FAQ - Analyze

To view the combined risk profile of your portfolio on the thinkorswim® platform, use the Risk Profile page with portfolio beta weighting.

1. Open the Analyze interface.
2. Select the Risk Profile tab.
3. In the Positions and Simulated Trades section at the bottom of the screen, open the dropdown menu that displays Single Symbol by default, and select Portfolio, Beta Weighted.
4. In the top-left area of the page, enter a symbol in the field labeled Beta symbol. This symbol is used as the reference for beta weighting. Broad-based indexes such as SPX (the S&P 500 Index) are often used for this purpose.

The display updates to reflect how the combined positions in the portfolio respond to price changes in the selected beta-weighted symbol across price and time slices.

To view the risk profile of a simulated position on thinkorswim®:

1. Open the Analyze tab.
2. Select the Add Simulated Trades tab.
3. In the Options Chain section, locate the contract you want to analyze.
4. Click a price in the Bid or Ask column for that contract. The contract is added as a simulated trade.
5. Select the Risk Profile tab.

The risk profile chart displays projected profit and loss for the simulated position at different price levels as of the selected date. By default, the magenta line represents projected profit and loss as of the current day, and the cyan line represents projected profit and loss at expiration. Line colors may vary depending on the color scheme selected for thinkorswim®.

To set a breakeven price slice in thinkorswim®:

1. Open the Analyze tab.
2. Select the Risk Profile tab.
3. In the Price Slices section, click the Show actions menu [ icon on the far right.
4. In the menu, select Set Slices, then select Breakeven.
5. Choose the expiration date you want to use.

To apply the breakeven price slice to a chart:

1. In the Price Slices section, click the Show actions menu [ icon again.
2. Select Slices to Charts.
3. In the chart grid, click the cell for the chart where you want to apply the slice.

The selected chart displays the breakeven price slice.

The background color of the Risk Profile chart follows the overall color scheme chosen for thinkorswim®. It cannot be changed independently in the Risk Profile view.

The thinkBack tool is a thinkorswim® feature designed for option back-testing. It stores nearly a decade of historical option trade data and allows you to back test strategies by entering hypothetical trades in this virtual trading environment.

To analyze a hypothetical past trade:

1. Select the desired underlying in the symbol selector.
2. In the date picker, select the desired past date. This will open the option chain constructed for that past date.
3. Select an option that was available on that date and enter a hypothetical trade by clicking in the Ask or Bid column. This will activate Backtrades.
4. In Backtrades, you can analyze metrics for your hypothetical position including the profit/loss value for the specified date. Selecting a different date will update the metric values accordingly.

Backtesting is the evaluation of a particular trading strategy using historical data. Results presented are hypothetical, and there is no guarantee that the same strategy implemented today would produce similar results.

OnDemand is a feature in thinkorswim® that replays historical market data from a trading day you select. To start a session, click the » OnDemand button in the upper-right corner of the platform, select a date and time from the calendar selector, and click Go!

Use the playback controls in the toolbar to navigate through the session:

• ´ Step backwards
• ³ Step forward
• µ Pause
• ¶ Play
• á Fast forward (3x)

To reset the session, open the Reset menu and choose Reset time to return to the start of the selected date, or Reset account to restore the simulated account to its default state. Click the » OnDemand button again to exit and return to live data.