TD Ameritrade merger with Schwab and its thinkorswim impact

lmkwin

For TD Ameritrade account holders, notices have been going out to inform them of their accounts being transfered to the Schwab platform. They intend to do this in a 4 batches over the next several months. The 1st group was moved over President's Day weekend. The next group is moving over the Memorial Day weekend. and rumor has it the 4th of July is another batch.

If you are being moved, you already received notification and were given the opportunity to customize your setup on Schwab prior. This group will include SOME ThinkorSwim users. The message looks like this:


You're receiving this message because you're moving to Schwab soon—and you recently logged in to or traded on thinkorswim. We wanted to let you know that thinkorswim desktop, web, and mobile will not be available at Schwab until later in 2023. But in the meantime, there are trading platforms at Schwab you can use.​

Here are some key things to know​
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Once your move to Schwab is complete, you'll be able to access your account and trade on Schwab.com and the Schwab Mobile app. To help you get familiar with this intuitive online trading experience, check out these handy how-to guides.​
​
You've been automatically enrolled for early access to thinkorswim so that you'll be one of the first clients to enjoy the platform suite at Schwab. We will notify you when thinkorswim is available for use at Schwab.​
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Our goal is to make your move to Schwab as seamless and simple as possible. And even though you won't have immediate access to thinkorswim at Schwab, you'll have access to Schwab.com and the Schwab Mobile app so that you can take on the market with confidence.​
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If you have any specific questions about thinkorswim, feel free to call us at 800-454-9272, and we'll be happy to help.​


ToS is not currently available on Schwab but they do have plans to make it available on their platform "later in 2023". According to press reports, Schwab plans to "integrate" ThinkOrSwim, TD Ameritrade's popular online trading platform long used by traders, into its own tools for both retail and independent advisors. The plan was confirmed to Investor's Business Daily by Schwab spokeswoman Alison Wertheim.

"For users of Schwab's StreetSmart Edge platforms, there is no change," Metzger said. "As we look ahead, we intend to thoughtfully combine the great capabilities, tools and service at both firms to provide a unified, world-class trading experience for clients."


So upon migration, you will lose access to the ToS platform for an undetermined length of time.

This is just a PSA. I haven't received my notice yet, but am sharing this information from the usethinkscript forum. Thinkscript is the programming tool you can customize charts and setting and strategies on ThinkorSwim. It's really incredible the things you can do to customize your environment on ToS.

markd

Thanks for the update.

This page from the schwab site makes it appear the transition for ToS users will be "seamless":

https://welcome.schwab.com/trading/platforms

"If you currently trade with the thinkorswim suite of platforms, your account won't move until after thinkorswim is available at Schwab. "

We'll see.

lmkwin

I'd love that. I just got comfortable with coding indicators and labels and stuff in thinkscript. Finally got my charts to exactly where I want.

Sofearnot

I mentioned earlier that TdAmeritrade is giving horrible fills since the Acquisition by Charles Schwab. Someone told me recently, I don't know if it is true yet, haven't confirmed it, that Charles Schwab charges exorbitant fees for stocks under $10- treats them as "penny stocks." If that's true, that is obviously terrible. Anyone else have experience, and can say one way or the other?

Sofearnot

I do know that they try various methods to try to keep you on Margin for as long as possible since they have extraordinarily high Margin rates. Think i might ditch Ameritrade with their 14% or 12% margin rates-- IB's margin is like 1% i think by contrast. Tdameritrade's are now among the Highest rates in the entire Industry.

Sofearnot

If IB wasn't so discombobulated in their logins softwares and apps and defy any rational explanation for some of the things they do, I would probably rush over to them. (but, low rates dont entirely compensate for their software that doesn't work.)

markd

Apparently, they charge for OTC stocks - many of which would be under $10. But listed stocks traded online are commission free. There is a charge if you use a broker.

https://www.schwab.com/pricing?src=XMR&s_kwcid=AL!5158!10!78752713158865!21491729514&ef_id=c0686ed33d6210fc5a990a443e342ecd:G:s&keywordid=21491729514

lmkwin

My migration from TDA to Schwab was completed over the weekend. Now all TDA accounts have been moved over to the Schwab platform. Looking over the Schwab platform for the week now, it's not what I would call better than the TDA platform. The charting capabilities are just as low grade as each other in my opinion. The data provided by the Schwab platform is very weak compared to TDA. I have certain reports that are no longer available to me, like a detailed Unrealized Gains reports. Overall, I'm not impressed by Schwab's online platform.

The saving grace is that they pulled the ThinkorSwim platform over and now Schwab is touting their new "Advanced trading platform". ThinkorSwim allows you to use and/or create all sorts of standard and custom studies and scans and labels and alerts and custom columns for your lists and pretty much everything that you want to do or see on a chart/ account. And you can trade right from the same screen. I'm a ThinkorSwim user. It's quite an impressive platform. There are also several forums, similar to this one, devoted to users helping users create customized scans, chart indictors, and list columns as well as sharing the codes for you to add to your setup if you desire. So... first impressions with Schwab, I'm not impressed. ThinkorSwim, still impressed.

markd

Maybe most Schwab accounts don't have unrealized gains...

lmkwin

Schwab has the ability to show the unrealized in detail on a position by position basis, but I haven't seen a report that lists it out in total for the account that I can see at this point. TDA had it and I found it extremely helpful for tax planning and portfolio analysis purposes.

TDA used a product called GainsKeeper to provide their reporting. Schwab has continued access to that to view prior to conversion transactions. It was a very helpful tool for me. We'll see how this plays out over time with Schwab. In reality, I don't do much selling. Definitely a lot less than back in my old "trading" era. I used to have portfolio turnover in the well over 100% range back in the day. I used to manage winners and losers. Now I tend to focus on the bottom of the performance list. I let the winners do what they do best, adding at appropriate spots early in the activity.

Schwab had their own version of TOS called StreetSmart Edge. They sunset StreetSmart Edge shortly after they first started migrating TOS accounts over to Schwab. On many of the forums I use, the SSE people were gnashing their teeth at the change from their elegant SSE to the barbaric TOS. I never got the opportunity to compare the two but I do like TOS. The TOS experts do say that it's built on an old technology that has limitations. I still like it for my purposes.