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Hello, people. Newbie-traders often ask me: what TOS indicators should they set up right after installing TOS. This is why I’ve decided to collect everything in one single article and share it with you.
Before starting, I would like to note that indicators for the Thinkorswim terminal are distinguished by high accuracy and clarity due to the real flow of trading volumes with virtually no lag (you have Realtime quotes).
You can safely install and customize all the scripts presented by me below. The algorithm for working with them is quite simple, and besides, I have given a brief description and mechanism of use for each. I hope that my daily indicators will really become an effective tool for you for successful trading and analysis in TOS.
So, let’s start.
1. Indicator: Basic information on the stock 📈
This is what I install first. Very useful thing. It displays all the most necessary information on the stack in the upper left corner of the chart and highlights problem areas in color.
There are many modifications of this indicator on the Internet. But here I modified it for myself over the course of several years of trading, and I consider this edition the most convenient and visual for the initial analysis of a stock when it gets on your list.
Picture and the description of every parameter.
ATR(14) — how much the stock can move per day. Calculated on the average value of 14 days.
AvgVol — average trading volume for a stock over the past 65 days, calculated in thousands.
Vol — how many shares traded today.
ATRPlay — how much today the price has passed relatively from Low to High. It is calculated in dollars and% relative to the average. The screenshot shows that the average price moves $ 5.5, and today the action has already passed 5.53, the one after ATRPlay is 100%. Without unnecessary symbols to save space. According to my strategy, the potential is no longer there, which means that the share has to be taken in the opposite direction.
VolPlay — What is the volume as a percentage now, the trading volume is relative average. An important parameter for an intraday trader, it is considered as a percentage. 104% on the screen. This means that if you looked at the beginning of the day … This is clearly increased volume. If a stock trades 100% in the first hour, a large seller or buyer is guaranteed to sit there.
Gap — % of gap at the opening is purely informational. I do not analyze in any way, but in some strategies traders rely on it when making a decision.
ATR (5) — And the last parameter is the average price spread for the last 5 bars. If you place a stop, it cannot be less than this value in any way. Otherwise, you will simply be carried away by the noise of the market.
2. Indicator: Basic support and resistance levels in TOS
A very simple yet useful indicator that draws the underlying High, Low and Close levels of the previous day. These levels are used in many simple trading strategies, which is why this thinkscript is so popular among traders. This script has a very important addition: it draws levels only on lower timeframes and hides them on higher ones to make it easier to read the chart.📈
3. Indicator: Potential price movement by ATR in Thinkorswim
A year ago, a professional trader asked to make this indicator for his students. And after that, I recommend it to everyone who just installed TOS. The logic of this indicator for the TOS chart is as follows: it takes the average price movement potential (ATR) and draws two lines on the chart. How long the price can pass today from its extremums to the ATR and up to 4xATR. It is very clearly visible which goal to set in the trade and whether there is still a reserve of movement before deciding to enter the trade.
As in the previous case, for the convenience of reading the chart, it works only on lower time frames. You can easily change the 4xATP coefficient in the code.
4. Колонка: Спред в TOS
And a couple more scripts for the watchlist column in Thinkorswim. The first script shows the current spread in stocks and highlights in red notes where the spread is more than 6 cents and the risks are very high.
Customize for yourself, and do not hesitate to remove the stock if the spread is very large for you.
5. Change From Open
This is also a script for the Thinkorswim watchlist, showing the percentage of price change in the stack after it opened today. Green highlights growing stacks, red ones that need to be short. If you have a large list for today, it is very convenient to sort by this column in order to select the most you need.
6. VolumeInPlay column 🔥
And also the script for the watchlist column in Thinkorswim, shows as a percentage how much the stock traded today from its average daily volume. I have already written about this very important parameter for an intraday trader many times.
How do I analyze it? If now is just the beginning of the session, and the stock has already passed from 20% to 50%, it is highlighted in blue. In the off-season of reports, this already indicates an increased interest in it from the market. If it has already done more than 50%, it glows green on the watchlist, and this is an unambiguous trigger that you need to carefully look for entry points in it.
In the season of reports, these coefficients in the code should be corrected to higher ones. The code is not complicated, I think you can easily figure it out. Well, or tap on the contacts from the profile 👆 and I’ll help.
Thanks for the S&R/high,low, close levels indicator. I still love TOS for charts and the custom indicators I have (hundreds of indicators in a huge zip file).
I only use TOS for charts.
Their commissions are way too high for futures traders and I've had trouble getting filled within 15 mins after the open on market orders. I push 3,000 cars a month (easily higher some months) and their trade desk would barely lower my commissions. Absolutely ridiculous. They lost my business.
Thanks for the post. I'm trying to use "3. Indicator: Potential price movement by ATR in Thinkorswim" but the code isn't working right. Any suggestions?