If you are having issues with thinkorswim (ToS) lagging — especially at market open — you are not alone.
The solutions listed here were collected from websites and ToS support, but only one actually worked for me. To save you some time, here it is:
Open a new instance of ToS for every charting detachment you use.
If you already know how to do this and have tried every other solution listed, then give it a shot now. If you are unclear about opening new instances of programs, or have stumbled upon this article before trying any other solution, keep on reading.
If you are using ToS for day trading, then seconds can make or break your trade. On market open, I would get severe lag on the entire ToS platform where even a cursor move or click would be delayed by a half second or more. If this sounds like your issue, try these steps below:
Ensure your PC meets the specification requirements
Per ToS, the minimum requirements are as follows:
Windows 7 or Mac OS 10.10+
Intel Core i3+
4GB RAM
500MB storage space
1280x768 resolution
Integrated graphics
4 MBPS download speed
If you are using more than one chart at a time, using ThinkScript, or performing “complex technical analysis,” then you are classified as a “power user.” The specifications for this bump up to:
Windows 10 or Mac OS 10.11+
Intel Core i7+
16GB RAM
1GB SSD
1920x1080+ resolution
Dedicated video card
15 MBPS download speed
You can check your specs on Windows by opening the Start menu, clicking “Settings” on the left, clicking “System,” and clicking “About” on the left menu (or Windows Key + S, type “System” and then click “System Information”).
For Mac, click the Apple icon in the upper-left corner of the main menu bar and select “About This Mac.”
If your PC meets these specifications and you are still getting lag, continue on.
Adjust your memory usage for thinkorswim
If your PC meets the specifications listed above, you should try increasing your memory usage for the ToS platform. You can do this by opening ToS and clicking the settings cog on the bottom of the login screen:
And adjust the settings under “Memory usage”:
ToS support has recommended these settings:
- Minimum — at least 512Mb
- Maximum — 25% of your total RAM
To figure out 25% of your total RAM, take your total RAM in Gigabytes and multiply that by 1024 (this will convert Gigabytes to Megabytes) and then divide that by 4.
So 32GB would need the memory usage max set to 8192 (32 * 1024 = 32768 and 32768 / 4 = 8192).
I personally have my max set to 26123 with 32GB RAM.
Collect Garbage
Try manually collecting garbage in ToS to see if your performance improves.
In the ToS platform, click the “Help” tab and then “System” on the bar underneath. Here you will see your total, used, and free memory.
Click the “Collect garbage” button to manually free up memory. This will not delete any of your settings.
Delete the usergui directory
ToS support suggested I delete the usergui folder to minimize the lag. This will erase the updated files thinkorswim has created since the platform was installed and forces the program to reinstall the latest updates again.
- Logout and close ToS
- Locate the usergui directory within the thinkorswim directory (e.g., C:\Program Files\thinkorswim). Before you do this, I suggest you copy and paste the usergui directory somewhere else in case something goes wrong, even though it should be recreated on next login.
3. Start ToS again. Note that it will install updates, so it may take a few minutes.
Check if this made any difference in your performance.
Use the Instance Per Detachment Method
As I stated at the very beginning, this is the only solution that worked for me. I will still get lag from time to time (seems to be mostly mid-day), but it’s exponentially better than what it was before.
I use four detachments in ToS like so:
- Monitor 1: Detached single chart and scanner (one instance)
- Monitor 2: Detached triple chart (one instance)
- Monitor 3: Detached triple chart (one instance) and a detached 8 chart (one instance)
To open more than one ToS instance:
- Login to ToS
- Either right-click on the ToS icon on the Taskbar and select thinkorswim again or go back to your Desktop and open thinkorswim there
- Login again
You will now have two instances of ToS running. If you need more, just repeat the process.
If you are putting Watchlists as detached windows, I would try using one instance for all Watchlists and not open a new instance for each Watchlist.
If you use numerous layouts in ToS, be sure you save your flexible grids so you can easily change it when you open new instances.
This method is not perfect by any means. Noticeable drawbacks include:
- Need to have each instance on the account you wish to trade from (or “ALL ACCOUNTS”), otherwise one instance may have a different account selected than another
- Prompts may be hidden under an instance if you have screens layered on top of each other
- Repeating alert sounds
- Extra resources used if you have Watchlists on your main ToS pages
- Time needed to open and set up each instance
If none of these solutions worked for you, I suggest you contact ToS support and let them walk you through a troubleshooting process. I was told by ToS that they could remote into my PC and attempt to troubleshoot the problem that way — so if you are comfortable with that, have at it.
Good luck and happy trading.
