1/12/09 Thinkorswim (SWIM) will have to pay a one time $20M breakup fee to TD Ameritrade if their proposed merger does not take place. Whats up with this news slip? Is it just a clause or are there second guesses on the merger?
Well, I must now admit I reacted a bit hasty, mostly an emotional reaction to being blind-sided with the merger announcement. Funny how one gets attached to his trading platform, especially after spending so much time figuiring it out. I still have huge concerns over the future of tos' platform and excellent customer service once the AMTD deal is complete. But given how much I like the tos platform for the type of trading I use it for (and dirth of competing platforms, with exception of IB), I moved some money back in and am trading. However, my account is much smaller (just in case).
Was calling TDAm a bucket shop a figure of speech or do you suspect they actually interpose trades? What other misgivings do you have re: to TDAm. thanks for any advice.
So what is the latest news? Dagnabit! TOS allows margin trading in an IRA!? I was thinking of transfering my IRA account to TOS, but oh well. If they treat TOS IRA accounts the same way, you can forget about any kind of margin. Ameritrade doesn't allow margin trading in an IRA. You can't write any kind of call spreads. You can only write covered calls with stock. Naked puts is allowable as long as you have 100 percent cash to cover it. I can buy options. Even the ones that I don't have enough cash to exercise... Their rules make sense don't they? Their idea of risk is pretty naive. When I first applied for trading options, I was only allowed to write covered calls because I was considered to not have enough experience. I could not buy options at all --therefore preventing me to even create a collar strategy. As we all know, a covered call isn't the safest option strategy in the world...
great for stocks. While their commish's may be cheap their platform isn't optimal for futures or options.
No one allows margin trading in an IRA. IB does allow some futures trading (TOS does not). They have some language that says its not "exactly" margin. What TOS and many options speciality brokers allow is ANY trading that is "Defined" risk. Anything goes except naked calls. What TOS does exceptionally well is managing IRA's that have calendar/diagonal/IC and other "complex" option strats in them. Absolutely the best Options broker around. As a current TOS customer I certainly hope that AMTD will continue the TOS practices for option traders.