Starting With ThinkorSwim

There are many different charting software packages that active day traders use. For example, tradestation, ninjatrader, multicharts, sierra charts, and even metatrader. The two I will be comparing for simplicity sake are ninjatrader and thinkorswim. Mainly because they are the two most common trading packages. Ninjatrader has a simple interface and simple charts. You can do a lot programming indicators and strategies. Unfortunately if you want to use ninjatrader you will have to pay for incoming futures data (these are futures we are playing with). And since the charts are simple, I would also consider that unfortunate because we have less data to work with. The more data, the more accurate our position.

Thinkorswim on the other hand has a complicated interface with functions on stocks and options as well as futures. We have more indicators available than money can buy, all for free. There is an OnDemand feature which lets you look at historical data replayed live. The best to me is that the bars tell more information each individually and as a larger picture than any other platform.

If you haven't tried ThinkorSwim by TDAmeritrade, its free to use and last time I checked, free to sign up and download the software.

www.holygrailfutures.com