Think or Swim Tutorial - Setting up Charts Studies

In this tutorial, you will be described how to start your technical analysis and how to set up important studies in the ThinkorSwim Trading Platform. By the end of this article, you will be able to utilize basic studies charts and fit them to your trading style. For further information about advanced studies such as: Implied Volatility (IV), Historical Volatility (HV), Momentum, Bollinger Bands, Simple Moving Averages (SMA) and more go to Think or Swim Tutorial - Add Studies to your Charts - A little Technical Analysis.

How to place the most rewarding options strategies from scratch? Visit my website at www.FromZeroToOptions.com to get tutorials, instructions, articles and much more stocks and options related.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

In ThinkorSwim, you can add as many studies as you want to your charts, save these studies and load them when you need the information they provide.

Click on Studies on the top of the chartand then Add Studies. Right here, you can either look at your studies divided into different types or alphabetically. Another way to proceed is to click on Studies and then Edit Studies. Now you can pick from the list on the left any study you would like to utilize. What’s more, next to many studies, you can find a question mark. If you left click on it, there is an explanation of what that study is designed to do.

Imagine you want to add a Moving Average in your chart. You have to scroll down the list in alphabetic order and select the Simple Moving Average. Click on it twice. On the right side, you should see your new study under the section “Added Studies and Strategies”. At this point, you can choose to have your study directly showed on your chart (studies on upper sub-graph) or to have it under your chart in a different window (studies on lower sub-paragraphs). This choice depends on the piece of information or study you would like to add to your chart.

For example, in the case of the Moving Average you want to have it showed in your chart, because in this way you can receive useful signals to buy or sell your stock when the price crosses the Moving Average line.

Free Tutorials - Stocks, Options and ThinkorSwim. Click Here.

I personally like to set up two Simple Moving Averages (SMAs), a short term (20,0) and a long-term (200,0) ones. You can set them this way. Go back to the Chart and click again on the button Studies on the top. Then click on Quick Study and Moving Averages. In the new menu you see, scroll down and click on Simple Moving Average. Now you have two different ways to set the SMAs.

1. Click again on Studies and then Edit Studies. In this window, you will find in the right side “Added Studies and Strategies” the study you have just added. Click on it just once and you will see new windows on the bottom with the study’s properties. In the input field, select Close as price and 20 as Length. You want to set a short Moving Average at 20 days based on the price at the end of the day. At this point, you can repeat the same action to create a long term SMA at 200 days.
2. Click directly on the Chart with the left button of the mouse. As the new menu came out, click Edit Simple Moving Average and then proceed as above. For each Study, you can choose different Type, Style, Width and Colour giving the layout you like.

How to save Studies in ThinkorSwim

If you want your chart to look exactly how you have just set it, you can click on Studies, then Save Studies Set, enter the name you like and save your studies. This is an important feature; because it allows you to apply to charts any study you have selected or created. Basically, you just need to set any study you like once and then utilize it multiple times and for whatever stock you want.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Do not forget to visit my website at www.FromZeroToOptions.com to get tutorials, instructions, articles and much more stocks and options related.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

How to save Styles in ThinkorSwim

You can save any style set by clicking on Style on the top right of the “Charts” Tab just above the chart. Then click Save Style andenter the name you like. What is important is the chance in this window to include in the style even the study set. Once again, this is an important feature because it allows you to apply any style and study you have chosen to any Stock at the same time. Basically, you just need to set any style and study you like once and then can utilize it multiple times and for whatever Stock you want to trade.

Free Tutorials - Stocks, Options and ThinkorSwim. Click Here.

In the next GroWithYou Trading Tutorial:

• How to set up the ImpVolatility (IV) study
• How to set up the Momentum study
• How to set up the Bollinger Bands SMA
• How to set up Simple Moving Averages
• How to set up the Historical Volatility (HV) study
• How to put together these studies (Configuration 1, 2 and 3)

Keep learning about ThinkorSwim and Stock Options by going to: Think or Swim Tutorial - Add Studies to your Charts - A little Technical Analysis.

If you have found this article helpful remember to:

- Rate it up

- Share it

- Leave a comment or question

- Add you as my follower to get my next Hubs

Not yet a HubPages Member, sign up from here: