation: Arrow clicks on trade tab and MSFT is typed into the Symbol look up.

Narrator: Once you enter the symbol, a simple left click on the ask will populate a buy order in the Order Entry tool, which is below at the bottom of this window. A right click will open a drop-down menu, which will allow for more advanced trading functions, such as custom orders.

Let's try one with a stop order. Notice that in thinkorswim, for stop orders, you enter your limit price on the top and your stop price on the bottom. This is the opposite for StreetSmart Edge. Don't forget to change the TIF, or time in force, to good-till-canceled, if you want the stop order to remain active beyond the current trading day.

Once you are ready to complete your order, select Confirm and Send, the order confirmation dialog box will appear. Then, you'll have one last opportunity to delete or edit your order before sending. To create a conditional order, select the gear icon next to Best. From this window, you can create rules and conditions for your order.

Let's now move on to placing an options trade. From the same subtab, you can also place options trades. Like StreetSmart Edge, strikes are found by expanding expirations. However, in the option chain in thinkorswim, calls and puts are always shown next to the strike, with calls on the left and puts on the right.

As with StreetSmart Edge, you can change the number of strikes shown by clicking on the Strikes drop down. To manage the information shown in the option chain, select Layout to select a different setting.

Similar to buying a stock, for long options, select the ask price. For short options, select the bid price. This will automatically open Order Entry Tools. For example, to sell a call, click the bid price for your selected strikes.

Unlike StreetSmart Edge, you can't select the entire row. You must select the bid price to sell or the ask price to buy.

Animation: Arrow highlights a row on the option chain and clicks on the bid price of one of the options.

Narrator: Also, unlike StreetSmart Edge, the default quantity is 10 contracts.

Animation: Zooms into the order entry bar and highlights the number 10.

Narrator: You can adjust on an order-by-order basis or change the default quantity.

For multi-leg options, you control click to add additional legs if you choose. You can right click to open a menu that allows you to select from a variety of advanced option strategies. This is different than StreetSmart Edge.

Remember earlier when we entered the stop order and worked it below the market. Now let's go check on its status. We'll go back to the Monitor tab. Then the Activity and Positions subtab.

Here, you will find our working orders, our filled orders, and our canceled orders. Let's check the order status. If it's still working, we can always cancel and replace. If it's filled, here's where you will find the filled price.

Let's wrap this up by discussing the Education tab and the Learning Center.

Animation: Arrow opens the Education center.

Narrator: Today's session was meant to be a basic, getting started demo, featuring account info, charts, and trading.

We've just scratched the surface. To become more thinkorswim savvy, we've got a lot of tool demos that provide a deeper dive into more specialized features of thinkorswim.

And be sure to check out the Getting Started with thinkorswim webcast.

On-screen text: [Schwab logo] Own your tomorrow^®