Anyone use TD Ameritrade? Pros and cons?
Anyone use TD Ameritrade? Pros and cons?
I switched when they bought Scottrade. I use Schwab now. It's ok.
I use TD ameritrade's Think or Swim platform for charting but trade with Etrade and Ninja Trader
Thanos was the hero
What kind of fees do those sites charge and how long is the lag time for trades normally?
Free to use TD's programs. I don't even have any money in the account. Using their platform for charts, there is sometimes a half second lag on the charts, but only when there is big program causing a big move. Not enough to matter.
Etrade as well as everyone else charges commissions for trades. But no actual fee for the platform.
Ninjatrader is for daytraders. They have different levels of licensing fees depending on what you want. There is a free license, has higher commissions and less ability, monthly lease, a little cheaper commissions with more ability and a lifetime license for 1K with, even cheaper commissions and fully loaded. There is a data fee, just a few bucks a month. There isn't any lag. Or atleast you can't see it.
Nobody will have any lag for making a trade. You hit buy and it will be instant.
Are you looking to daytrade?
Thanos was the hero
Yeah, I think primarily that's what I'd use this account for.Originally Posted by boneil
Doesn't TD charge like $8 bucks per trade and then no other fees?
Same here. Love TOS, switching all my funds to E*trade.
I think TD and Etrade are 7$ a trade for stocks.
If you are new to day trading, there is a pattern day trading rule that you need to understand. You also need to understand margin. Trading futures has no day trading rule and the commissions are the cheapest. But futures give you the most leverage but are also most risky. And now that we have micros, it is really easy to day trade. Micros just started this past week. Micros give you 1/10th the leverage, 1/10th the risk.
I can go into more detail if you like.
Thanos was the hero
Yeah, if you don't mind, go ahead and go into more detail. The pattern rule is something like you can only sell 3 in a 5 day period, right?
yeah it's a real pain in the butt. I did it once by accident and I was locked out from trading for 90 days, years ago. And then I did it once for Etrade, when they bought Options House who I was using to trade options, Etrade changed the rules on how they interpreted the definition of what a day trade was. Etrade decided that opening a closing a spread counted as two day trades since it had multiple legs. A butterfly spread was counted as 4 day trades if opened and closed in the same day. Etrade locked me out from trading and I had to ask to be allowed to trade, and if it happened again then they would close the account.
If you have more than 20K I think it doesn't matter. But the margin requirements could have changed since then.
Be careful of free riding. If you buy a stock and then sell it, it takes 3 business days for it to clear. The proceeds show up in your account immediately, and you can buy with that money. But if you use the proceeds of the first trade to buy and then sell before the original trade clears, I think that get into time out. That doesn't apply to options since they clear the next day.
Speaking of options. If you decide to trade options make sure you understand how the vix affects pricing, as well as the greeks. If you buy an option when volatility is high, you can lose if even you are right.
If you just want to trades the indices, then Futures are the way to go. And definitely start with the micros.
Thanos was the hero
That's one thing that I've been wondering about. Does the price change during that 3 day time?Be careful of free riding. If you buy a stock and then sell it, it takes 3 business days for it to clear.
No. The price at time of purchase or sale is the price you get. Kind of like a check clearing at your bank.
Thanos was the hero
Ok cool.
So, it is possible on sites like the ones mentioned above to buy a stock at a low price, sit on it for a while, sell it at a higher price, and then transfer the profit back to your bank if you want to? I know that is an oversimplification, but still. Also, the $7 trade fees on those sites are just for a transaction, right? You can buy multiple shares at the same time for a flat $7?
Fidelity
When I left Scottrade, Schwab gave me 10 years of trades for free. Normally I think they are $4.
That’s a dang good deal
Vanguard is $7.00 and my Ameriprise account is like $20.00 per trade. I have TD Ameritrade also but it is an institutional account so I pay a management fee on those accounts each quarter so I don't know the actual commission amount per trade if there is one. I get a few free trades at Vanguard and then it is $7.00. I don't day trade though so the commission is not that big of an issue.
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