Welcome, Roy: thinkorswim in 5 Steps

The Main Layout

On desktop, there's a left sidebar and a main window. The sidebar holds small tools called gadgets, like Live News and a Watchlist. Add one with the plus button at the bottom of the sidebar.

The main window has tabs along the top. Monitor shows your positions and orders. Trade is where you buy and sell. Analyze is for research, and Charts shows price charts. Web and mobile look different but have similar areas.

The Watchlist

A watchlist is your list of stocks to keep an eye on. Pick a public list, like the Dow 30, from the menu at the top of the Watchlist gadget. To add your own symbol, edit the watchlist and type a ticker, like AAPL.

Each row is one stock. To change columns, right-click a column header and choose Customize….

Reading a Chart

Open the Charts tab and type a symbol. By default, you see a one-year chart of daily candlesticks, with a volume graph below it. Each candle shows one period's open, high, low, and close. Green means it closed above its open, and red means it closed below.

The timeframe sets how much history you see and how long each candle lasts. For example, "5 days, 5 minutes" means five days of history with one candle every five minutes. Change it with the timeframe control above the chart.

Placing a Trade

On desktop, go to Trade, then the All Products subtab, and type a symbol. There's no big "Buy" button. You click the ask price to buy or the bid price to sell. That opens the Order Entry Tool at the bottom of the screen.

Next, set the quantity and pick the order type. The default is LIMIT, which means you only pay your price or better. MARKET fills at the best price available right now, so you don't control the price. Click Confirm and Send to open a review window. Check it, then click Send.

Practice with paperMoney

paperMoney is the built-in practice mode, with $100,000 in virtual money. On the desktop login screen, you choose Live Trading or paperMoney before you log in. To switch, log out and pick the other one. On web and mobile, choose paperMoney with the mode toggle or account selector.

How to tell you're in it: the top of the desktop window says simulated trading. Your account number starts with D-, while real accounts end in SCHW. Its quotes may also be delayed.

Your Score

Recap

• Layout: gadgets sit in the left sidebar. The main tabs are Monitor, Trade, Analyze, and Charts.
• Watchlist: Net Chng is today's move. You buy at the Ask and sell at the Bid.
• Charts: a green candle closed up, a red candle closed down, and the bars below show volume.
• Trade: click the Ask, set the quantity and order type, click Confirm and Send, review, then Send.
• paperMoney: choose it at login. Look for "simulated trading" and a D- account number.

Not financial advice. Education only. Trading involves risk, including loss of money. paperMoney results don't guarantee real results. Menus can change.