TD Ameritrade

I am reviewing the national online brokerage, not just the Omaha, NE office. I have been a very active trader with TD Ameritade for 9 years and have traded stocks, forex and futures. Since 2010 I have used the Thinkorswim platform and I highly recommend it. The platform is superior in many aspects to other trading platforms and the functionality is streamlined for the trader, not requiring separate and costly data services. It is all included in the commission you pay to trade. I have found the customer service – for the Apex Trader level – to be exemplary. As I trade almost daily, there have been times of market chaos or brief outages in the system and I believe this happens, at times, with any online platform. Yet even in these times the phone was answered when I called and my positions were closed by the trading desk as per my instructions. That is such a rare occurrence that it hardly bears mentioning. The charting tools and technical indicators which are included in the the Thinkorswim platform are numerous and advanced in their functionality. You will have far more than you would ever need to trade, in my opinion. Trade execution was easily as fast as other platforms I have used and I have never encountered any scalping by the house at TD, although I use mostly limit orders. I have found TD Ameritrade to be a company operated with a high degree of integrity and professionalism.

I too, am disappointed that TD Ameritrade has decided to freeze and hold funds for extended periods of time. More disappointing than that, is their IPO policy that you must execute 30 trades/​month or have $ 250k in funds. IPO investors tend to be more long-​term investors (since you cannot short an IPO) which is completely contradictory for making someone execute 30 trades. Will most likely begin shopping around for a new brokerage.
Update 8÷25÷15: I have to revise my rating from 2 stars to 1 after yesterday’s Black Monday fiasco. Customers had NO access to their accounts when the market opened and crashed over 1,000 points yesterday. That means, you could revise orders to buy lower, or cancel orders and by that time I finally did get access I had lost over $ 3,000 and counting. COMPLETELY unacceptable and it wouldn’t surprise me if someone brings a class-​action suit against TD Ameritrade for this.

Ameritrade has recently started holding onto cash wire and ACH deposits for several days
before «allowing» the client to use their OWN MONEY or transfer stock.
This has never happened before. ANd three people have experienced (the three we know that use that brokerage) are having the same problems. What used to be within 24 hours is taking 3 to 5 days. And when confronted, they claim, «It’s always been that way.» THat’s not true.
IS Ameritrade on shaky ground, that they need to hang onto to money?

agreed with earlier reviews, once you move your account you are «locked out» and have no access to monitor the move, get archived statements, or even see your balances. Even after an acccount is over, all the historical information is essential to have access to. This is a terrible policy at TD. No one else does it — not Wells Fargo, not Fidelity, not Scottrade, not Chase — no one. Its horrible.
DO NOT OPEN AN ACCOUNT AT TD. You will spend many hours trying to udo the damage they do.

TD Ameritrade is a good online stock broker for the average investor. I have a number I can call to get right through to a client rep so that is great but sometimes the website has glitches which are really annoying.
Recently Ameritrade announced they will be discontinuing their Streamer platform and switching to Trade Architect. I tried the Trade Architect product and it is horrible. I’m hoping Ameritrade either let’s us use the streamer again or makes Trade Architect a lot better! If they do this, I will come back and give them a better rating.

I had a small account with a Portland brokerage house. They retired and sold to Ameritrade. Since I was moving to Omaha it seemed okay. After 10 years of pain (I’m a small investor, remember) I just couldn’t take it anymore so switched my account. The minute they got the order from the other company they shut me out, thus preventing me from saving any of my trading history. When I called to ask why the phone rep was absolutely awful. Terrible customer service. Add to that the fact that I get no information on any annual meetings, I’m done. As another reviewer said, «run, don’t walk, away!»