Charles Schwab buying TD Ameritrade

[blakecmathis]

Anybody know what this means for the future of our platform?

 

[BenTen]

I just hope they don’t mess with ThinkorSwim. Both are offering “almost” commission free trading so I don’t expect any big changes to the pricing.

 

[blakecmathis]

@BenTen Hopefully we'll get the $1.50 commission per contract that Schwab currently has.

 

[markos]

If you want to see what gets messed with, keep an eye on TDA's TOS-like website in Beta currently: trade.tdameritrade.com
If that stops development, that would be a clue.

 

[horserider]

Officially drawn down ?????

 

[BenTen]

@horserider Not yet, according to CNBC:

Charles Schwab is in talks to buy TD Ameritrade, a source told CNBC’s Becky Quick on Thursday. A deal could be announced as early as Thursday.

 

[horserider]

Sorry was referring to this site. trade.tdameritrade.com

 

[skynetgen]

I assume nothing in near term. They are interested in acquiring client base and I think plenty of people use TDA because of TOS. From what I seen TOS is also superior to schwab platform so I would not think they get rid of superior product

Long term they might run the numbers/do client research and phase TOS out in order not to support 2 platforms. But I dont think thats likely

 

[markos]

I assume nothing in near term. They are interested in acquiring client base and I think plenty of people use TDA because of TOS. From what I seen TOS is also superior to schwab platform so I would not think they get rid of superior product

Long term they might run the numbers/do client research and phase TOS out in order not to support 2 platforms. But I dont think thats likely

@skynetgen They might phase out one of the 2 mobile apps, but hard to believe they would get rid of TOS because it's the worlds largest Options Broker by number of account numbers. Never know though.
I wonder how long TDA kept the Scottrade platform open? They still have all of their support staff in St Louis as of 3 weeks ago...

 

[skynetgen]

@skynetgen They might phase out one of the 2 mobile apps, but hard to believe they would get rid of TOS because it's the worlds largest Options Broker by number of account numbers. Never know though.
I wonder how long TDA kept the Scottrade platform open? They still have all of their support staff in St Louis as of 3 weeks ago...

Good question. And I was at scottrade before TDA acquired them. But mostly used web platform back then. And when I wanted better platform I was glad TDA bought them

 

[nassau35]

I saw in the news that TD Ameritrade will be bought by Charles Schwab, what are your opinions about the Thinkorswim platform.... Do you think is going to be cancelled or just acquired under the new company?

 

[BenTen]

@nassau35 If they make any weird changes to ThinkorSwim, customers will be fleeing. It's far superior to what Charles Schwab has. Maybe this is a strategic acquisition that focuses more on TD's customer base.

 

[tomsk]

@BenTen Hopefully we'll get the $1.50 commission per contract that Schwab currently has.

I'm currently paying $0.75 per contract with no minimum. Wonder if that would change as well

 

[blakecmathis]

@tomsk You can negotiate the price!?!?!? Are you kidding me right now?

 

[blakecmathis]

@tomsk Account minimum?

 

[BenTen]

@blakecmathis You absolutely can. Before the whole $0 commission change, you can actually call in to negotiate. I know a few folks who were able to bring their fees down to $1 per contract.

 

[blakecmathis]

Well I know who I'm calling during the chop today

 

[BenTen]

@blakecmathis I don't know if calling them will work now because they have changed their fees drastically. It doesn't hurt to try though

 

[tomsk]

@tomsk You can negotiate the price!?!?!? Are you kidding me right now?

Nope, no kidding. WHen I first started with TOS my rate was 1.25

 

[blakecmathis]

@BenTen It's worth a shot!