Schwab-TDA Merger: Thoughts, Rumors, Sightings...

[MerryDay]

Does anyone know if Schwab will support live buy and sell order flow? I know think or swim currently does not.

Bad news: there is no current plans for any major upgrades to ToS.
No, there will be no live buy and sell order flow other than Bookmap

Good news: Eventually, most ToS functionality will be available in the Schwab ToS app by the end of the year.
The free Bookmap has changed. Instead of a free working version with a fixed number of futures and stocks. They are offering a rotating set of futures and stocks.

 

[biowarp]

I migrated to Schwab and lost all my stuff. Thank GOD I saved at least my winning strategies. SO ANNOYING!!!

So, I reached out to them and they said all my stuff will be ported over by Monday. I saved record of the conversation as reference.

Any luck with getting your settings back? I also lost everything and support promised to get my things back last week by the next morning after I called. Nothing.

 

[Bingy]

Any luck with getting your settings back? I also lost everything and support promised to get my things back last week by the next morning after I called. Nothing.

Yes, I got everything back. I was apart of the "November transition". Ask them which transition you're apart of. They can look it up.

 

[fryguy]

With the port over of TOS to Schwab. Did anyone lose any indicators or workspace?

Thanks

 

[MerryDay]

With the port over of TOS to Schwab. Did anyone lose any indicators or workspace?

Thanks

There have been isolated reports of custom studies/watchlists/scans not porting over for some members.
Call ToS support, if this happens to you.
They will be able to resolve the issue for you.

 

[Trader Raider]

Just a note to anyone who is backing up indicators and workspaces via shared links. Shared links seem to have a limited life in the paper trading application. New links created in a live workspace are available immediately. No need to wait a day. One can create a link in live trading and then switch to paper trading and import the workspace immediately. However older shared links that can still be opened in live trading workspaces can NOT be opened in paper trading. Haven't figured out when links "age out" of availability to paper trading. None of the links I created prior to account transition can be opened in paper trading but are available to open in live trading. What a waste of time it was to create those shared links! Copying saved code has been much quicker and a lot less hassle.


TLDR: If I had it to do over, I would have copied more code and created fewer shared links.

 

[William74]

TOS Linux user here, late November switch over and no issue found. None that were not already there.

 

[AndrewPnF]

Got email from TDA today that my account(s) will be moved to Schwab the weekend of May 10, 2024.

"We recognize that this may be later than you expected, but we want to ensure the services you use today are fully available to you at Schwab. It's all part of our effort to make the move as seamless as possible to you."

 

[BenTen]

Got email from TDA today that my account(s) will be moved to Schwab the weekend of May 10, 2024.

"We recognize that this may be later than you expected, but we want to ensure the services you use today are fully available to you at Schwab. It's all part of our effort to make the move as seamless as possible to you."

5 months from now. At this rate, we could still see people moving from TDA to Schwab in December of 2024

 

[William74]

Found a Linux bug with TOS after Schwab switch. I can't create a new watch list. I've imported links that works. Only way to restart TOS is xkill. Added watch list with tablet.

 

[Trader Raider]

At this rate, we could still see people moving from TDA to Schwab in December of 2024

Please be careful what you wish for! Very little works correctly for me in TOS now, whether it's paper trading or my live account. Just realized today that scans loaded as sidebar watchlists no longer update every few minutes. Not sure how long it takes now or if new scans even run in the background any more. Hopefully it's updating properly for traders who haven't switched over yet.

 

[BenTen]

Please be careful what you wish for! Very little works correctly for me in TOS now, whether it's paper trading or my live account. Just realized today that scans loaded as sidebar watchlists no longer update every few minutes. Not sure how long it takes now or if new scans even run in the background any more. Hopefully it's updating properly for traders who haven't switched over yet.

You're not alone! I also have similar experience and some other bugs.

