Thinkorswim: Good choice for a first time paper account ?

[BCV12]

I'm still in the learning stages, really in the learning stages lol. I wanna just open a accurate trading account. I've come down to td's thinkorswim since it seem to be the best talked about for beginners.

That said. Will it provide everything I need ? Is there something else that I will need that TOS doesn't provide ?

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Johnmcc]

You need to put more details about "everything you need" for others to really understand what you need. Every platform is different in one-way or the other. But the fact that you decided with ThinkorSwim says that it does provide what you need for the time being and that should be sufficient for any beginner.

 

[Quantt]

I'm still in the learning stages, really in the learning stages lol. I wanna just open a accurate trading account. I've come down to td's thinkorswim since it seem to be the best talked about for beginners.

That said. Will it provide everything I need ? Is there something else that I will need that TOS doesn't provide ?

Thanks, everyone.

It’s a good start, check it out and after a while check IB and see which one you like more and after that, check the other discount brokers until you find your best fit, it’s all free , so nothing to lose but a bit of time...

 

[BCV12]

It’s a good start, check it out and after a while check IB and see which one you like more and after that, check the other discount brokers until you find your best fit, it’s all free , so nothing to lose but a bit of time...

IB..Interactive broker ?

Thanks.

 

[Quantt]

IB..Interactive broker ?

Thanks.

Yes Sir!

 

[Hency Corniey]

I am also trying to learn about this. So don't have better knowledge on that. Sorry!

 

[BCV12]

It’s a good start, check it out and after a while check IB and see which one you like more and after that, check the other discount brokers until you find your best fit, it’s all free , so nothing to lose but a bit of time...

Sorry to keep bothering you. But you say its free. Would that mean the live stock ticker data would be delayed by 5-10-15, or more minutes ? I heard you have to pay to get real live min ticker.

 

[Quantt]

Sorry to keep bothering you. But you say its free. Would that mean the live stock ticker data would be delayed by 5-10-15, or more minutes ? I heard you have to pay to get real live min ticker.

Unfortunately for live data feed you'll have to pay, but it is usually less than $100 a month...

 

[BCV12]

So I got it up and running. However to get the live data/real time quotes I have to go to the real time trading, its free for 60 days. If I start trading with the real time will I get hit or charged with the loses ? I didn't actually set up any sort of account with TD, besides email and downloading the TOS.

Thanks.

 

[Quantt]

So I got it up and running. However to get the live data/real time quotes I have to go to the real time trading, its free for 60 days. If I start trading with the real time will I get hit or charged with the loses ? I didn't actually set up any sort of account with TD, besides email and downloading the TOS.

Thanks.

Did you fund the account with your money? If you don't have an account and sent money to fund it, you won't be able to live trade...

 

[jjames69]

good choice. the data is free if you open an account.

 

[BCV12]

Did you fund the account with your money? If you don't have an account and sent money to fund it, you won't be able to live trade...

Sorry for late replay, been having computer issue for the past week. No I didn't set up any banking account, just an email and password. I thought paper trading was all fake money and live trading only way to use it was to set up an actual account.

But when I get live data its in the live trading, just wondering if I buy a share will that come back to me, or is it still paper money till I call up and actually set up a real account ?

Sorry to keep posting this, I know its dumb, but I rather ask then learn the hard way. Thanks.

 

[Quantt]

Sorry for late replay, been having computer issue for the past week. No I didn't set up any banking account, just an email and password. I thought paper trading was all fake money and live trading only way to use it was to set up an actual account.

But when I get live data its in the live trading, just wondering if I buy a share will that come back to me, or is it still paper money till I call up and actually set up a real account ?

Sorry to keep posting this, I know its dumb, but I rather ask then learn the hard way. Thanks.

Hello again, there are no dumb questions, everyone had to start from the begging... all that said, for vendor specific questions, is always best to call them up and get the answers from the source, but if you did not transfer any money to the platform, all you see is demo/paper money...

 

[BCV12]

Can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong ?

So I normally hold on to a trade for 30 sec to a min. But this is whats stumping me. Lets say I buy 100 shares of ABC, buy market and its long. My P/L is in the green. But I notice it starts to go down, so I reverse (go short) a 100 shares and my P/L is still in the green. Lets say I do this go long and short 4 times (2-long, 2-short) and make a profit of $500. However soon as I flatten my P/L would be something in the red like $30.

The commission is $6.75 x 4 would be a $27 in fees end would profit should be $473. So what am I doing wrong ? Do you get charged more if you go from long-short (and vice versa), is this all platforms, or just TD ?

Thanks for help.

 

[Quantt]

Can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong ?

So I normally hold on to a trade for 30 sec to a min. But this is whats stumping me. Lets say I buy 100 shares of ABC, buy market and its long. My P/L is in the green. But I notice it starts to go down, so I reverse (go short) a 100 shares and my P/L is still in the green. Lets say I do this go long and short 4 times (2-long, 2-short) and make a profit of $500. However soon as I flatten my P/L would be something in the red like $30.

The commission is $6.75 x 4 would be a $27 in fees end would profit should be $473. So what am I doing wrong ? Do you get charged more if you go from long-short (and vice versa), is this all platforms, or just TD ?

Thanks for help.

Again best is to call them and ask for explanation... also in your example you'll have 2 trades per position, you pay the commission on both ends, e.g.g when you buy and when you sell... 4 trades = 8 times the fees...

 

[mpups]

Can someone tell me what i'm doing wrong ?

So I normally hold on to a trade for 30 sec to a min. But this is whats stumping me. Lets say I buy 100 shares of ABC, buy market and its long. My P/L is in the green. But I notice it starts to go down, so I reverse (go short) a 100 shares and my P/L is still in the green. Lets say I do this go long and short 4 times (2-long, 2-short) and make a profit of $500. However soon as I flatten my P/L would be something in the red like $30.

The commission is $6.75 x 4 would be a $27 in fees end would profit should be $473. So what am I doing wrong ? Do you get charged more if you go from long-short (and vice versa), is this all platforms, or just TD ?

Thanks for help.

Its difficult to know what you have done on your account and what you are seeing. You are better off asking TOS about this because they can talk you through your transactions etc

Or of you wanna screenshot your transactions and relevant account screens here you could try posting them here to clarify

 

[BCV12]

Its difficult to know what you have done on your account and what you are seeing. You are better off asking TOS about this because they can talk you through your transactions etc

Or of you wanna screenshot your transactions and relevant account screens here you could try posting them here to clarify

I was thinking maybe just screen recording a couple of minutes, it would be better to visually see it rather then explaining. I'll try and post soon, never used a screen recorder.

Thanks.