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

[MerryDay]

When Schwab acquired TDA, they got 12 million client accounts, $1.3 trillion in client assets and $5 billion in annual revenue.

ToS's users account for 1/5 of that total. Which makes us a significant group.
So it is not surprising that they kept the live ThinkOrSwim app.

But Schwab's focus is and always will be their Wealth Management Services.
ToS was kept to preserve the client base. Their push has been to upsell their services.

Paper trading clients have little worth.
The tea leaves, seem to point to them, not supporting paper trading, long-term.

But May 2024, it still far off, much can and will change before we see the final product.

 

[Trader Raider]

Agree 100% with MerryDay. I can't prove it, but I believe my refusal of wealth management services has me on some kind of delayed data stream for TOS. My interest in paper trading was to select a broker for options but CS has taken themselves out of consideration by disabling demo. Not everyone who wants to paper trade is a slacker with no potential for CS to profit. But they are entitled to their point of view.

 

[codydog]

fwiw, from CITI research about SCHW-

Citigroup downgrades to Neutral, opens 90-day negative catalyst watch ahead of SEC equity market structure rules for 2024, Thinkorswim client conversion in 1H24 (66.16 -0.59) Citi's Chris Allen said, "We are opening a 90-day negative catalyst watch ahead of the 1) expected SEC equity market structure rules in early 2024 and 2) the Thinkorswim client conversion in 1H24. While we do not expect some of the more impactful SEC rules (ie. auctions) to ultimately be implemented in their original form, we do view the release of these rules as a headline risk to the stock given the $90-100M of equity PFOF SCHW has received per quarter in 2023. =>> We also see some risk related to the upcoming Thinkorswim client conversion to the new SCHW platform given expectations for other brokerage platforms to make a strong marketing push to capture some of these active traders <== If anyone sees other brokers aggressively marketing to tos customers, please post, thanks! (I added the =>> and <== for clarity)

 

[Swamibapa]

I am told that my thinkorswim account will migrate to TD active trader. Can I use usethinkscript in active trader?

 

[MerryDay]

Canadian traders are losing ThinkOrSwim. Schwab is offering TD Active Trader
read more:

https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkorswim/comments/17vub6f

 

[Trader Raider]

I am told that my thinkorswim account will migrate to TD active trader.

It may be beneficial to review the fine print to determine if you will be subject to additional fees with Active Trader.

 

[Nomak]

It's probably best converting my scripts to another platform as a backup.
The future is uncertain.

 

[Swamibapa]

It may be beneficial to review the fine print to determine if you will be subject to additional fees with Active Trader.

No additional fees. they told me that Thinkorswim is 20 year old technology. the team developed TOS has built TD active trader(New technology).. It is cloud based.

I believe everybody is moving to cloud.

 

[MerryDay]

Unfortunately, ToS is OLD tech. Single-threaded JAVA-based.
But ThinkScript gives us the ability to create some of the most robust charting on the net.
Old tech is not bad tech. There isn't any reason to migrate to a subscription-platform.

They have closed down Singapore and Canada. I believe we will see more closures in areas outside the US. Regulatory changes have made it difficult to be profitable for them.
For US clients, no need, to jump ship.

 

[Scvvby]

Will Schwab ever allow shared links to be actually shared? Ever since the Merger all TOS links have an additional ! which pretty much means 404 Shared Link Not Found. http://tos.mx/!

 

[MerryDay]

Will Schwab ever allow shared links to be actually shared? Ever since the Merger all TOS links have an additional ! which pretty much means 404 Shared Link Not Found. http://tos.mx/!

Eventually, the Schwab ToS version will be fully functional. Schwab hasn't provided a timeline of the shared links issue.

 

[Scvvby]

Eventually, the Schwab ToS version will be fully functional. Schwab hasn't provided a timeline of the shared links issue.

I figured out the solution for this. You have to manually open Shared Links under the Application Settings Tab instead of opening individual links.

 

[halcyonguy]

It's probably best converting my scripts to another platform as a backup.
The future is uncertain.

what would be best is, to backup and export all custom studies, to text files on your computer. then you will have them to convert if needed.

 

[Thewealthiest]

New vs Old TOS platform

I see when I login that Think or Swim has a new look. I dont feel it is as easy to use as the prior versions. Is there a way to use the original platform that I am use to. It was easier to understand for options and other trading, I think.

 

[MerryDay]

Hi,

I see when I login that Think or Swim has a new look. I dont feel it is as easy to use as the prior versions. Is there a way to use the original platform that I am use to. It was easier to understand for options and other trading, I think.

Well, on the Schwab desk top app, the color changed from green to blue and futures are not enabled.
But other than that the TDA version and the Schwab version are mirror images of each other.

The mobile app has gone through some changes. You will find that for some of the changes, it is just that the defaults have changed, it is possible to go into settings and change back to the old defaults.
For some of the other changes, they are permeant.
No, it is not possible to "roll back" to previous versions.

 

[netarchitech]

Well, on the Schwab desk top app, the color changed from green to blue and futures are not enabled.
But other than that the TDA version and the Schwab version are mirror images of each other.

@MerryDay : Have you heard of any reason why futures are not enabled? Changing colors is fine, but lacking the ability to trade futures makes me thankful I haven't crossed over just yet...

Thanks to all for keeping this thread alive...It's the best source of crowd-sourced information we have regarding the merger and potential associated ramifications...

Good Luck and Good Trading to All

 

[MerryDay]

@MerryDay : Have you heard of any reason why futures are not enabled? Changing colors is fine, but lacking the ability to trade futures makes me thankful I haven't crossed over just yet...

Thanks to all for keeping this thread alive...It's the best source of crowd-sourced information we have regarding the merger and potential associated ramifications...

Good Luck and Good Trading to All

Trading futures and forex was not an available at Schwab. So they are having to build a separate company from scratch to accommodate this activity.
Charles Schwab Futures and Forex LLC will be available for trading on Sunday, May 12, 2024.

 

[MerryDay]

If you receive this email: "ACTION RECOMMENDED: Add funds to your inactive account to keep it open."

Here is the reason:
They have been creating placeholder accounts at Schwab in prep for the next group of migrations, and their periodic automatic sweep of zero balance/inactive accounts caused numerous emails to be incorrectly sent out.

No, you don't need to do anything, no active accounts are being closed.
This is just one step in the migration journey.

The emails that were received today by some members were related to accounts have yet to be moved over to Schwab.

New Schwab accounts are in the process of being set up, but are still empty because the account migration has not yet occurred.
So, unfortunately, the Schwab bot mistakenly flagged them as inactive and an email was generated.

If you received such an email, and you are an ACTIVE TDA member; please ignore this email.

 

[rfb]

If you receive this email: "ACTION RECOMMENDED: Add funds to your inactive account to keep it open."

Here is the reason:
They have been creating placeholder accounts at Schwab in prep for the next group of migrations, and their periodic automatic sweep of zero balance/inactive accounts caused numerous emails to be incorrectly sent out.

No, you don't need to do anything, the accounts aren't being closed.

Thank you for this info. Wasn't sure if it was spam or phishing! Now it makes sense.
Disregarding per your comments. Thanks again!

 

[Trend Trader]

Thank you for this info. Wasn't sure if it was spam or phishing! Now it makes sense.
Disregarding per your comments. Thanks again!

So what should you do if have no funds in your TD Ameritrade account but are still using Think or Swim?

I have not recieved any correspondence as of yet.

or should I just fund the account?