[David Waring]

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In our last lesson we finished up the first module of our logistics of stock trading course, with a look at what an ECN is. In today's lesson we are going to start a new module on how to place stock trades, by setting up our stock trading platform.

For the purposes of this course, I have chosen to work with the ThinkorSwim platform. From what I have seen they are the firm with the best reputation in the market and I especially like the fact that they offer the ability to paper trade on their platform before going live, which is something that many firms do not offer.

So lets start by going to www.thinkorswim.com and registering for a free demo account. I have included a link below this video which will take you to the registration page where you can register for your free demo. Once you are at the registration page fill in the information with the red Astrix beside them and then click the register button.

Once you have done this you will be taken to a second registration page, where if you would like to sign up for a live account you can do so. If you prefer to check out the trading platform before opening a live account then you need to check your email and activate the registration process you just completed. Your information will be saved by the system so if you want to try the software out and then finish the account opening process at a later time you can.

To download the software, click on the ThinkorSwim logo in the upper right hand corner of the page which will take you to the homepage of the site. Once there goto the software tab and then select think desktop from the dropdown menu. This will take you to a page where you can click to download the software, and then click install to install the software. Once you have done this you want to save the file to your desktop, and then follow the instructions for downloading the software.

Once you have installed the software goto start, programs, and locate the thinkorswim group in your program files to launch the platform. Enter your username and password so you can login to the trading station. Once you have done this the platform will appear and you are ready to start placing some trades on 20 minute delayed quotes with 100,000 in virtual cash.

That's our lesson for today. In our next lesson we will look at how to pull up quotes for the stocks you want to trade so I hope to see you in that lesson. As always if there are any questions or comments please feel free to leave them in the comments section below, and good luck with your trading!

Hi David,

first of all I want to tell that I love your Webpage. For Newbies in trading it is a gem, packed with all the well structured information that you provide.

My question is: How many trades am I allowed to make on the thinkorswim platform in papermoney mode ???

in regards

ZickZack

[David Waring]

Hi Zickzack,

Glad to hear from you and thanks for the compliment I am glad you like the site.

As far as I know there is no trading limit on the ThinkorSwim papertrading platform. I have probably placed about 100 trades on mine which I have had for at least a couple of months and no problems so far.

Best Regards,
Dave

Hi David,

thank you for your quick answer...I just talked to the support and my mistake was that I set my account under 25k...so now everything is back to normal...!

I wish you and nice day and keep up your great work...in my opinion your page is by far the best on the net...

ZickZack

[David Waring]

Hey ZickZack,

Glad to hear everything worked out and welcome to the community.

Best Regards,
Dave