TD Ameritrade broker

Hi, I am a new ‘poster’ to this forum but have been reading it for quite some time. I was just wondering if anyone has considered using TD Ameritrade as a broker? A lot of these discount brokers in the US are now offering $0 commission trades which is great, especially for people that want to trade with small accounts. Seems like an improvement to Swissquote or IB.

I think they also offer dividend reinvestment programs directly on their platform which I am a fan of. Just checking to see what kind of experiences people have had with them (if any).

Thanks,
Mace

The problem with most US-brokers is to get chf from your account into USD at the brokerage without paying too much for it.

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I’m in TD for one year now. I wrote some reviews in the forum about them (search by Tino or TD)
I cannot be more happy. Best platform, best client service… 0 commission. I got a gift of 600 USD when I moved with them… Better, impossible.

Problems? Withdrawals if you don’t have an US bank account. You must pay 25$ for the wires.

But… Lately Transferwise developed more their offer in US accounts and you can use it for withdrawals and deposits.

I’m doing CHF in UBS -> IB -> Change for $ -> ACH (free) TD
Or, UBS CHF -> TW change for USD for a small fee -> ACH TD

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Thanks for the responses. That confirms what I thought.
And yes the CHF to USD could be a hassle but I suppose TW or Revolut takes care of that like @Tino said.

@Tino do you use the thinkorswim platform as well?

To this day I’m still crying they stopped their partnership with Apple Pay. :sob: It was such a perfect method…

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How do you “withdraw” from IB to your TD account?
Is TD treated as your “banking” account and therefore allowed?

Thanks!

Yes. I use practically everyday for buy/sell stocks or operation with options and honestly, after being in the business for more than 15 years, the best of the best. Quick, clean and easy to use…

Of course it’s not for using once per quarter to buy only 20 stocks of VT!! For that better use the web interface, but for options, stocks operations, etc. yes.

Don’t forget that TD also give real-time quotes for all the markets for free!!! Just perfect.

Yes, you configure in IB a ACH link with the data that you find in the TD account. Basically an account and routing numbers.

The movements from and to TD are free for the TD side, really cool.

From IB → TD, free once per month, after 1 USD… cheap.
From TW → TD 1.05 USD per operation. $1 or $1’000’000. Cheap also.

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I have an account at TDA for >20 years. Very user friendly however I moved my investments to Interactive Brokers as I want their cheap borrowing rates and Swiss IBAN for easier transfers

I’ve been admiring the thinkorswim interface in comparison to the DOS era Trader Workstation from IB. For whatever reason, I thought non-US residents cannot open an account at TDA. Little did I know…

I’ve been thinking about closing my Degiro account. ToS has so many nice features that maybe I’ll give it a go some time in the future.

Agree.

TD is too US oriented and they don’t help a lot with transfers to/from Switzerland or Europe in general but the prices are just unbeatable.

Of course, as said, if you only buy some VT once per quarter the prices are not important but if you build the portfolio as me every month, roll stocks, buy options for protect and win some capital… The difference with IB in my case is more than $2000 per year.

I had accounts and know Binck, DeGiro, Saxo, Oanda, Cornertrade, Migros, IB and TD. For me the best are TD.

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I was in Degiro for a while and I closed the account. Really a pain for me.
I hope that now that they were bought by Flatex are going to improve!

I agree about Degiro. They are in Europe and transfers are easy but I rate their user experience as amateurish. I’m also trading options and on most platforms the options interface is terrible. I’m used to the one on IB now but it’s still not optimal. For instance the prices on the options chain are not visible after market close. Even the close prices are not shown in the options chain. WTF?

I have used Yahoo Finance to follow options data but something happened and the options prices have not updated after December 11th.

Hello Tino, I am also very interested in getting one more US based broker in addition to IB. I was thinking to get Charles Schwab as it is the largest, but since TD is getting acquired by CS, TD may also be a good idea.

  1. Regarding bank transfers, why can you not do TD → IB → CH bank? If the previous is not possible how can you do withdrawals, do you have a CH bank account in USD?
  2. Based on what you said it appears now it is possible to do withdrawals in your TW ?
  3. Can you link the 600$ promotion :slight_smile: (also is this taxable)?
  4. Also finally how is the e-security of the account? Can you get a physical two-factor authenticator (not an Android/iOS app)? Or can you buy your own yubico key to use?

You don’t need to. Most Swiss banks will just convert USD transfers to your CHF account.

While it is not strictly impossible, I believe this is unsupported according to TransferWise’s (now Wise’s) acceptable use policy:

“We do not support businesses or transactions which are involved in any of the following categories, such businesses or transactions may be declined. *
Financial and other professional services
** Platforms allowing the trading and/or exchanging of FX/CFD/options.”

Are the FX fees/spread for UBS and other commercial banks good?

Not particularly (for retail customers).