TOS chart set-up question

Hello everyone,

I'm new to the forum as I just found it. I am thrilled to follow what everyone is doing with their trading. I took 1-5 with GW quite a while back. After a period of no trading (no excuses) I'm wanting to get back into practice. I too am in the camp of QCharts being too expensive and have decided on the advise of another student to set-up my charts on ThinkorSwim. So far everything is set-up as I like it and working great except for some issues with charting time frames and intervals. I was able to create a 233 chart but it limits me to 90 days of time frame. Due to this issue (I think), my 50SMA only shows half way across the screen and the 200SMA doesn't plot at all. Also on my 55-minute chart I'm limited to 20 day time frame and the 50SMA shows across but the 200SMA only plots about 1/3 of the way from the right edge. Has anyone else dealt with this issue and found a solution. I was chatting with a rep of TOS this morning for a long while and were unable to figure out the problem/solution.

Thanks in advance for any advise and I'm excited about the forum!

Nathan

TOS is a fantastic, free charting platform. Unfortunately, it does have several quirks and limitations. What you are describing regarding the 233 and 55 charts is one of them. Your 233 chart can be extended to 180 days, but the 55 is limited to 20, as you have discovered.

So am I wasting time looking for a fix? Their agent told me I could contact their ThinkScript staff via email and that something could possibly be created via a custom code.

I guess it doesn't matter too much as long as I have a partial line towards the right edge of the chart. My concern about this partial line are mainly "Is it accurate?" or is it an attempt by the charting system to create one but it's flawed due to a lack of complete data. It's just one piece of the puzzle related to support/resistance, but an important one to my trading in many situations.

I guess the TOS charting platform isn't going to allow me to do much historical charting research in the smaller time periods.

The plotted moving averages are correct; just not as long as one would like. They do provide accurate information regarding potential support / resistance levels for the past several days, though.

You are correct---the smaller charts can only be scrolled back 20 days. However, the OnDemand feature (orange button in top right corner of workspace) is great for practice trades as it allows you to pick any day over the past 5 years and run the market for that day. The charts will draw in real-time (or at 3x speed to save time) and the candles will paint exactly as they did on that day. The option prices even update to reflect the levels for that day.

Thanks for confirming that about the SMA's Robert. I didn't know about the OnDemand feature. I will have to check that out as it could be perfect as you say for practice plays. It sounds like a very nice feature. I'm sure I will learn a ton from following this forum and hopefully will be able to contribute as well.

The great thing about the "OnDemand" feature is this.
Someone shares a trade they did, then you can go back in time and play it back to see just what they saw. If you are familiar with their trading styles and the things they look for in a trade it can allow you to see their trade through their eyes. Most GW students trade in similar styles... or should be at least :-) It would have been a crazy awesome tool back in the day when I was getting all those success emails.

You can also download TD Ameritrade's StrategyDesk, as well, if you like the layout of Qcharts and want to practice "one candle at a time" on the small charts scrolling years back in time.

For some reason, I had to ask TD Ameritrade to disable ThinkOrSwim's "Active Trader" function in order for me to be able to run both programs.

What would be really awesome is having the OnDemand feature be able to jump ahead hours at a time or even one day at a time instead of seconds. The 3x speed is nice, but it would still take 2 hours for it to run through a whole day.

Oh. Where was this forum 6, 7, ... 8 years ago?! Good stuff everyone. Thanks again for sharing your wisdom and experience. It's good to be connecting to a group that speaks the language.

I am certainly not an expert with TOS but one option you can use with the OnDemand feature is the "Step Forward" button if you do not have 2 hours to watch the entire day. Step Forward will push you forward in 10 minute increments. Not very helpful for those using 1, 3, 5, or 8 minute micro charts but if you use 13 minute and above or a bigger chart trader then Step Forward might help get you to your daily decision points a lot quicker. When I use the tool I turn it on at 3X speed. I then watch the first 5 to 10 minute open ( which takes just over 3 minutes). I then press Step Forward and wait a few seconds to see what is going on and then repeat this process 4 more times. This puts me near the close of the first 55 minute candle in less than 15 minutes. You could start pressing Step Forward immediately after the open to get just ahead of the 1st 55 minute close in under a minute if you want, make your decision, and then repeat for the 2nd candle, and so on. Depends on your available time. Bigger chart traders that are only making decisions 2 to 3 times per day can get through an entire day in 10 to 15 minutes (includes taking time to pause, slow down around your defined decision points, and make your decision). I use OD occasionally to practice entries but still rely mainly on the manual one candle at a time approach on TradeSation. Old dog thing and hate looking at different chart set ups. I prefer to practice using the tool that I rely on throughout the day but certainly appreciate and applaud TOS for the OD feature. If TOS were my platform of choice I would be using OD every night and weekends.

NCT

Yeah I use the "step forward" button, but it takes a lot of clicks to get thru the night, and into the next morning. Much quicker to just change the date. It would be nice if you could define the "Step Forward" length for yourself instead of being locked in to only 10 minutes per click of the button. All in all it is really simple to use.

I know, I know!!! I'll just make my kids continuously click the button while I sit back and watch the screen update :-)

I'm just kidding..... or am I? hehehe.