The way it works for big asset managers and the way it should work for personal brokerages is as follows: you pay interest on the amount u have on margin, you receive interest from short sale proceeds. Rate differential aside (usually 1 - 1.5%) the amount of interest paid or earned should be based on the net amount of value of margin positions plus short sale proceeds. 10k in margined stocks, 10k of short sale proceeds means 0 net, you pay nothing (realistically u still pay because the rates are slightly different) Ameritrade, charges a very HIGH rate on long margined stocks and pays nothing on short sale proceeds. So even if you have more short sale proceeds than long margined stocks, resulting in a positive cash balance, they still charge you money on the long margin. Instead of receiving interest you end up paying interest, in very high amounts...big rip off...

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While I am fairly new to stock trading i have seen a few different brokers and they all have there ups and downs. TDAMERITRADE is best for older investors. They specialize in building your 401k and managing your long term investment but are rather expensive to trade. They are definetly not a short-term or day trading broker although they are quick with trades and provide decent backround history before investing. Overall i'd say about 3 1/2 stars, depending on what kind of investing you are.

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sometimes, my experience is that the system is down without explanation from the company.

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I've used TD Ameritrade for over a year now and have never had a bad experience. If ever I've had a problem or question the service has been exceptional. The tools that TD offers are also something to behold. The Strategy Desk helps determine support and resistance levels as well as entry and exit points. You can backtest trading strategies and place orders directly through the multiple platforms available. One Cancels Another, One triggers another and other order options make trading flexible and convenient to your schedule. A great broker indeed!

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I have been with TD Ameritrade for about 8 months. The interaction with the trading system is easy to understand and work with to make your trades. Also they have different on-line seminars that help with different trading strategies. Plus the way to fund your account is an easy set-up and the $9.99 trades aren't bad either.

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TD Ameritrade has been very good. The site is really easy to use and they offer a bunch of trading tools. The only problem I have had is that transferring money from my checking account to my stock account took longer than I though. Besides that everything else is great.

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I really like the online broker site, because it offers a lot of good tools used for trading and investing. It also has a very neat and organized format, and is very easy to use. I especially like the page for balances and positions, because it clearly outlines all positions and changes in valuations.

Only two considerations for the brokerage, but not really important: commission and bugs. At $9.95 per trade (+$0.75 per contract on options), it is a bit on the steep side. However, I feel like it is worth it, just for the peace of mind that nothing will go wrong with this brokerage.

The second problem is a bug where the ticker you are viewing changes to a previously viewed ticker. For example, if you were looking at MS and then changed to C, as you're clicking though the tabs, it may randomly go back to MS. Of course, this isn't a major problem.

All in all, I really like TD Ameritrade.

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Started out investing for a Roth IRA in December. Great selection of funds easy transactions. Only downside is the side is somewhat confusing with some of the tools.

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Trades are reasonable for $9.99, but there are cheaper online brokers like Scottrade. I am only familiar with this trading platform. Occassionally, they have promotions for free trades when you sign up which is good. It seems pretty easy to use too. I didn't have trouble figuring out where to go to find out the information I wanted regarding valuations, fundamentals, or charts.

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I have never had an problems with TD Ameritrade. Their pricing is very straightforward. The website is very clean and easy to navigate. I don't trade extensively, so i enjoy the fact that there isn't a fee for not trading for a period of time. I do miss Goldman Sachs reviews though.

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I don't mind this trader, prices aren't bad and the information contained within the site is very useful for amateur traders such as myself.

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I am new to the online trading world and have no complaints as of yet.....Although I did put in a limit sell order for some stock I had that had a price level well above where the market price was and the sale went through....I then proceeded to use the proceeds from the sale to purchase a new stock and then they reneged on the sale....I called them up and they were very helpful in the situation. Claimed they have never seen anything like that, but in the end they took care of my problem so it was no big deal. All in all its a good online brokerage, provides great tools for researching companies and what not.

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Good -
-Excellent tools for the active trader. You can do analysis, get news, get live level II quotes, backtest, and trade on the same screen for multiple stocks.
-Extended trading hours. If your position is deteriorating before or after the market, you can do something about it.
-Faster execution than the other brokers I have worked with. I seem to go to the front of the line more often than not with my limit orders.
-Excellent help online. I have no idea what their customer service is like because I have never had to call them.
-Site/tool stability. I have not had issues with the site being down when I need it.
-Flat pricing is great for larger orders.
-Lots of free extras for people that place a lot of orders. These guys know how to take care of customers that do more than a couple of transactions per month.
-Multiple platforms, each customizable for how you trade. These guys understand that everyone does things a little bit different.
-The trade interface is very fast, and does not require leaving your current location to use, either on the site or in one of their platforms.


Bad -
-At $10, this is not the right broker if you are a buy and pray investor that does not care about a couple of pennies on the order, and know what you want to buy.
- The basic news is not complete, but this can be overcome with Google Finance.
- The screener feature does not yield accurate results. I do not use this feature, but I am not sure why this has not yet been fixed.
- Fast execution of partial orders with low volume stocks can kill you. There have been more than a couple of times I spent $10 to buy a handful of a shares. They do offer an all or nothing option, which helps mitigate this risk.

