I got a email from a friend telling me he pulled his money out of one of my former Brokerages, I never asked him to dump his account and move on. I think he's doing great with his current Brokerage of IBKR and "ThinkorSWIM", he has access to TastyTrade so moving his money to a small discount brokerage made no sense for someone who can replenish his accounts each month because his business is run very tight! Is TastyTrade and "Think-or-Swim" good people? Is TastyTrade worth the extra commission? Please excuse my uneducated brain regarding Tasty Trade because one of the guys I use to trade with who blew up five times is using them to get all his money back. He's in Arrears to the tune of $3.8 Million!
tasty trade is not a broker dealer. THey must get a flat rate referral fee for getting an account to open at TD. The rates they offer look higher than what TD customer pay directly. weird.
I use TD Ameritrade on one of my accounts. I can't say bad things about them other that commissions are pretty high. I like the platform a lot.
IMO ........ TD Ameritrade's commissions are not high. And you can't beat the no-minimum new account size vs IB's $10,000 minimum.
Yes, it really depends on account size. If the account is small, TD commissions are pretty high (especially compared to IB). They charge a flat 9.99 each way. So if you are trading just 100 shares you will have to pay $9.99 while on IB you will pay $1. Now, if you plan to trade 10 times that, then TDA wins (and the platform is much better IMO). For anyone interested here is a link to TDA commissions table
And if you have $3,000+ to deposit with TD Ameritrade you can take advantage of this Trade commission-free for 60 days offer. Not really commission-free though - they only waive the $9.99 flat fee.
If you sign up for TD via the tastytrade link you get $7 stock and $1.50per option contact with no ticket charge. Even if you don't sign up with the tastytrade link they will give it to you.
I think they are high if you are doing 100-500 share lots... If you're doing 2000 5000 10000 shares then it may not be so bad... I use scottrade and Mbtrading...with Mbtrading a round trip on 100 shares is $4.00, I'm grandfathered in to the 0.01 a share up to 500 shares...scottrade is $14...if you do 2-3 trades a week that extra $20-$30 a week comes out to an extra $1000-$1500 a year...I'm moving my account soon where I'm going to save an easy $1500-$2000 a year...may even go to interactive brokers. In 2015 a simple online trade should cost no more than $4.00...I'm surprised Ameritrade is still $9.99
Agree if you're doing 100 share lots go with interactive brokers for $1...you can't beat that price...with Ameritrade the stock has to move .20 cents to cover your 100 share stock purchase on interactive broker just 2 cents...big difference if one wants to open an account with $25,000 to daytrade or swing trade