Description
ThinkOrSwim Position Sizer (NEW Version 4.0!)
The ThinkOrSwim Position Sizer is a VERY important ThinkScript I made that allows me to instantly know what my entry, stop, target, and position size should be in order to maintain an equal risk on every trade I take.
One issue many new traders face is inconsistency — especially having losing trades that are larger than their winners. This is a recipe for disaster in trading.
The more variables you can control in a trade, the less likely you are to screw up and lose a lot of money, and the more consistent and predictable your returns will be. And one important aspect of controlling those variables, and thereby smoothing out your growth curve, is sizing your positions correctly every time. And this indicator helps you do just that.
The ThinkOrSwim Position Sizer works for both stocks and futures, and lets you choose any entry method you like. You could enter on closes, opens, highs or lows. You can specify 1 or 2 ticks of padding or slippage on each entry and stop. You can set manual target prices, or have them automatically calculated based on the minimum Risk/Reward you’re willing to accept. You can choose between 3 stop types, and multiple settings for each of those stop types. The Think-Or-Swim Position Sizer currently supports candle or bar based stops, ATR stops, and now Kase DevStops.
Stop Types
If you choose candle/bar based stops, this indicator allows you to specify what size bar you want to size your entries off of (say a 15′ candle for example), even if you’re trading on a 5′ or 2′ chart. This indicator will allow you to know what the latest 15′ bar’s high and low is, and how many shares you would need to buy in order to properly size an entry based on that 15′ candle. It will then tell you your target and risk/reward ratio in both risk units (Rs) and percentage terms.
If you choose ATR stops, you can specify any multiplier you want — 2x ATR stops, 3x ATR, 1.5x ATR, etc. Targets can update dynamically, or even be set manually. Either way, you’ll always know your risk/reward before entering the trade.
With Kase DevStops, you’ll be able to choose between using the “Warning Line” for your stops, or any of the 3 Standard Deviation DevStops. Your targets can adjust automatically and you will know how many shares or contracts to buy.
Risk Tolerance
One other important feature of this indicator is that it knows what your account balance is, so you never have to manually calculate things if you don’t want to. The ThinkScript will automatically fetch your account balance, multiply it by whatever buying power/margin leverage factor you want to use, and then calculate the maximum risk you should take on each trade based on your own risk tolerance.
Full Features List
- Works on Stocks, ETFs, and now Futures too!
- Automatically account for the minimum tick size and tick value of futures contracts
- Choose a percent of your buying power to risk on each trade
- Specify your starting account balance and the script calculates the right amount of shares/contracts to buy based on your predefined risk tolerance
- Script can automatically grab your current account balance on daily time frame charts or you can specify it manually on other time frames
- Specify a buying power multiple (2x or 4x account balance, etc., or just leave at 1x to use no margin/leverage)
- NEW STOP TYPES!
- Candle/bar price action stops and entries
- Dollar offset stops
- Percentage offset stops
- Fixed price stops
- New! ATR stops
- Specify a custom ATR multiple to use for stops
- Change every aspect of how the ATR is calculated if desired
- New! Kase DevStops (read more here)
- Choose between 4 different DevStop standard deviation levels
- New entry methods!
- Choose trade direction, long or short
- Specify to calculate entries from the close, open, high, low, HL2, HLC3, OHLC4, or the bar’s VWAP
- New! Use HeikinAshi high, low, open, and close
- Add custom padding for slippage or breakout entries to both entries and stops
- Example 1: enter 1 tick above the high of a candle, stop 1 tick below the low, etc., to simulate a stop-market entry and exit
- Example 2: assume 1 tick slippage on entries and stops, regardless of entry type
- New target methods!
- Choose an automatic target based on a multiple of your risk (stop size).
- Example: if your entry is at $40 and your stop is at $38, your stop size is $2. If you’ve told the indicator you want a target at a 1:2 risk/reward ratio for instance, then it will automatically calculate your target price as $4 above your entry, or in this case $44.
- Dollar offset targets
- Example: $5 above your entry price
- Percentage offset targets
- Example: 5% above your entry price
- Fixed price targets
- Choose a manual, fixed price target for your trade and automatically get the risk/reward in both Risk Units (Rs) or in percentage terms
- Example: $45.50
- New! MULTIPLE TARGETS! Choose to show either 0, 1, 2 or 3 targets!
- Choose an automatic target based on a multiple of your risk (stop size).
- Optionally round the shares or contracts to the nearest 10, 100, or whatever other number you specify
- Show/hide any labels or lines on the chart
- Change label and line colors as desired
- Question mark icon / tooltip hint for each setting explains every option in detail
Screenshots
Think-Or-Swim Position Sizer Demo Videos
Questions?
We’re always happy to answer questions, and full email support is provided with every purchase! We’ll make sure you get up and running. If you have questions, email us here or leave a comment below!