Overall -
I have tried many brokerages, and TD is the one that I like the most. The $10 commision is nothing compared to the money I make due to fast execution, no extra fees for large orders, and extended trading. The tools are perfect for my trading style. On the other hand, if you are an active trader that only works with a small amount of money, it is hard to overcome that $20 for the combined buy/sell.

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Excellent. The transaction fees could be lower!

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I have had an excellent experience with this broker.

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I've been using Tdameritrade for about 4 years now; they seem to be a little on the expensive side because the the commission is $10 and that's a big chunk of profit sometimes because i am a day trader and sometimes my order aren't executed till the day after which is really weird. The good thing about this broker is that you can reserve a pretty good amount of shares to short sell.

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I think this brokerage site is awesome. As far as finding independent research, and smooth transactions. There are also free promotions, free $100 if you deposit more than X dollars. Free trades for the first 495 trades. They have now added some options trading software. I haven't really dug into it yet but it looks promising.

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I have been very happy with Ameritrade and will stick with them.

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I brielfy opened an account with TD Ameritrade. I was planning to move some select securities from another broker. First I get a call from a guy who is on commission who tries to get me to move everything to TDA. Then, a week later I receive a message saying that their security department won't allow the transfer of one of my stocks because it is a "penny stock." This stock is actually $580 per share! It's a lightly traded OTC (pink list) stock of a very well-run and financially sound regional bank. My conclusion is that if they are that screwed up in their ability to analyze incoming stocks, I don't want anything to do with them. I then transferred the same set of stocks, including the aforementioned OTC bank stock, to Firstrade with no problem. In my experience the two best online brokerage firms are Firstrade and USAA (limited to active duty, veteran or military families).

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I have been using TD Ameritrade for more that 2 years, not anymore. I am an active trader, and everything was perfect until I experienced a problem with Command Center 2.0, they had technical problem, and because of that I lost significant amount of money. After I called them they gave me 10 free trades which is nothing compare to my loss. So, many hours on phone I wasted by trying ti get my money back, NOOOO. I called different brokers and explained situation, they were surprised, how it is so unprofessional, especially when I had a talk with main supervisor, it was terrific. So unprofessional person who manages people, she does not know how to do business. The company already lost more because my negative advertisement about company, and my inactivity. If TD is going to continue this kind of behavior they are going to be nothing, even with a good platform from Thinkorswim. There are a lot of brokers around, even much- much cheaper and better tools. My recommendation is do not deal with TD Ameritrade if you want to trade safely.

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Lots of tools. I am a small time trader so a lot of them do not apply to me, but there are lots of great technical analysis as well as fundamental reports at your finger tips. Kind of makes anyone feel like an expert.

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A little old fashioned, but a good broker with several capabilities being added or updated currently.

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TD Ameritrade has always performed for me as I would expect them to.

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Trade prices are low along with fees. They have Apex status which adds some extra research tools and removes/lowers some fees for those who trade 6 times within a month. I think it's really easy to achieve and they won't remove it once you have it.

Plan on doing your research by yourself elsewhere, though the access to S&P reports does come in handy once in awhile. I interned at Smith Barney for awhile and every research tool they used other than a Bloomberg terminal is included with Apex accounts at TD Ameritrade.

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i've never have any problems with. the only thing is the is more expensive than others, but i think is ok

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I use this platform regularly. Symbols are easy to find with good suggestions on trading ideas. Definitely check it out.

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This is my second round with TD Ameritrade. After the acquisition by Toronto Dominion Bank they made some significant improvements to services. Not the least of these improvements is that non-committed funds (cash) in your account are now rolled into an interest bearing account. Nicely, these funds are available for immediate use at any time when trading can occur.

The research tools have also been beefed up in the three years between closure of my previous portfolio and the opening of my current account. It's good to see that this service has not gone stagnant on the development side.

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I've been with them since they were Datek and they have steadily gotten better. They have a complex option order ticket that they make easy, technical issues are pretty rare and the customer service is better than most online brokers. Their execution on conditional orders is good, too. Their pricing is fair for what you get. Obviously, one size does not fit all with any broker, but I've tried them all and this, Scottrade and options express (solely used for futures) are the three that are left standing with me. Futures are coming in January 2010 off the TOS buyout.

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Trading is really expensive and paying $10.00 for trade is crazy.

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Very happy with treatment, and info received from said broker.

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I just started investing at the young age of 20. From what I've experienced, TD is a great tool for both beginners and advanced or very technical traders. I can see myself using TD for many years, assuming they keep it simple and easy to navigate.

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Even through the thick of the financials crumbling, TD ameritrade provided excellent customer service. they didn't freak out! that was nice /^^|

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well first to start if you are not interested in listening to what a 13 year old has to say leave now but otherwise i have had stock in ADRE with Td ameratrade for 3 years now and has only boasted my interests in the stock market but i would recommend it for any one

Youtube username
and gamertag
Thorscope

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I am currently a TD Ameritrade APEX member and I have received excellent services from my broker. I have yet to have any problems with them or their employees. They offer great professional tools which I use as much as possible. They also offer free training and web tutorials.

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its o.k........ trades are reasonable but the tools (streaming) are lacking

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