Between E-Trade and TradeStation and TeleChart 2000, the last thing I need is another broker and charting/trading platform.
But based on input from my friends over at Simpler Options, I'm starting to see the benefits of Thinkorswim abbreviated TOS. TOS traces its roots to Telescan founded in Texas back in 1983. In 2009 Thinkorswim was acquired by brokerage giant TD Ameritrade which is itself a subsidiary of Toronto Dominion, the Canadian Bank. The TOS faithful were pleased to find out that TD would hold onto the TOS team and platform and brokerage, run it alongside their less advanced web-based platform.
There is so much to this platform, its going to take some time to get fully immersed. The screen on the right appears as a pop-up over the main screen and itself contains a wealth of information. On the left a live stream of CNBC during market hours. On the right a series of clocks showing time in Chicago, London and Toyko. Underneath are a series of upcoming economic or earnings developments with the time of day expected.
The central portion of the screen shows news of interest, and in this case release notes on the latest release of the platform - just released yesterday as a matter of fact.
Pit Noise
On the left side (not shown since the market is closed) are a series of chat rooms and audio/video streams. The most popular room by number of attendees contains a live broadcast from the S&P 500 Pit at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Click on this link and you will see a live TOS screen showing S&P, Nasdaq and Russell Futures. But the really cool part is the audio commentary. What you hear is something that alternates between a carnival barker and auctioneer, with occasional breaks back to normal speaking to point out Daily Pivots, Highs or Lows for the day and commentary on the pit action.
One very interesting thing is that the commentator has 2 distinct audio modes. One is a low monotone and somewhat hypnotic which delivers the current bid and offer. Then he breaks the monotone to point out new highs or lows or interesting action in other futures markets includes Gold, US Dollar and Oil. And then he goes right back to into the hypnotic monotone on calling the price action.
I have often read that pit traders have a hard time making the transition from Pit Trading to Screen Trading and now I understand why. The Pit commentary gives you an entire wealth of information, at a very sensory level that you can't get from a TV or a chart. Some examples:
The level of activity and excitement based on the level of animation of the speaker
- Comments on activity of the major players and whether they are "at the bid" (buying) or at the offer (selling).
- The players fall into one of 2 major categories:
Paper - These are the traders who represent the major institutional players
Local - These are the local traders who make a living making a market in the pits
By listening to this flow, you can easily whether anything of interesting is going on, and on which side of the market are the major players leaning.
Based on the type of trading I do, this information doesn't make a whole lot of difference, but I think its very interesting to get the underlying tone of the markets from the place where the big players make a market.
On the financial side, the commissions are not as good as TradeStation. Based on the association with Simpler Options, I can get a $1.50 per option rate versus $1 per option from TradeStation. But I also get an array of Futures Markets that I don't get from TradeStation without buying a data package. The futures data alone makes the platform very handy for checking market action after hours.
One example in Sunday evening at about 8 PM EST when the 24-hour Live futures markets trade. I recall during some fateful times during the financial crisie of 2008/2009 when John Carter came in and traded the futures Markets to take advantage of huge moves when most traders were still drinking beer and enjoying Sunday Night Football.
So we add TOS to our large arsenal of trading tools. Have a great week all.
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