My main trading platform is TradeStation. But I also have ThinkorSwim as a back-up along with Interactive Brokers for their combined long list of shortable stocks. ThinkorSwim has been rated 4.5 out of 5 by Barrons’ a few years in a row. This is the highest score. TradeStation and Interactive Brokers tie with ThinkorSwim most of the time.
Pros
- ThinkorSwim has very good charting. It is smooth and accurate.
- It has a very deep database to provide you with up to 20 years of historical data, which is very important for back testing.
- The platform (Think Desktop) is pretty stable.
- The software is written in Java. So it can run almost on any operation systems such as Windows, MAC OS (a UNIX flavor), and *nix. In addition to their desktop application, they have Think Anywhere®, Think Micro® and Think Mobile® for various hand held devices such as Blackberry/Nokia, IPhone.
- Superior customer service. You can even chat with a Rep inside the desktop application.
- A decent list of shortable stocks.
- The learning curve is flat.
- No monthly data fees like TradeStation and Interactive Brokers charge.
- If you take 40 or more trades every month, they will cover your Internet cost (39.95 per month).
- You can easily split ThinkorSwim into dual/multi monitor set-up. Want to have a crazy 24 monitor set-up like this?
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Cons:
- ThinkorSwim commission is the highest among these 3 brokers. They do have 2 fee structures for trading stocks. One is $.015 per share ($5.00 minimum) or flat $9.95 per trade (5,000 shares maximum). Obviously it is too expensive if you compare it with TradeStation or Interactive Brokers. Here is the commission that TradeStation charges. Here is the commission that Interactive Brokers charges.
In conclusion, I like ThinkorSwim. But I only use it occasionally due to its expensive commission and the way I trade. You can not use ThinkorSwim if you are a scalper or your trading style is similar to mine. But if you are a swing trader, go for it.
Extremely hard work and a few solid trading books are what you need to become a successful trader. There is no shortcut! By the way, you can always check out my portfolio, in which I post my trades real time.
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