John Carter’s Thinkorswim Setup

In this post:

• What are some of the best think or swim charts and why
• What is John’s core setup?
• How many monitors does John use? 
• What is the base of John’s trading?

John uses a combination of indicators and market internals across his 6 monitors that he looks at daily. While he is constantly innovating these indicators, his core setup remains the same. This document is intended to assist traders to understand what John is looking at. In no way is it meant to make you feel as though you need all of these indicators. Each trader should decide what is most important to them to have on their own charts, and what works best for them.

We have detailed videos, manuals, and screenshots regarding each of these topics in our Knowledge Base. You can see how to set these indicators up, and how to read them. You can search for each topic by name, or check out this link that will show you how to set up your charts based on John’s core indicators.

Here is the link:  John Carter’s Trading Charts Layout

His core setup includes:

• The Exponential Moving Averages (8, 21, 34, 55, and 89)
• The Squeeze
• The Voodoo lines
• The Waves
• Custom Time Frames (39 min, 78 min, 195 min charts)

Additionally, John uses the following indicators that aren’t included in the above link. You can find more information about our indicators here.

• Three ATR Setup (free)
• The Early In-N-Out Indicator
• The Multi-Time Frame Analysis Indicator + HOLB/LOHB Indicator
• The Ready, Aim, Fire Indicator
• Sector Spy
• Credit Sniper
• Launch PAD
• Triple Squeeze
• Expected Move Targets

John views the same underlying across multiple time frames. In this case, it is the weekly, daily and 15-minute time frame.

Charts include:

• Voodoo Lines
• Bollinger Bands and Keltner channels (foundation to the squeeze)
• Volume
• The Squeeze
• Porsche
• Volume
• RSI

Here is a screenshot of John’s Core Setup. It includes the Voodoo lines which he uses for important support and resistance, and occasionally price targets. The squeeze is the base of most of what he does. He uses this indicator to time directional entries. The Porsche dots help him stay on the right side of the squeeze. On this screen, he only has the 21 EMA on the daily chart. The weekly chart shows the Bollinger Bands and Keltner channels. The RSI is a momentum indicator developed by noted technical analyst Welles Wilder, that compares the magnitude of recent gains and losses over a specified time period to measure the speed and change of price movements of a security.

John’s Main TOS Chart

Here is a screen shot of John’s Charts showing the following indicators:

• 21 EMA (in white)
• Color coded candlestick bars (Early in and Out)
• Multi-time frame analysis (ST_MTFTrendV3)
• Ready, Aim, Fire (ST_Ready_Aim_Fire)
• The Squeeze (TTM_Squeeze)

John uses this chart frequently. He usually uses this chart for swing trades. As you can see, it shows the monthly, daily, 195 min, and 78-minute time frames. He will use it to time his squeeze plays across multiple time frames, watching for price action close to the 21 EMA for a good entry. The Ready, Aim, Fire assists in entries combined with the squeeze as well. He uses the Multi-time frame analysis to determine either when the trend is changing to time entries on reversals, or to stay on the right side of a trend when he’s already in the trade. He will also use a lack of squeezes and buy/sell signals to place premium selling plays during times of consolidation.

John’s 3 ATR Chart

Here is a screen shot of John’s 3 ATR (average true range) chart. He looks at this chart to determine how far away a stock or an index is away from its average. The solid white line is for the 21 EMA, which signifies the average. The dashed green line is for 1 ATR, the dashed purple line is for 2 ATR, and the red dashed line is for 3 ATR. He likes to look at this chart when he is thinking about a reversion to the mean trade.

John’s Sector Spy Chart

Here is a screen shot of John’s charts that include the:

• Credit Sniper
• Launch Pad (shared_ST_VRamp2)
• Sector Spy (shared_ST_CorrelationRibbon2)

The credit sniper is meant to notify you when a move is ending. The Launch Pad is meant to determine the strength of a squeeze. The Sector Spy is meant to show how an index or stock compared to selected sectors to determine how the move is compared to the correlated sectors. These are additions to the squeeze that John has added to gauge the power of the squeeze.

Main TOS Layout + Spy Layout

Here is an example of the way John combines his charts. Both are BABA daily charts, but the chart on the left uses his Main TOS layout, and the chart on the right uses his Sector Spy layout, so that he can see both at the same time.

John’s Futures DOM

John trades futures with both Infinity Futures and ThinkorSwim. You may also see a screen that looks like this when you’re using Active Trader in ThinkorSwim to trade stock or options.

The indicators and chart style on the left may vary, but this is the DOM he uses to enter and exit trades. You can click in the green or red columns, based on what price you want to buy or sell, and your order will be placed. The quantity of your order should be entered before you place your order.

Helpful buttons are the ‘Flatten’ button if you just want to get out of the trade at any cost, and the ‘Auto-send’ button that will ensure you don’t have to review your trade before sending it.

Triple Squeeze & Expected Move Targets

John uses the Triple Squeeze to compare a stock against its ETF holding and index. You can also use it for futures to compare various sectors and indexes. The expected move targets labels where price action is set to play out based on Market Maker projections.

Links to Purchase

These links are here to make it easier for those who wish to purchase any of these indicators.

• The Voodoo Lines
• The Early In-N-Out Indicator
• The Ready, Aim, Fire Indicator
• The Multi-Time Frame Analysis Indicator + HOLB/LOHB Indicator
• Porsche
• Triple Squeeze and Expected Move Targets

FAQs