I trade very little with them, but do a few swing/position trades now and then. Their commissions are way too high for daytrading. To me they are basically a broker to invest through, not trade.
Don't assume day trading is the only trading there is. To the OP: I trade with TD Ameritrade/OptionsXpress for equities.
I have a TD Account for long-term positions, 6 mo to 1yr+. I think their platform is fine for long term as their rates would obviously we way to high for any intra day trading. I can't complain never had a problem with them.
I don't know if these guys have gone paranoid, but they seem to have quite a track record of keeping your orders pending for a long time to review them before finally submitting them to the market. I wired in funds to TD Ameritrade which just cleared on Friday, placed a trade today for a stock at the opening near the bottom of the day, and they took several minutes to review the order. Only at about the same time the low ask price disappeared did my order appear. Before making any conclusions, has anyone else experienced any such thing?
Yes, they changed limit sell order prices on two trades in a row which cost me thousands. I've not traded with them since. Also their online quotes are at least a minute behind. They are NOT a company to do trading.
i've seen several times orders which i placed, limit, priced BELOW my limit. in other words, buy @.68, and it would only show up as a buy @.67. when i contacted their c.s., i was told something about if i had size, and cheaper price, they had no guarantee or obligation, i forget which, to print my limit at MY price. only if it was market did it.. btw, i had one order of about 600 shares of an active NYSE stock which took several *minutes* to fill, i think it was mkt but if it wasn't it was limit considerably away from NBBO, watched sevearl thousand shares filled and nothing with me. im' sure i've posted on here about it...anyhow, that's why they're my a *former* broker.
I don't know about these horror stories but I trade with TD Ameritrade since 2003. The only complaint I have is the green color of the site. Don't have problems with executions or anything of that sort. One thing I know for sure is that TD Ameritrade has a more polished interface than Scottrade or OptionsXpress. Watchlists on the aforementioned brokers look rudimentary in comparison.
This also cost me as much as $3k of profit as well. This happened to me before the 6 business days they require for funds for a deposit to clear. Did you also have a special situation like that?