TOS Strategy Analysis 8

Strategy Equity & P/L Graph

Analyzing Strategy Outputs from Thinkorswim

How far can I push the limits…? This is a question which constantly echoes through my mind. No matter what the adventure, my mind is always searching to see just how far I can push. I am a veracious learner and I must be continually learning new things. It is a hunger which is rarely quenched. Teaching, is the highest form of learning. I found out some time ago, the more I teach the more I learn. I’ve learned some really cool stuff while teaching you guys and gals how to hack your TOS platforms. Every Saturday morning I wonder, what is today’s video going to be about? Often times, hours go by while I haven’t a clue what I’m going to teach.

Well here I am late into a Saturday evening and I don’t have anything recorded yet. No worries, I spent the day developing some great material. I know exactly what the next video is about. I am very excited to get started, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I decided to write this brief article for you, to give you an idea what is going to be covered in the next video. As the title suggests, the video is going to be all about TOS Strategy Analysis.

Presenting First: The End Result

I’ll begin by showing you the end product. A graph with two lines. One plotting the Total Equity while the other plots the P/L Curve.

Strategy Equity & P/L Graph

This chart is compiled directly from data exported from the Thinkorswim platform. What you see is the result of combining data exported from six different stock charts. I’ll be honest, for Excel users, it takes an average skill level to pull this off. If you’re a novice spreadsheet user, or if they terrify you, this is probably not going to be easy. But the efforts can be so worth it. In the video, I will show you step-by-by how to put this all together. If you follow the instructions without missing any steps you should be off and running in no time.

So Just How Frightening Is This Spreadsheet?

Here is a screenshot showing the strategy data from Thinkorswim pasted into an Excel spreadsheet.

Strategy Spreadsheet

This example include only a single symbol, CAT. But in the video I’ll show you how to add strategy exports from as many stocks as you can manage. There is an issue with the Date/Time column, but I’ve got a solution for it and you will see me do it step-by-step. After the Date/Time is corrected we’ll be adding 4-5 columns. I’ll show you the formula for each column. After that we simply sort the entire data set by the Date/Time column and it’s done. Once completed, it takes just a few more clicks for producing the graph displaying the Total Equity and P/L Curve.

Straight From the Source

The last screenshot I’ll leave for you is the Strategy Export screen on Thinkorswim.

Strategy Report Export

This will be the first step. For each stock you want to include in the analysis, you will right-click on the charts and select “Show Report” from the menu. Next you just click the “Export File” button in the lower right and choose a location to save it. Select the next stock symbol, and repeat. Once you get all the exports done we open each report file and copy/paste the data into the spreadsheet. Most of this is what i call grunt work. If you want to include 20 or more stocks it will just take some time to get everything exported. But I suggest you start off with just 2-3 stocks for your first run. Then add more as you get comfortable with the process.

For Advanced Users Only:

Take this knowledge to the next level and learn how to automate your trades on Thinkorswim

Thinkorswim AutoTrade Almost

Thinkorswim Automated Round-Trip Trades

Relax, and Enjoy the Fruit of Your Efforts!

After it’s all done, you get some very useful information about your selected strategy. Information that will help you make adjustments, optimizing for your risk tolerance and available capital. Once the video is published, I will include a link to it here at the end of this article.

Thanks for all your support. Take care everyone.