 

[armybender]

Because of all of the horror stories coming out of this forum and other places online related to the merger, I preemptively moved most of my trading to NinjaTrader. I think I'll still maintain a TOS account for options because it has some really nice tools to analyze multi-leg options trades, but for my intraday trading (what I do full-time), I don't think I can use TOS any longer. Plus, NinjaTrader has better commissions than the standard TOS commissions. The only downside is that NinjaTrader does have a bit of a learning curve, and NinjaScript is much more difficult than ThinkScript for creating indicators.

 

[barrilete]

Schwab has announced:
A BETA ToS platform will be available on Schwab, immediately after Labor Day.

Is the current platform still considered beta? Will there be an "official" release some time in the future?

 

[MerryDay]

Is the current platform still considered beta? Will there be an "official" release some time in the future?

The Schwab ToS version does allow for most activities.
Schwab does not call their ToS version beta. The final version was supposed to roll out March 2024.
That date has been pushed out to May 2024.

Schwab never had a Futures / Forex trading presence. So the backend integration is not there.
Futures / Forex trading will be the final integration and it is slated for May 2024 at which point the rest of the ToS users will be migrated and the TDA version will seamlessly disappear.

Other issues:
Some things just can't happen while there are two versions running.
For example, there is no backwards compatibility.
The TDA builds are pushed out to Schwab. But anything created on the Schwab version does not get pushed back to TDA.
So Schwab version can't have share links or other permanent things because there is no way to port back to the TDA version.

But overall, the new version is doing really well. And support has been responsive in fixing all issues that crop up.

 

[VP7]

The Schwab ToS version does allow for most activities.
Schwab does not call their ToS version beta. The final version was supposed to roll out March 2024.
That date has been pushed out to May 2024.

Schwab never had a Futures / Forex trading presence. So the backend integration is not there.
Futures / Forex trading will be the final integration and it is slated for May 2024 at which point the rest of the ToS users will be migrated and the TDA version will seamlessly disappear.

Other issues:
Some things just can't happen while there are two versions running.
For example, there is no backwards compatibility.
The TDA builds are pushed out to Schwab. But anything created on the Schwab version does not get pushed back to TDA.
So Schwab version can't have share links or other permanent things because there is no way to port back to the TDA version.

But overall, the new version is doing really well. And support has been responsive in fixing all issues that crop up.

Do you have any indication that old ToS scripts will work on the new ToS platform? If not, are they being more restrictive? new language? or simply new features not backward compatible?.

Also, are they getting rid of shared links completely?

 

[MerryDay]

Do you have any indication that old ToS scripts will work on the new ToS platform? If not, are they being more restrictive? new language? or simply new features not backward compatible?.

The live Scwhab ToS app is the exact same as the live TDA ToS app but Schwab OnDemand is very limited.
Given the numerous issues, unsure of the future of paper trading on the Schwab ToS app.

your current ToS scripts will work on the Schwab ToS platform.
There are no restrictions.
There is no new language.
There are no new features.

Also, are they getting rid of shared links completely?

Sharing links between the two apps is temporary problem on Schwab ToS app.

 

[Trader Raider]

Do you have any indication that old ToS scripts will work on the new ToS platform?

They seem to work for live trading but custom scripts are disallowed for scans in paper trading. And any custom script saved in the live account must be re-imported for use on paper trading charts.

Another thing is that scripts that process MTF data seem to update more slowly now. It used to be that I could compare MTF scripts on TOS and my preferred trading platform and they would be essentially the same. Maybe it's something in my settings, maybe it's TOS. Really don't know. But now TOS just doesn't update MTF indicators as quickly as it used to. Scanning across multiple timeframes is even worse...VERY slow to update in sidebar scan result watchlists.

 

[codydog]

I remember years ago talking to a tos rep at some trader show about giving priority to active trders on their platforms as compared to those who used tos to crunch numbers and use graphs but dont trade on tos. They were aware of this phenomenon but said they hoped to convince the number crunchers into active traders on tos. Maybe the new tos/schwab is simply giving priority to active traders now, I dunno

 

[Trader Raider]

Maybe the new tos/schwab is simply giving priority to active traders now, I dunno

Similar thoughts have crossed my mind, except that I've wondered if priority is going to HNW individuals to whom CS can market their wealth management services. If that is what's happening, I can respect that as a business decision.