thinkorswim trade history, trimmed for a journal

In thinkorswim, everything lives on the Monitor > Account Statement page. Set a custom date range (the default is only the last 24 hours), export it, and you get one long file with many sections. The one you want is Trade History. Cut the file down to that section's header and rows, fix the date format, and the journal pairs your buys and sells into trades.

Step 1: set the date range

Open the Monitor tab, then Account Statement. Schwab's manual notes the default range is the last 24 hours. Use the drop-down next to the account number to set a custom range covering the trades you want.

Step 2: export the statement

Use the menu at the top right of the Account Statement to export it to a file. Schwab's thinkManual page for the Account Statement does not describe the export, so we cannot quote an official menu name. Third-party guides describe it as Export to File, saved as CSV, and the journal's in-app guide points to the same export icon.

Step 3: keep only Trade History

The exported file stacks sections one after another: Cash & Sweep Vehicle, Order History, Trade History, Equities, Options, Profits and Losses, Account Summary and more. The journal reads the first line of a file as its header, so a stacked file will not import cleanly. Open it in a spreadsheet and:

1. Find the row that says Trade History.
2. Delete everything above the Trade History column header row.
3. Delete everything below the last trade row.
4. Save as CSV.

Schwab lists these Trade History columns: Exec Time, Spread, Side, Qty, Pos Effect, Symbol, Exp, Strike, Type, Price, Net Price, Order Type, plus a few account and settlement fields. Side, Qty and Price are what the journal needs to pair fills, and Pos Effect (to open, to close) helps you check the result.

Options need one extra check

The Trade History section has no multiplier column. When the journal pairs an options buy at 2.50 with a sell at 3.00, it records a 0.50 gain per contract, not the 50 dollars you actually made on a standard 100-share contract. We tested this. For options, either edit the P&L on each trade, or take the realised figures from the statement's Profits and Losses section. Stock trades are not affected: 100 shares bought at 150 and sold at 155 come out as 500 dollars.

Fees

Per-trade commissions and fees sit in the Cash & Sweep Vehicle section, in Commissions & Fees and Misc Fees columns, not in Trade History. Total them for the period and compare with the journal's commission total. If you trade frequently, add your per-trade fee to the trades so net results are honest.

What to look at once it is in

• Time of day. With fixed dates, check results in the first hour after the open against the rest of the session.
• Average winner against average loser. Stock traders who scale out often cut winners early. Our R-multiple guide shows how to see it.
• Separate options from stock. Different risk, different journal accounts.

Futures in thinkorswim

If you trade futures in the same account, they appear in Trade History too. A pair of futures fills is calculated from price and quantity without the contract's point value, the same issue as options. Use the statement's Profits and Losses figure or edit the P&L on those trades, and keep futures in their own journal account.