The Quotes interface represents the watch list functionality in its full size. Briefly, a watch list is a collection of symbols grouped together along with market data of respective instruments. Sometimes, watch lists include or even completely consist of companies or derivatives that might be interesting to traders. They can also be constituents of an index like NASDAQ 100, the Dow Jones Industrials, or the S&P 500, to name a few. It is also possible to have symbols that are indicators of certain economic trends or industry groups which are not directly tradable, but have an impact on products that are.
In the header, you can find four controls: the watch list selector, the up/down arrow control , the 'clip' icon
, and the Show actions button
. Here is a breakdown of what these buttons are for:
- The watch list selector allows you to switch between your watch lists. Beside your personal watch lists, you can switch to any of the public, Lovers and losers, Top 10, and industry-based ones. In the same menu, you can also view your portfolio watch list, i.e., the watch list of symbols that have positions in the currently selected account.
- Arrows allow you to easily switch between watch lists in a group: the up arrow will take you to the previous watch list in the set, and down arrow will take you to the next.
- The clip icon allows you to use the thinkorswim color-coded clipboard; it is a shortcut to link a component to another one. Clicking on the icon brings up a color-and-number selection menu. In this menu, you can click on a color so that your watch lists will be linked to all other thinkorswim components having the same color code. For example, choosing a green box will link all components that use green, even if they are in a different window. Tip: consider linking Quotes to the symbol selector and the Dashboard. This way, clicking through the watch list will automatically display corresponding symbols in the symbol selector and the Dashboard.
- The Show actions menu button brings up a menu from which you can create, edit, and delete your watch lists. In addition, this menu enables you to create dynamic watch lists based on your criteria: these watch lists consist of scan results (for more details, see Scan).
After configuring your watch lists, you can customize every single one of them. The customization may include any of the following:
- Reordering the columns. To reorder, left-click on the column header and drag it to the desirable position.
- Sorting by a column. To re-sort a watch list, click on the header of the column by which you would like to perform the sorting. An up arrow
will appear, which indicates the ascending sort. Clicking again will give the column a descending sort (indicated by a down arrow
). To return to the unsorted state, left click on the header a third time or right click on the header and choose No sorting.
- Changing the column set. To add or delete columns, right-click on the header and choose Customize... In the dialog window, you will see two areas: Available items and Current set. To add columns to your watch list, drag the desired ones to the Current set. If you need to delete a column from your watch list, find its title in the Current set, select it, and click Remove items. Click OK; your column set will be immediately updated.
In addition, you can create custom watchlists based on thinkScript-based conditions. To learn more, refer to this page.