Hire a Thinkorswim developer for custom studies, scanners, and options tools — and for the external service that executes trades through the Schwab API when a project needs automation.
From a chart idea to a working thinkScript study — and to the external service that trades it.
Nordman Algorithms develops custom Thinkorswim indicators, scanners, strategies, and options tools. We can work from trading rules, chart examples, or an existing study that needs correcting or extending.
Our Thinkorswim developers build new studies, repair scripts that stopped behaving after a platform update, combine several tools into one, and convert Thinkorswim logic to other platforms when you move away from it.
Studies cannot submit orders. For automated trading, signals leave the platform and reach an external Python or C# service that validates them and places orders through the Schwab API, within the instruments and permissions that API allows.
Source code and full IP ownership are transferred on delivery.
Choose what you need to build. A Thinkorswim programmer works from your rules, your existing script, or the platform behaviour you want changed.
Custom studies built from your rules: calculations, chart plots, levels and zones, labels, and signal conditions. Studies can combine several inputs into one readable output and expose the settings you actually adjust.
Custom scans for the conditions you trade: multi-condition filters, divergence and structure detection, and results that show which symbols qualify right now. The scope defines the symbol universe, the timeframes, and what counts as a match.
Strategies for testing rules on historical data and generating entry and exit signals on the chart. Useful for validating an idea and for driving alerts — execution in Thinkorswim stays manual.
Repair and extend existing study code. Platform updates occasionally change how a study behaves; we identify what broke, correct the calculations or alerts, and verify the result against your reference charts.
Studies, scans and columns built around option data rather than plain price: filters across the option universe, volatility and open-interest readings, and views that bring the contracts you care about into one place.
Move logic out of Thinkorswim: we rebuild your studies and strategies for TradingView, MetaTrader, NinjaTrader, cTrader, or another supported platform, matching the calculations and behaviour against reference charts. Conversion runs one way — out of Thinkorswim.
Thinkorswim cannot submit orders from a study, so automated trading runs outside the platform: a separate Python or C# service connects to the Schwab API and places the trades. We build that service, and the two ways into it differ enough to be worth naming.
A study or strategy raises the alert; the external service receives it, validates it, and places the order. Your analysis stays where you built it.
The logic itself moves into the service, which reads market data and trades directly — no dependency on the platform being open.
Worth knowing before scoping. The Schwab API trades US equities, ETFs, options including multi-leg strategies, and index options. Futures, forex, crypto and bonds cannot be traded through it, although they can still be traded manually in Thinkorswim. Access requires an approved application in Schwab’s developer portal, and authorisation has to be renewed periodically rather than once. There is no paper-trading mode on the API — a sandbox with synthetic data exists for testing. We confirm the current rules against the documentation before quoting.
Not every requirement fits a predefined category. Send a description, screenshots of what you have in mind, reference charts, or existing source code — we will review it and tell you what is technically possible on Thinkorswim and what it would take.
A Thinkorswim programmer turns your rules into a defined scope, with the code, tests, and deliverables agreed before work starts.
Send the rules, symbols, timeframes, and chart examples that explain your idea. For changes, include source code and the behaviour to correct. For execution projects, tell us the destination platform and account type.
Receive the agreed scripts or connector components, source files included in the scope, and instructions for settings and use. We walk through the specified behaviour and provide technical support under the agreed terms.
thinkScript covers what runs inside the platform; the Schwab API and external languages cover what has to run outside it.
Studies, scans, alerts and custom analytical logic written in thinkScript and running inside the platform. It builds analysis and signals, not order submission.
Explore thinkScript →External Python software connected through the Schwab API: signal processing, the account and order workflows the API supports, reporting and data handling. Python does not run inside the platform.
Explore Python →Desktop tools and services built around the supported Schwab APIs, running beside the platform rather than within it.
Explore C# / .NET →The REST interface with OAuth authorisation used for order placement, account state and market data — within the instruments and permissions the API actually exposes, which is narrower than what the platform itself can trade.
Explore REST API →Thinkorswim is a multi-asset analytical platform. Studies and scans can be built for every market in it; what differs is how far external execution can go.
US-listed shares, ETFs and OTC securities. Custom studies and scans across the equity universe — and the market where API automation is available.
Stock Automation →Equity, index and ETF options, including multi-leg structures. Studies and scans built on option data — volatility, open interest, contract selection.
Options Automation →Equity index, commodity, currency, interest-rate and crypto futures. Studies and scans are built as usual; execution stays manual in the platform.
Futures Development →Currency pairs through the platform’s forex account, subject to separate approval. Custom studies and scans apply here too; execution is manual.
Forex Development →Platform knowledge, an agreed scope, and a clear account of what Thinkorswim can and cannot do.
Studies, scans and options tools written by Thinkorswim developers who work with the platform daily — including what it will not do, which is why nothing gets promised that the platform cannot deliver.
What the platform can and cannot do is settled before the quote — including what the Schwab API will and will not execute — so nothing is discovered halfway through.
Requirements, deliverables, fixed price, and acceptance examples are agreed before development begins.
An NDA is available on request. Source code and full IP ownership are transferred on delivery.
Installation help, setting explanations, and technical answers within the agreed support scope.
No. The platform’s scripting language builds studies, scans and alerts, but it cannot submit orders. Conditional orders exist in the platform, but each one is set up by hand. Automated execution runs outside Thinkorswim, in a separate service that trades through the Schwab API.
The API covers US equities, ETFs, options including multi-leg strategies, and index options. Futures, forex, crypto, bonds and non-US equities are not tradable through it — a futures order is rejected. Futures and forex can still be traded manually in Thinkorswim; only API execution is limited.
Access requires an approved application in Schwab's developer portal, and authorisation has to be renewed periodically rather than once. There is no paper-trading mode on the API: a sandbox with synthetic data is available for testing authentication and message formats, but live connections run against a real account. We confirm all of this against the current documentation before scoping.
Yes. Scanners are the most common Thinkorswim projects we take on. The scope defines the conditions, the symbol universe, the timeframes, and what counts as a match.
Yes. Schwab updates the platform regularly, and changes sometimes affect existing studies. We review the code, identify what changed, and restore the intended behaviour against your reference charts.
Yes. We convert Thinkorswim studies and strategies to TradingView, MetaTrader, NinjaTrader, cTrader, and other supported platforms. We do not convert in the opposite direction.
Yes. Options are where Thinkorswim is strongest, and most of our work here involves them: scans across the option universe, volatility and open-interest columns, and studies built around option data rather than plain price.
A description of the rules or the behaviour you expect, chart examples where possible, and existing source code if there is any. For API projects we also need to know the account type and which instruments the project will trade.
Send your chart examples, the rules a study should follow, a scanner specification, or existing study code. We will review the requirements and outline a practical scope for your Thinkorswim project.