TD Ametitrade Review

What is TD Ameritrade?

TD Ameritrade is the choice of a lot of traders and investors in the United States. It is a brokerage that not only offers you commission-free trading for stocks, options, and ETFs but also provides trading platforms suitable for all experience levels of traders. They offer a lot of investment products, including futures, mutual funds, bonds, and cryptocurrencies.

This brokerage has been around since the year 1975. It has made plenty of changes and faced a lot of challenges. Now, they have more than 11 million clients who rely on them to deliver a great trading experience.

Pros

• No Account Minimum: You don’t need to deposit a fixed amount to open a new account with them. This advantage is offered by a lot of other brokerages as well.
• Commission-Free Trading: You can trade stocks, options, and ETFs without paying any commissions. I believe that the competition has inspired this change.
• Amazing Trading Tools: Their trading tools are capable of providing you everything that you need to trade, regardless of your experience level.
• Reliable Support: You have plenty of options for contacting them, such as calls, Facebook Messenger, Twitter, and fax. You can also visit one of their more than 275 branches in the country. Their support is fast and capable of providing answers to difficult questions.
• Others: There are plenty of other pros, such as various investment options, quality education, and exceptional research capabilities.

Cons

• Difficulties for Beginners: Beginners might face difficulties in navigating the platform and using the various tools that it provides.

How does TD Ameritrade work?

Here are some of the features of this broker that define its existence.

Several Investment Products: You can trade almost anything on their platform. They allow you to invest in stocks, options, ETFs, mutual funds, forex, cryptocurrency, bonds, annuities, IPOs, and more. I don’t think that anyone can complain about the variety of investment products that they offer.

Trading Platforms and Tools: They have a web platform for average investors and a desktop trading platform called thinkorswim for professional-level trading. The best part is that they offer two different mobile apps for the users of the web platform and the desktop trading platform.

The web platform provides education, research, tools, and alerts to help the average trader trade effectively. It has customizable and pre-defined screeners to find suitable investment opportunities. You get an overview of the stocks that you own, and you can read recent news related to them.

A tool called Portfolio Planner is included in the platform. It allows you to create a target asset allocation plan for creating a portfolio of desired securities. You can pick a pre-built model, customize your own allocation model, or create one from scratch.

Thinkorswim is for those who take trading very seriously. It takes data analysis to the next level by providing you more than 40,000 data points and advanced charting capabilities. Market news is delivered through newsfeeds from CNBC and TD Ameritrade Network.

Their charts are so good that they can rival some of the best brokers in this area. You get access to more than 400 technical studies, and you can add visuals by choosing from 20 drawings. It also has advanced tools such as Social Sentiment, Stock Hacker, and thinkScript for experienced users.

I like the fact that they offer a 30-minute walkthrough with their pros so that you can learn how it works. Paper trading is available to help you test strategies without any risk.

Education: They have more than 200 instructional videos, tutorials, and investing publications. You can attend their seminars to learn and network with others, or you can follow TD Ameritrade Network for tips related to the latest market events. Articles, videos, and webcasts are available. You can easily choose what you want to learn and have a great learning experience on their platform.

Research: The research from independent organizations is provided in addition to the research provided by the financial professionals on this platform.

How much does TD Ameritrade cost?

The following are the fees and commissions charged by this broker.

Stocks, Options, and ETFs: $0.65 fee per contract for options and no commissions for trading stocks, options, and ETFs ($5 fee for using Interactive Voice Response Phone System and $25 fee for broker-assisted trades)

Mutual Funds: No commissions for no-transaction-fee funds, $49.99 for no-load funds, and no commissions for load funds

Futures: $2.25 fee per contract (plus exchange and regulatory fees)

You can find more detailed information about their fees on their website.

What do the traders think about this platform?

Plenty of people are in love with their platform. Some people have been using them for decades and still find them to be worth their time and money. They have a lot of negative reviews, but that is bound to happen when they have more than 11 million customers. There are issues with the platform from time to time such as problems in withdrawing money and placing trades. However, you shouldn’t worry about them as they are rare.

Who should try TD Ameritrade?

This is one of those unique brokers that can satisfy traders of all experience levels. I think that beginners will face some difficulties initially, but they should do well once they start to understand how it works. Experienced traders will see the different tools, research, and education as a big plus. In short, this broker is for everyone.

Final Thoughts

TD Ameritrade is a great brokerage that provides you a unique experience that will take your trading to the next level. They made the right decision by allowing commission-free trading. With the level of service that they provide, you can rely on them without any doubt.

They also added tax-loss harvesting, and it would be exciting to see how their platform evolves and changes for the better in the future. This brokerage is surely one of the best brokerages for active and beginner traders.