My experience with my Schwab became rather unpleasant over the last year or so. Tried Fidelity, and had different issues there... Just opened an account with TD Ameritrade. I have not yet begun trading. But so far I am impressed with their platform, and with the account opening experience, including the transfer of securities from another account. I called customer service a couple times to clarify certain things. Response times were excellent. The reps were polite and professional, but not robotic or scripted. They had meaningful answers to my questions. We trade stock and options. Swing/positional trading--not day trading. We also have an investment portfolio that includes ETFs, CEFs, BDCs, individual bonds and preferred stock. We keep most of this in the same account, because we need the equity in the account to meet the requirements for PDT. (Yes, I said we are not day trading. And we are not. But sometimes we get in and out of options positions within a few days, and that can trigger PDT rules.) I would like to have the capability of trading futures and forex in the same account, but I don't plan to do any of that in the near future. Anyone care to comment on their positive or negative experiences with TDA? Our accounts are in the USA. BMK
I'm the type to point out negatives first, and if there are few, it means I like something... TDA doesn't allow trading before 7:30 am EST. They should offer the full 4 am to 8 pm trading hours. Outside the US, TDA forces FIFO on sale of shares. Bad. TDA charts are good but not great. Webull is more user friendly, although I don't recommend Webull. All else is great!
If you really didn't enjoy the Schwab experience bear in mind they bought TDA and Schwab has a poor reputation for keeping promises when they make an acquisition. https://welcome.schwab.com/
OMG!! The brokerage that deposited $1.2 million instead of $86 to a client's account and is forcing the client to give it back because it has a clause in the agreement that a client cannot keep overpayments (kinda makes you wonder WHY would they want that clause in the agreement when overpayments should be really rare) has bought TDA??!!! Oh well at least it knows it sucks so it has to buy a better rival in order to survive. LOL
This must be a recent change and US only, because a couple of years ago you couldn't trade pre market until 7:30 am. Outside US it's definitely 7:30 am
Actually, use their ThinkorSwim platform and happy for it for the most part. Only thing I am not happy with TD Ameritrade is the ThinkorSwim platform which at times takes a long time to load. Occasionally, the software could go down too or slowdown to a crawl and you are not able to get quotes in a timely manner. That is pretty much it. Fidelity, I had problems getting approved for options for my retirement account when I am approved for options in my regular account, also at Fidelity. The rep cannot explain to me why I cannot be approved for options trading in my retirement account when I am the same guy. I do not have those problems with TD Ameritrade.
I had an account with Fidelity for many years because they had my 401(k) when I worked at a Fortune 500 company. When I left, I rolled the 401(k) to an IRA at a different broker. When I started looking at alternatives to Schwab, I decided to try Fidelity. Even though the 401(k) account was closed, my login still worked. And they had set up a retail brokerage account automatically. I had never used it, but it was still there. It was inactive, but it only took one call to get it reactivated. The account is a regular individual account. It is not an IRA. I got approved for margin, and for options level 3. But they would not give me level 4 or 5, and there did not appear to be a reasonable mechanism for escalating the matter for review. Upon opening an new account at TD Ameritrade, I was instantly approved for level 5. I answered all the questions the same way at both brokers.