thinkorswim acquired by ameritrade.

Quote from weewilly:

so the clearing operations will shift away from Penson to td's self-clearing?

i remember so well what happened to cybertrader after schwab acquired them. straight downhill to zero.

i cuddnt even remember the name. i liked CT -

thanks - i was going crazy trying to remember the name of the company.
 
Quote from Landis82:


Just take a look at some of the reviews of Quotetracker ( and Jerry Medved ) here on ET. It is a total "eye-opener" for sure. I feel sorry for anyone using Realtick and spending >$350 per month on their equity feed/charts.


Is Quotetracker a Java based program ?

Realtick is raw unadulterated data. Why i use it. And yes, the price is a joke but they don't care about the small fish. They have several institutions using their platform. I am looking for another raw feed though with similar capabilities so if anyone can suggest a feed please do. As for customer service, some douche is liable to answer the tech support phone but usually shiite gets done and fixed....Aside from the massive failures i recall several years ago. Also, you best have a decent machine and good lines to pull their data.

Cheers
 
Quote from Landis82:

Yes, I am an ex-floor trader/broker.

I first started out trading stock-index futures for Victor Sperandeo on the NYFE, which later became part of the NYBOT over in #4 World Trade Center. I was also employed by Paul Tudor Jones in 1986 as a COMEX trader just as PTJ was getting off the ground, but went on my own in 1987 as a "local" on the NYBOT.

In answer to your question . . .

No, I do not pay their standard $9.99 equity rates.
You can negotiate lower ( as I have ) based on your volume.
Moreover, if you trade size it works out even better than a per share shop.
Just do the math.

Okay thanks for that Landis 82

My scepticism comes from the fact that I am tied into many top level traders. Note I'm making no claims about myself personally.

I've been surfing these boards for many years though posting quite lightly (until this TOS thing, this has got my blood boiling) and I am familiar with the brokers favored by the real guys.TD Ameritrade is not on that list but ok, you've given a credible answer so thanks and good trading to you.

As for other recent posters, I agree with those who think that Sosnoff and all may have the best of intentions but so what? They are now "owned". It's a slippery slope, thin end of the edge...


Trust me, I wouldn't waste my time being such a "cheerleader" for the AMTD/Quotetracker platform on Elitetrader ( where hardly anyone seems to trade for a living ) unless it actually provided VALUE and was able to keep up with today's demanding quote thresholds. After last month's server upgrades, I can honestly recommend the data-feed and trading platform for aggressive equity trading.

Just take a look at some of the reviews of Quotetracker ( and Jerry Medved ) here on ET. It is a total "eye-opener" for sure. I feel sorry for anyone using Realtick and spending >$350 per month on their equity feed/charts.

http://www.quotetracker.com/

I would also reiterate the "point" made in the previous post by "Inandlong".

There is absolutely no economic reason for AMTD to screw things up for ToS customers. It wouldn't make any sense to do so. But leave it to a few "pea-brains" here on ET that are unable to comprehend such a significant point, and would rather speculate with words that implore hypotheticals, rumors, maybe's, etc.

Good Luck to All.
 
yeesh, sorry bout that, my comments didn't go through. try again..

Landis82, thanks for the reply, you sound like a credible guy esp if you were associated with "trader Vic".

My scepticism comes from the fact that in my years of trading, the real guys don't use TD Ameritrade. Perhaps you've found a workable deal with them. That's unusual.

I know some pretty good traders (and make zero claims about myselt except for I've been in the biz full time for some years now) and nobody I know would touch them. Again, kudos I won't dispute your statements.

To all those traders who think the acquisition is a bad thing I agree. Unlike their other mergers and acquisitions, this one means TOS is "owned". Oh sure they'll (TOS) exert influence for a while but TD is now the judge jury and executioner (sorry for the pun).

Grandfathered commish can only be temporary, TOS has always had the right to change commish, and they will here after a few months under pressure from their parent.
 
Quote from riskaddict:

I dont understand all the frowning faces. Buy and hold is dead so amtd is being proactive by buying the best trading platform and the best programers.

A few people have mentioned in this thread about the Thinkorswim platform and the Thinkorswim programmers.

It seems most people don't realize that the Thinkorswim software and platform development is actually outsourced to a Russian software development company, Dev Experts:

http://www.devexperts.com/clients/thinkorswim/

I don't know if Thinkorswim actually own any part of this company but it seems that they aren't necessarily part of this acquisition directly.

Anyway, it seems that Thinkorswim is basically just being renamed as Ameritrade Active Trader Division or something so this acquisition is probably much ado about nothing. Tom and Scott are obviously smart guys.

Good for them.
 
byteme: this is huge!! It means that if AMTD wanted the platform (as they say) they could have hired devexperts to clone the TOS platform instead of paying $606 millions for TOS itself. Idiots!!!
 
Quote from buzzy2:

byteme: this is huge!! It means that if AMTD wanted the platform (as they say) they could have hired devexperts to clone the TOS platform instead of paying $606 millions for TOS itself. Idiots!!!

Yes, that's one possible implication though we don't know all of the ins-and-outs of the contract and arrangement e.g. exclusivity that Thinkorwsim has with Dev Experts and intellectual property issues etc.

In any case, when the existing contract between Thinkorswim and Dev Experts is up, Dev Experts may be in a very strong position to take advantage of Ameritrade.

If the Thinkorswim brand will be replaced and if Thinkorswim customers jump ship and if the technology skill and know-how for the much-praised Thinkorswim platform isn't actually part of Thinkorswim...what have Ameritrade actually acquired for $600m?
 
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