Yes, that is the thinkorswim monkey caught with a bottle of Jose Cuervo. Apparently, the thinkorswim/Ameritrade post-merger celebration was one hell of a party.
A reader emailed to ask if thinkorswim has changed since its merger with TD Ameritrade (AMTD).
Let me give you a quick summary of how I work with thinkorswim:
I probably use about 20% of TOS’ capabilities. I trade stocks from the long and short sides, and use fairly basic options strategies – vanilla call and put purchases, some synthetic longs, and I’m starting to tinker with call spreads. As I wrote yesterday, I hate covered calls and no longer trade them, but TOS gave me no problems there. I make some use of the charts and news capabilities, but don’t play much with the Analyze and Scan features.
From a usability standpoint, nothing has changed. The TOS software is pretty intuitive and customizable. It is also extremely stable. The platform has only crashed on me one or two times in the past year and it started right back up with no problems. That’s on a buggy Vista-powered laptop with 2 gigabytes of RAM. And even when I only had 1 gig loaded, the software ran smoothly with no hiccups.
Thinkorswim’s customer service remains spot-on. I mostly use the online help via the Support/Chat button at the top left of the screen, and I’ve been satisfied 100% of the time. The customer service reps are extremely well-trained and know the system from top to bottom.
The only time I didn’t receive an instant answer to a question was when I asked how some random volatility calculation was made. In less than 24 hours, a senior thinkorswim staffer emailed me the answer in plain English.
I also have no complaints about trade executions. I often get filled at prices better than my bid, and trades are completed in the blink of an eye. Account statements are also updated instantly. Perfect!
Now I have been tempted to switch to Interactive Brokers (IBKR) for the cheaper commissions - thinkorswim is not expensive, but IBKR is seriously dirt-cheap. However, customer service always trumps a lower price for me, and I’ve been treated extremely well by thinkorswim. I’m not going anywhere.
5 comments:
So far I have not noticed any differences in thinkorswim since the takeover by TD. After the acquisition, thinorswim still has the best software in the business and the customer service is still excellent. Their commissions and fees are about average so if you don't need all of their tools there are some cheaper alternatives.
I have heard that TD has been testing out a thinkorswim clone but I have not tried it myself. In general I don't like TD because their customer service is poor and their commissions and fees are a bit high.
IB is cheaper but still has some pretty good technology itself.
I run a site that reviews all of these brokers and more so if you are looking for more details in how the brokers compare check us out: http://onlinebrokerreview.blogspot.com/
Execution sucks now, not as many updates and new features..wish they stayed under Toms control, it was his baby....too bad:(
I can't say I've noticed any changes.
Their customer service is still second-to-none, and the platform is still awesome.
-------------------------
New live futures trading room using ThinkorSwim opening soon.
http://www.tosfuturestrading.com/alpha.html
Thank you for another essential article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a complete
way of writing? I have a presentation incoming week, and I am on the lookout for such information.
UEFA Live Stream
Live Stream Today
Live Streaming Free TV Channels Online
Technology News
I do have a problem, I missed out on a trade today because Ameritrade's web trading system does not calculate TOTAL cost, as thinkorswim's did. I thought when I pressed the "place order" button, my funding was more than ok. Only to find out it was rejected because of this obviously flaw to me. Ameritrade knows this, their web trading system says it, but how poor. Give me the total costs !! thinkorswim was much much better before this merger, I hate it. It cost me a trade today.
Post a Comment