On thinkorswim, the stock/ETF watchlist is set up with the following columns: last, net change, open, bid, ask, size, volume, high, low, 52 high, 52 low, quote trend, MMM, last size, last X, Ask X, bid X, beta, PE, yield, market cap. This can be fully customizable with all kinds of stats, company fundamentals, studies, etc. How should I set this up with the most useful information for MY purposes? I.e. No crypto, no forex, no options trading. Mostly ETF investor buy and hold with some single stocks.

For a mostly buy‑and‑hold ETF + some single stocks approach, your watchlist should do three things: 1. Tell you quickly what’s moving today. 2. Keep key *fundamentals & risk* in view. 3. Avoid intraday noise you don’t act on. Right now your setup is very “trader / Level II” focused. Let’s trim the microstructure stuff and replace it with performance, fundamentals, and risk. --- ## 1. What to **drop or demote** from your current list These are mainly useful for active intraday trading, scalping, or options market‑making: | Column | For buy‑and‑hold ETF/stock investor? | Why | |---------|---------------------------------------|-----| | **Open** | Not very useful | You care more about where it is vs prior close, not today’s opening tick. | | **Bid, Ask** | Usually overkill | Good for precise entries, but not necessary to see all day in a long‑term watchlist. | | **Size, Last Size, Bid X, Ask X, Last X** | Drop | These are depth-of-market / exchange routing details. Great for day trading, not for your style. | | **Quote Trend** | Optional | It’s a short‑term visual of up/down ticks; again, very trading‑oriented. | | **High, Low** (intraday) | Optional | If you’re not trading intraday levels, you can free up space. | | **MMM (Market Maker Move)** | Drop | This is specifically for options/earnings move expectations. You said no options. | Keeping some of them on a *separate*, “trading”‑style view is fine if you occasionally care, but they don’t need to clutter your main long‑term watchlist. --- ## 2. Columns you absolutely want to **keep** These are still very useful for you: - **Last** – Current price. - **Net Change** (and ideally **% Change**) – Day’s move; % Change is more informative than raw dollars. - **Volume** – Helps spot unusual activity. - **52‑Week High, 52‑Week Low** – Context: “where am I in the big range?” - **Beta** – Quick volatility/risk read vs the market. - **P/E** – Basic valuation anchor for stocks (pair with other metrics later). - **Yield** – Essential if you care about income, especially for ETFs. - **Market Cap** – Sense of size (mega vs small). --- ## 3. What to **add** for your style Thinkorswim lets you swap in “fundamental” and “study” columns. For your profile, I’d build a **compact, info‑dense layout** like this: ### A. Core “Today + Context” view 📊 Use this as your default watchlist layout: 1. **Symbol / Description** 2. **Last** 3. **% Change** (or keep Net Change *and* add % Change if you have room) 4. **Volume** 5. **Average Volume (e.g., 30‑day)** - Lets you see “unusual volume” at a glance (Volume vs Avg Volume). 6. **52‑W High** 7. **52‑W Low** 8. **% from 52‑W High** (or a “52‑W range position” column if TOS has it) - Very useful to see what’s stretched vs beaten up without pulling a chart. This gives you: “what’s happening today?” + “where is it in its longer‑term range?” --- ### B. Fundamentals view (stocks vs ETFs) 📈 You can either: - create a **separate watchlist column set** called “Fundamentals”, or - fold a subset into your main view if you have the screen space. **For single stocks (AAPL, NVDA, etc.):** Add columns like (names vary slightly in TOS): - **Forward P/E** (if available) – Better than just trailing P/E for growth names. - **PEG Ratio** – Valuation vs expected growth (helps compare expensive growth vs *too* expensive). - **EPS Growth (5Y or next year)** – Confirms the growth story. - **ROE** or **Profit Margin** – Basic quality/profitability check. - **Debt/Equity** – Quick read on balance‑sheet risk. - **Next Earnings Date** – For single stocks this is crucial to know when volatility is likely. You don’t need all of these in one view; even **Forward P/E, EPS growth, ROE, Debt/Equity** gives a very solid “health snapshot.” **For ETFs (your main focus):** Thinkorswim is more limited than, say, Morningstar, but you typically can add: - **Dividend / Distribution Yield** – For income and total‑return context. - **Expense Ratio** – Silent performance drag; good to see if something is just too pricey. - **1‑Year Return / 3‑Year Return (annualized)** – Puts recent performance in context vs your expectations. - **Category or Sector** (if available) – Helps see overlap (e.g., if you’re overloaded in tech). Minimum for ETFs: **Yield, Expense Ratio, 1Y Return**. --- ### C. Trend & risk view (light technicals) 📉 You’re not trading intraday, but a few high‑level technical columns can help you avoid buying into obvious blow‑offs or panic zones: - **50‑day MA vs Price** (e.g., a column that shows price % above/below 50‑MA). - **200‑day MA vs Price** – Longer‑term trend; being way below can flag “value or value trap?” - **RSI (14)** – Very overbought/oversold situations (e.g., RSI > 70 or < 30). - **30‑day Historical Volatility** – Helps compare how “bumpy” different ETFs/stocks are. In TOS, these are usually set up as **“Study” columns**. Even two of them (say, `% from 200‑MA` and `RSI`) give you a nice “is this stretched?” sanity check. --- ## 4. A concrete example layout If you want **one** general‑purpose layout that fits your style, something like this works well: 1. Symbol 2. Description 3. Last 4. % Change 5. Volume 6. Avg Volume (30d) 7. 52‑W High 8. 52‑W Low 9. % from 52‑W High 10. Market Cap 11. Beta 12. P/E (or Forward P/E for stocks) 13. Dividend/Distribution Yield 14. Expense Ratio (for ETFs) – if you can’t show both, keep Yield and look at expense when researching. 15. Next Earnings Date (for stocks) / leave blank for ETFs Then, if you like, build a **second column set** “Fundamentals Deep Dive” with Forward P/E, PEG, EPS growth, ROE, Debt/Equity, 1Y/3Y returns, etc., that you switch to when you’re comparing candidates. --- ## 5. How I’d think about it - **Strip out the tape-reading noise.** Bid/Ask sizes, MMM, quote trend all go unless you *use* them. - **Add performance & risk.** % change, % from 52‑W high, beta, volatility / trend columns. - **Make fundamentals visible.** P/E/Forward P/E, yield, expense ratio, simple quality metrics. If you tell me: - roughly how many positions you hold, and - whether you lean more toward **growth** (tech heavy) or **income** (dividends/covered‑call ETFs, etc.), I can sketch an *exact* column order (by name) for thinkorswim tailored to your mix of ETFs and single stocks.