Order Gadget

The Order Gadget is a standalone window for creating and managing orders in thinkorswim®. It combines a quote display, an order ticket, and an option chain in a single window, so you can build and send an order without switching between tabs.

To open the Order Gadget:

1. Click the V Order Gadget button in the upper-right corner of thinkorswim, under " Setup. It can also be opened by right-clicking an order row in the Order Entry and Saved Orders section and selecting Edit with Order Gadget from the menu, available only for single orders. A third option is from the Window Manager, by selecting Open order gadget.
2. Enter a symbol in the search field in the upper-left corner of the Order Gadget window, or click the field to browse by category. Once a symbol is loaded, its name, last price, net change, and bid and ask prices appear next to the search field, along with the exchange it trades on.
3. Click the ¦ Company Profile button on the right side of the quote row to open a window with company data for the loaded symbol. For more on this feature, see Company Profile.

*For illustrative purposes only. Not a recommendation of a specific security or investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Quote Details

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The Quote Details section displays price and trading activity metrics for the loaded symbol, with a wide range of additional metrics available to add.

To change which metrics appear:

1. Click the small gear icon ¢ in the right corner of the Quote Details header.
2. In the Configure Quote Details window, move items between the Available Items and Current Set lists using the Add Item(s) >> and << Remove Item(s) buttons, and use the Move Up and Move Down buttons to reorder the metrics.
3. Click the Load Defaults button to reset the list to its original set of metrics, or the Restore button to revert any unsaved changes.
4. Click the OK button to save your changes, or the Cancel button to discard them.

Build an Order

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The Order Gadget offers two tabs for building an order: the Underlying tab, for trading instruments such as stocks and ETFs, and the Spread tab, for options orders, from a single option to multi-leg strategies. Index options can be traded on the Spread tab; the indexes themselves are not tradable in the Order Gadget. If the loaded symbol has no listed options, the Spread tab controls are unavailable.

Click the Spread tab to open a dropdown menu of spread strategies. Once you select a strategy, the order fields for that strategy appear below the tab.

The padlock icon, % or &, next to the Limit Price field controls whether the price updates automatically with each new quote while the order is being edited. Click the icon to switch between the unlocked and locked states.

*For illustrative purposes only. Not a recommendation of a specific security or investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Option Chain

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The Option Chain section lists available expirations and strikes for the loaded symbol.

To narrow the list of strikes and expirations:

• Click the Filter button to narrow results by Side, Exp. types, Deliverables, Days to Exp., Strike Price, and Exchange.
• Use the Strikes field to control which strikes display. Click the icon to the left of the field to switch between the Number of strikes À, Strike Percentage b, and Standard deviation c, then choose a number from the dropdown.
• Use the column set dropdown next to Spread to change which metrics display.

To start an order directly from the chain:

• Left-click a bid price to set up a SELL order at that price in the current Order Gadget window, or left-click an ask price to set up a BUY order.
• Right-click a bid or ask price to open a menu listing BUY, SELL, Buy custom, and Sell custom. Selecting BUY or SELL opens a submenu of strategies, and picking one opens a new Order Gadget window with that strategy already built. Selecting Buy custom or Sell custom opens a further submenu with the with OCO Bracket, with STOP, and with STOPLIMIT entries and sends the order to the order entry tools at the bottom of the main thinkorswim window with that order type applied.

Add or Remove Legs

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An order on the Spread tab can hold up to 4 legs. Each leg displays a green or red background to indicate a buy or a sell.

To add a leg, click the , Leg button below the order table. The new leg appears at the bottom of the table, and the button is hidden once the order reaches 4 legs. A leg can also be added directly from the Option Chain by pressing Ctrl on your keyboard + clicking a BUY or SELL quote. Clicking the same quote again increases the quantity of that leg

To remove a leg, click the trash icon Ź. The last remaining leg cannot be removed, and its trash icon is disabled.

As legs are added or removed, the tab name updates to match the resulting strategy. If the combination does not match a recognized strategy, the tab displays Custom.

Order Rules

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The Order Rules window is used to apply additional controls to an order before it is sent: a tax lot method, timed submission or cancellation, and condition-based triggers.

To open the Order Rules window, click the Order Rules icon V on the right side of the order row. The top of the window displays a summary of the order being edited. Below the summary:

• Review or adjust the core order settings, such as side, quantity, price rules, and time in force, without returning to the order ticket. The fields displayed depend on the order type.
• In the Tax lot method dropdown, choose a method for this order other than the account default. The default method is set on Schwab.com.
• In the Conditions section, check the ¿ Submit at or ¾ Cancel at checkboxes to schedule the order by date and time. To trigger submission or cancellation from market activity instead, add one or more conditions in the ½ Submit when or ¼ Cancel when table. Each condition specifies a symbol, a method, a trigger, and a threshold, and the order acts when at least one condition is met. The Method dropdown offers a price metric (BID, ASK, or MARK), a volatility metric (VOL INDEX, FRONT VOL, BACK VOL, or VOL DIFF) or STUDY, for conditions based on a study.
• In the Description section, review a plain-language summary of the order and its attached rules.

Click the Save button to apply the rules to the order, or the Cancel button to discard the changes.

*For illustrative purposes only. Not a recommendation of a specific security or investment strategy. Past performance is no guarantee of future performance.

Save or Send an Order

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Once you’ve built an order:

• Click the Save for later button to hold the order without sending it. The ] Order saved confirmation appears next to the button.
• Click the Confirm and Send button to open the Order Confirmation Dialog window and review the order details before sending. Click the Edit button to return to the same Order Gadget window with the order still open for changes.

You can also start a new order directly from a quote: right-click the quote area at the top of the Order Gadget, above Quote Details, and select BUY or SELL. A new Order Gadget window opens with the order already populated.