TD Ameritrade is an online brokerage that was founded back in 1975. The brokerage offers a wide range of available assets, most of which can be bought and sold commission free. In more recent news, TD Ameritrade was bought by Charles Schwab in 2020. Since then, the two brokerages have been working on merging together, which is set for completion in early 2024 according to Charles Schwab.

In the meantime, TD Ameritrade still operates independently of Charles Schwab and remains an attractive choice for active investors due to a robust investing platform, a wide range of account types and assets, as well as strong education and customer support.

TD Ameritrade offers three account categories if you are an every day retail investor.

Standard brokerage accounts: A standard brokerage account is the most common account and simply allows you to buy and sell a wide range of assets. You can own this account as an individual, or jointly with another person in a variety of ways.

Retirement accounts: IRAs (individual retirement accounts) are designed specifically to help you save and invest for retirement. TD Ameritrade offers access to traditional, Roth, and rollover IRAs.
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Education accounts: If your goal is to save for your kids college expenses, TD Ameritrade offers both a 529 plan, as well as a Coverdell Education Savings Account. You can also opt to help your kids with a UGMA or UTMA account, which are custodial accounts in which you can place assets and later gift to your children when they are of age.

TD Ameritrade offers two primary platforms. You can opt to use the standard web based platform, or upgrade to the thinkorswim platform if you are a more advanced investor. Both of these platforms offer corresponding mobile versions.

The web based platforms are aimed at new investors as the interface is much cleaner and easier to use than the thinkorswim based platforms. Within the web based platforms, you get access to basic education, research and planning tools, and can place trades quickly with the SnapTicket feature for convenient investing.

The thinkorswim platform is better suited for intermediate to advanced investors as the features and overall usability is more advanced. Thinkorswim is availble on web, desktop, and mobile based versions. The thinkorswim platforms offer advanced features including 400+ technical analysis tools including advanced charting and fibonacci tools, economic data, customizeable features and much more.

TD Ameritrade offers a wide range of available assets for you to invest in on their platforms which include the following:

The education at TD Ameritrade is extremely good and investors at every level can benefit. Education is offered accross a variety of media forms including articles, videos, webcasts, in person events, and podcasts depending upon how you like to learn. Topics covered include specifics on how to invest, personal finance, retirement, taxes, overall market news, and more.

In addition to the technical tools on the platforms, TD Ameritrade also offers additional third party research tools to help you make more informed decisions. This can include research reports from companies such as MorningStar, CFRA, Thomas Reuters and more. Stock pages also typically include a breakdown of earnings, reports, and relavant news to help keep you informed.

TD Ameritrade's customer support is very good and offers a wide variety of ways to get help. First, you can opt to call the brokerage 24/7 and get support over email as well. Secondly, TD Ameritrade does offer in person branches at 175+ locations across the nations. You can use TD Ameritrade's website to see if there is a location near you if you need assistance. Finally, TD Ameritrade allows you to contact them through social media by using Facebook and Twitter messenger.

Although TD Ameritrade is not known for their planning and advice, they do offer it through their goal planning feature. Essentially, you can set up a complimentary session with a financial consusltant. During your session, your consultant will help you identify your goals, explore different scenarios, adjust any inputs as needed, and help you set up a plan for continued action.

The primary advantage of TD Ameritrade is that it can really accomadate investors who want to make frequent moves. This is due to the advanced Thinkorswim platform, a wide range of available assets, and strong customer support. This is not to say that beginners or less active investors can't use the platform, as TD Ameritrade's web based platform is fairly easy to get started on.

TD Ameritrade does have a couple of disadvantages. First, the brokerage does not offer any direct access to crypto. Secondly, when compared to other brokers, the planning and advice is nothing to shout about. This might no longer be an issue once Charles Schwab completes the integration of the two brokers in early 2024 as Schwab does offer very strong planning and advice.

TD Ameritrade is right for you if: