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General indicator installation guide for ThinkorSwim / TOS
General indicator installation guide for ThinkorSwim / TOS

How to I download, save and install a study onto my TOS platform from scratch?

Duncan Boggs avatar
Written by Duncan Boggs
Updated over a week ago

Import a study into TOS
 
 

Common pitfalls:

Before installing your indicator, be aware of the common issues people run into when installing a TOS indicator.

  • Do not open the file directly. Trying to open the file instead of importing directly from TOS will result in an error (see link above) .

  • Downloading the indicator multiple times and deleting the original copy (see link above (see link above).

  • If link to download in email doesn't work, download directly from the Simpler Trading website (see #1 below).

What you need:

You will need to be logged into https://www.simplertrading.com/ in order to download your indicator(s).
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1 - Download

Go to Simpler Trading > Dashboard > My indicators to download directly OR... Open the email you received from Simpler Trading (see below)

In the example below, the link in the email will take you to a download page. Regardless of how you receive the indicator, the process of installing into TOS will be the same.

To download your study, click on the link in the email or go to: https://www.simplertrading.com/dashboard/indicators/

If you are not logged into the Simpler Trading web site, you will not see the links to download your indicator.
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The name of the downloaded file will appear in the bottom left corner the Chrome or Firefox browser page like in the image above. 

  

2 - Where is your file?

A Windows directory will appear and your indicator file will be highlighted. 

You will need to find your downloaded indicator file directly from the TOS application.

If you are unsure where your file downloaded to, left click once on the chevron / arrow just to the right of the indicator's name (see image above). Then click on "Show in folder" to see where your file is located.

Take note of the file path at the top of the window. This is where your indicator is located on your computer (see image below). 

In this case, the "ST_MultiRangeSTUDY" indicator is located in:
Computer > Main (C:) > Users > Trader > Downloads

Simply put, this indicator file is in the Downloads folder. Why? Because that is the last folder / directory listed from left to right.   

Take note of this file path so you can refer to it when importing your indicator into TOS.


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When you go back to TOS, use the same path as you see at the top of the window where you downloaded the file in above screenshot.

Your path will be sightly different than the one show here.
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 3 - Open the Edit Studies and Strategies Window.  

After downloading the file, open ThinkorSwim. From any chart window click on Studies > Edit Studies.

   
4 -  Click Import

With the Studies tab highlighted, click on the Import button at the bottom left hand side of the window.

5 - Find the file

After clicking "Import", the "Load Study" window appears. 

To find the "Downloads" folder, choose users as shown below.


Click on your user folder. In this case the user folder is "Trader".

Your user folder will likely have a different name.


Find the "downloads" folder and open it. 

6 - Open the file

From the "Downloads" folder, use the horizontal scroll bar to find the indicator file name; single click on it and choose "Open." 

In this case we are loading the Voodoo lines.   

 

7 - Find the indicator is in your list of available studies. 

At the top left hand corner of the studies window, make sure the "Studies" tab is selected. 

Left click in the blank search box and enter your search term.

Anything with that search term will populate in the list.

 8 - Add the indicator to the chart.

Double click the name of the indicator to add it to your chart.

You should now see it available on the right hand side along with any of the other indicators currently added. 

At the bottom right hand side of the window click OK.

 
You should now see your indicator on your charts.

 
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How do I configure my memory settings in ThinkorSwim?
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3288051

How Do I Import and Install an Indicator into ThinkorSwim/TOS?
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3263969

TOS indicator will not import
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3481530

General Installation Guide for Tradestation
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3288127

Trading View - Installing an indicator
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3498380

Custom settings and configuration for TOS indicators
https://intercom.help/simpler-trading/en/articles/3676039

Motive Wave - Install an indicator

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