A free online trading service offered by TD Ameritrade, Thinkorswim lets customers chart securities and trade securities from three different platforms – web, Desktop, and Mobile. Typically, clients can trade stocks, ETFs, and options on U.S. stock exchanges all day, every day.
Below is a Thinkorswim review that walks you through the details of this platform for investors who are already clients of TD Ameritrade or may want to become clients.
Login To Thinkorswim
his post explains what is required to log into ThinkOrSwim. If you are new to TD Ameritrade’s ThinkOrSwim platform, please read on for detailed instructions on getting started.
Download The Program
You must start by getting hold of thinkorswim itself. If you don’t have it installed yet, visit the thinkorswim download page and download it. Launch the installation program and follow the prompts. Make sure you install it for all users. Once you’re done, click OK, and the program should automatically launch.
Login Screen For Thinkorswim
When the application has been installed, you should double-click its icon to open it. You will see a progress bar that says “Checking for updates…” for a few minutes while TDA checks for updates. Upon clicking, a login screen will appear if any are installed. Otherwise, they will be installed and relaunched:
You’ll find the usual username and password fields on the Thinkorswim login page. However, there are also a few other options to explore:
Symbol For Locking
To prevent repeating this step the next time you launch the program, click the “lock” icon after typing in your username. As a result, you save time and effort in the future.
Feel And Look
Before launching the platform, you have several options. First, you can select your theme. Many people use a dark theme, and I prefer it as well. It may seem counterintuitive, but I believe that a light theme makes your eyes less tired. If you prefer, you can select another option if you are staring at your computer screen for several hours straight.
After changing the font size, you need to make sure your monitor is as large as possible. If your monitor is small, you could choose a smaller font size.
If you need to connect through a specific server, you will see a space next to the proxy server address. Most people will probably ignore this. However, if you have difficulty reading small text, you may want to use a larger font size.
Recollections
The last two fields in the specification allow you to specify the maximum and minimum amount of memory to be assigned to the platform. This instructs TOS to block off a certain amount of RAM on your computer so that it can be used exclusively for this program.
You can adjust the minimum and maximum settings to increase performance, but you will be alerted if the platform starts running out of memory if these settings are too low.
Keeping Backups
The software is automatically backed up regularly, and you can always replace the backup if you want. In addition, if anything goes wrong on the platform, you can always roll back to the previous version. Additionally, if you have a version saved externally, you can always load it from a different computer.
Then, click the clock icon to select the backup date you wish to create if you wish to choose a backup that doesn’t appear in the program’s main folder, like the last option in the menu, browse for the backup.
Once you have selected your options and set them up as you want, click Save to return to Thinkorswim’s main login page. There, you can choose whether to trade live or simulated with paper money, type in your password and then click Log In.
Thinkorswim Login Screen Shows Up
Following the ThinkOrSwim login process and the Platform loading, you will see the ThinkOrSwim “home screen.” This is ThinkOrSwim’s news and updates page. On this page, you can view recent blog entries and CNBC streams.
Personally, this popup is annoying to me, and other people find it annoying. However, you can close it by clicking the X in the top right corner of the platform, and you can always open it again by clicking Home Screen in the top right corner.
It is straightforward to turn off the home screen popup even if you are one of the people who dislike it. Just click Setup in the top right corner and select Application Settings.
Select Startup on the next page, then uncheck the box to prevent the home screen from opening every time you boot up the phone. Accept the changes, and you will no longer see the popup on subsequent launches.
Conclusion
This should provide you with a comprehensive overview of logging into ThinkOrSwim. If you have any questions, please leave a comment. If you are having trouble logging in to your thinkorswim account, TD Ameritrade will help you reset your password or username.
Frequently Asked Questions ( thinkorswim login )
Access thinkorswim Web directly by logging in at trade.thinkorswim.com. You can also download thinkorswim Desktop by following these steps or download thinkorswim Mobile by visiting the App Store or Google Play Store.
Start by registering for a paper trading account.
Fill out your information.
Review your data and create an account.
Download the thinkorswim trading platform.
Activate your paper trading account.
Now you’re ready to begin trading with TD Ameritrade. Open an account and start selling like the pros, using thinkorswim.
Thinkorswim is even more convenient in the way it allows you to practice simulated trading without having a TD Ameritrade account. To download the program without a TD Ameritrade account, click the “Register now” button at tdameritrade.com/thinkorswim.
You must set up a domestic wire transfer into your TD Ameritrade account through Wells Fargo, which serves as an intermediary bank. To set up a domestic wire transfer, follow the right instructions.
To begin with, if you’re not using the paper trading version of thinkorswim, the default is delayed data. However, if you choose to use the Real-time option, there is no delayed data, but your computer will have more work to do to keep up with the stream.