Are you looking to buy or sell stocks, or trade options and futures and commodities on an advanced investing platform? If so, look no further, TD’s got your back as a one-stop discount stock broker.

Desirable features of TD include a $0 minimum balance requirement, free research opportunities, and a choice of three trading platforms. However, there active traders who are a bit thrown off by the $6.95 trade commission for ETFs and stocks. Just keep in mind though that the trade commission is a small price to pay for all that TD Ameritrade offers its customers.

TD Ameritrade: Did You Know?

• Commission is $6.95 per trade
• The account minimum is $0
• Promotion: Depending on your account size, you can receive a $100 to $600 cash bonus.

When Is The Right Time To Use TD Ameritrade?

• TD Ameritrade is right for you if you’re a beginner investor, an advanced trader, or an investor wanting portfolio-building advice.

Areas in Which TD Ameritrade Excels

Minimum account balance

For anyone looking to start investing, TD Ameritrade’s $0 account minimum for taxable brokerage accounts and IRAs makes the process that much easier. In fact, it’s significantly lower than the $500 to $2,500 requirement of most brokerages. If you want to trade options or trade on margin however, you will be required by industry regulations to maintain a minimum account balance of $2,000. With that in mind, unlike some discount brokers, TD Ameritrade does not use its low minimum as an excuse. They will not charge you account inactivity fees or limit access to research and tools.

Curated investment selection

Earning five stars in this category, TD Ameritrade has a full selection of investment products, which includes more than 100 commission- free ETFs and roughly 4,000 no-transaction-fee mutual funds. This is ideal for investors who prefer guidance in building their portfolio as TD’s level of curation is extremely valuable.

TD works closely with Morningstar, which is a highly respected and independent investment research firm. Morningstar will power the mutual fund selection process. This is done by creating a quarterly Premier List of top-pick no-transaction-fee mutual funds in 45 different fund categories, only for TD Ameritrade clients. Additionally, TD’s 100-plus commission-free ETFS will cover a variety of bond funds, international funds, equity funds, and community funds, all which have justifiable expense ratios.

Access to free research

Do you prefer to analyse data yourself? If so, TD Ameritrade will offer you streaming CNBC news, analysis from S&P Capital IQ, Market Edge and Credit Suisse, market heat maps, and real-time streaming quotes. But wait, it gets better! You can get all of this for free just by being a customer using any of TD’s trading platforms. Plus, TD has a social community called myTrade, which allows access to trading specialists through the phone or at one of its branches. Overall, this makes it a lot easier to discuss ideas with other investors and you will receive input from the pros of the industry.

Trading platforms

With TD Ameritrade, you have the option of choosing between three trading platforms:

Web Platform: This is an attractive choice for new investors or for those who want to keep things clean and simple. TD’s web platform allows investors to select a skill level (rookie to scholar) as well as making a note of education and fundamental research. If you need help assembling a properly balanced portfolio of stocks, ETFs, mutual funds and bonds based on pre-built or customized asset allocation models, TD’s web platform lets users do this.

Trade Architect: Some might say that this is a step up in the industry as Trade Architect’s trading tools, research, and real-time features, are designed for the active and options investors. It offers customized charting, 30 stock and option screeners, and various option trading tools.

Thinkorswim: If you are a serious stock, options, futures, ETF, or forex trader, thinkorswim might just be the trading platform for you! Maintaining all of Trade Architect’s functions, thinkorswim also has extensive trading capabilities, technical analysis tools and studies, customizable screeners, the ability to test ideas with a mock paper trading account and backtesting capabilities.

Disadvantages of TD Ameritrade

Commissions

It used to be that the biggest known disadvantage of TD was its trade commissions, however, that all changed in March when they lowered their commission rate for ETFs and stocks from $9.99 to $6.95. With that in mind, companies such as Fidelity and Charles Schwab also lowered their commissions to $4.95 at the same time, which means TD is still considered to be pricier than its fellow stock brokers. Despite this disadvantage, many still find TD worthwhile as you have free access to research, data, and multiple trading platforms.

Broker-assisted trades

In the same boat as the trading costs, TD’s $44.99 brokerage assisted trades are more expensive that most firms, costing between $25 and $35. Just keep in mind that by abandoning human help and making a trade via TD’S interactive voice response phone system, you can take $10 off the cost of broker-assisted trades.

ETF short-term trading fees

If an investor does not hold any of TD’s 100-plus commission-free ETFs for a minimum of 30 days, the broker will charge a short-term trading fee of $19.99. Unfortunately, even though most brokers will charge this fee, TD Ameritrade’s is on the higher side of the spectrum. In addition, if mutual funds are traded within 90 days or less, TD will charge a short-term redemption fee of $49.99.

What It Comes Down To

As TD Ameritrade covers all of the basics exceedingly well, investors will receive quality portfolio-building guidance, an extensive education in investing, access to research engines, a selection of commission-free ETFs, transaction fee-free mutual funds, and the choice of three trading platforms. Overall, TD has earned some of the highest marks and reviews for a discount broker due to its free and available features, a $0 minimum account balance and lowered trading costs. As Dayana Yochim of NerdWallet Investing stated, “TD Ameritrade covers all bases for investors – research, range of investments, education, trading tools, guidance – no matter their skill level or savings strategy.”

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