Hey everyone,
I’m trying to set up an automated futures trading system using Thinkorswim, but I’m hitting a roadblock since there is no API support. I’m considering the idea of using a headless browser to automate my trades. Has anyone been in a similar situation or found a way to mimic API behavior with a browser-based tool? I would appreciate any guidance, code snippets, or resources that could point me in the right direction. Thanks so much for your help!
Based on my own experimentation with using a headless browser for similar tasks, I found that even though a direct API isn’t available, you can obtain some decent results by automating the web interface via a browser automation tool. I used Puppeteer in a setup where precise control over timing and element interactions became essential. One difficult part was ensuring that the state of the session was always stable before executing any trade actions. Rigorous testing in a controlled environment and adding robust error handling really helped mitigate potential issues.
Based on my own trials with a similar setup, using a headless browser to automate Thinkorswim trading tasks is viable if you pay attention to session management and element stability. I experimented with Selenium and headless Chrome as an alternative to an API, focusing on timing issues and error recovery when page elements loaded slower than expected. The key was implementing explicit waits and robust exception handling so that the automated process could adapt to unexpected changes in the page structure. This method demands extensive testing in a sandbox environment to ensure reliability before moving to live trades.
hey, i gave it a go using puppeteer. it can work if you manage timeouts and dom changes well, though thinkorswim often acts unpredictbly. i had to add retries and wait loops to get it stable. test realhard in sandbox mode first.