thinkorswim acquired by ameritrade.

Discussion in 'Retail Brokers' started by gaj, Jan 8, 2009.

  1. gkishot

    gkishot

    The big question is what exactly they are buying: ToS Trading Platform or customer base. I hope it's platform.
     
    #41     Jan 8, 2009
  2. Yuck. I would probably try Lightspeed, speedtrader, protrade, or mastertrader before I went back to IB.
     
    #42     Jan 8, 2009
  3. Isn't that a crock :p
     
    #43     Jan 8, 2009
  4. I can't imagine the TOS base is really that significant. I'm sure it was mostly about the software, they don't have anything like it and they need it to compete with Etrade, etc.

     
    #44     Jan 8, 2009
  5. Almost as annoying as Charles Schwab himself with his "You have to be somewhat optomistic and invest in companies that create value" pitch on their commercials

    :p

    They are all just symbols and sectors to me, I can care less about the company.
     
    #45     Jan 8, 2009
  6. Arjun1

    Arjun1

    I think TOS customers are overreacting with negativity.

    TD acquired Quotetracker, which I use it everyday - they haven't ruined it at all.

    I doubt they'll mess up TOS either, if anything they will improve the platform.

    I'm actually an IB customer looking for another broker. I've been waiting for the IB-FutureTrade integration, which was promised 8 months ago and still hasn't happened. Many basic IB features (like charts) still don't work. If the TD-TOS merger goes well, I may open an account.

    I have a question for former IB customers that left for TOS - how is TOS better than IB?
     
    #46     Jan 8, 2009
  7. http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2199112/ameritrade-hacked-since-2005

    Ameritrade may have been hacked since 2005
    First warning issued to share trading firm in January 2006

    Written by Matt Chapman

    vnunet.com, 20 Sep 2007
    Online stock-trading firm TD Ameritrade was told on 9 January 2006 that its network may have suffered a security breach, according to a network security manager.

    Despite the early warning from Joshua Fritsch, TD Ameritrade only confirmed last week that 6.2 million customer names, email addresses and phone numbers had been stolen by hackers.

    However, Fritsch said that the spam email that was being sent in January 2006 showed that the network may have been compromised much earlier.

    "I warned TD Ameritrade of a security breach in January 2006 which means that it is likely to have occurred in mid to late 2005," Fritsch told Network World magazine.

    Fritsch, who has 15 years' experience of networking, said that he was first alerted to the problem because he created a specific email address for use with TD Ameritrade that he did not use elsewhere.

    "It was never distributed anywhere else," he warned TD Ameritrade via a web feedback form. "Thus, your database has been compromised either by a hacker, or one of your employees selling the data."

    TD Ameritrade's response claimed that the spam sent to that address had probably been part of a brute-force attack, where spam bots try every kind of address, or by a dictionary-type attack that used well-known words.

    "We have no reason to believe that any of our systems have been compromised, " the company's reply said.

    "Ameritrade deploys state-of-the-art firewalls, intrusion detection, antivirus software as well as full-time staff dedicated strictly to information security and protecting Ameritrade's systems from unauthorised access."

    Fritsch replied again, suggesting that the company needed to review its secur ity practices.

    "I and the man who hosts the receiving email server are both computer and network security specialists. If a full-blown dictionary spam attempt had been made, the source would have been cut off long before it got to the combination of 'ameritrade'," he said.

    Ameritrade responded this time by saying that the concerns had been passed on to management.

    Fritsch's next warning was sent in August 2006, including samples of the spam emails being received.

    It was at this point that Ameritrade admitted that it was "conducting a thorough investigation into this matter".

    This week's announcement that data had been stolen from its systems came one year after that statement.

    TD Ameritrade is currently being sued by some of its users over the spam they received.
     
    #47     Jan 8, 2009
  8. I don't think AMTD will mess up TOS software, but I do expect them to significantly raise fees and rates which in that case I will probably go elsewhere.

    TOS is better than IB in : Service, and platform features. It's not even close comparing those to IB. IB is better in the number of instruments available to trade and IB is better for rates.


     
    #48     Jan 8, 2009
  9. gkishot

    gkishot

    It's much better for my purposes. So much better than I don't consider even IB as a second alternative for my strategies.
     
    #49     Jan 8, 2009
  10. -Hello? Customer Support? All my money is gone...
    -Sorry, your password might have been brute-forced. Not our fault. Have a nice day. Bye.
     
    #50     Jan 8, 2009