All traders can opt for thinkorswim for its great customer service and their versatile, powerful, customizable trading platform. Thinkorswim has higher commissions that its comepetitors which is the only drawback and could make taders think twice before giving a nod, but one should keep in mind that there are basically no additional fees, and lots of free services, for which other companies charge. The navigation and the ease to find data, complements the design of the site really well.
For detailed information, browse through our detailed reviews below.
What Type of Accounts you can open with thinkorswim?
thinkorswim by TD Ameritrade, gives a lot of options for clients to open an account. Most popular being individual account. The list of all accounts available with thinkorswim is:
- Individual
- Joint Tenants
- Community Property
- Tenants by the Entireties
- Guardianship or Conservatorship
- Retirement Accounts : Traditional IRA | Roth IRA | Rollover IRA | SEP IRA | SIMPLE IRA |
- Education Savings Accounts: 529 | Coverdell ESA | UGMA/UTMA |
- Specialty Investing Accounts: Trust | Limited Partnership | Investment Club | LLC | Sole Proprietorship | Corporate | Non-Incorporated Organization | Pension or Profit Plan for Small Business |
thinkorswim offers the following selection of investing products:
- Options
- Futures
- FOREX
- Stocks
- Mutual Funds
- Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs)
- Bonds, Options
- CDs
- Unit Investment Trusts
- Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs)
thinkorswim’s Fees & Commissions
thinkorswim charge higher than average commissions, but commissions are flat-rate and there are no surcharges: the same rate applies to all trades, including penny stocks, extended hours orders, and large orders. For stock traders, there are two plans, one is the flat-fee rate of $0.15 per share with $5.00 minimum which basically is custom-designed for active traders and institutional investors. For options traders, there are three plans, the first is for traders who execute less than 5 contracts per order in which case, thinkorswim charges, the lesser of $2.95 per contract or $9.95 plus $1.50 per contract, the second plan is custom-designed for investors trading atleast 5 contracts per order in which case, thinkorswim charges $1.25 per contract with a minimum of $12.95. Active option traders obviously get charged lower commissions, with traders who trader up to 16 contract per order, the commissions being $.95 per contract ($19.95 minimum). For mutual funds, you can trade the first three funds free each month, after which the traders get charged $15 per trade. It is clear that the commissions are higher than average, but the quality of the trading platform, the research, and the customer service will always keep your problems at bay.
thinkorswim’s Tools and Platform Performance
Thinkorswim offers one of the best trading platforms on the market right now! It's well designed, intuitive and customizable. Entering and executing orders is fast. It has many advanced features which only experienced traders will truly appreciate. Charts are second to none - everything you might want is included for free. The company provides live CNBC news, a scan tool for finding stocks that meet certain criteria, a watch page that keeps track of things like dividend dates and stock splits, as well as spread / stock hacker tool. There are also live broadcasts from the S&P 500 pit as well as Shadow Trader.
One of the finest features of Thinkorswim is their Analysis tab. It allows you to instantly view an active risk graph that will exactly show the most probable look of any trade setup. In addition to this, it will also instantly show the latest risk graph about any planned adjustments to the current trades you might want to make. This is usually the kind of things that go together with proprietary software, which is always very expensive.
How good is their Customer Service and Support?
thinkorswim has one of the best customer supports.
Education & Training for Traders
You can have access to the knowledge center in the "Support" section. The thinkorswim Learning Center is a place for you to find tutorials and how-tos on everything thinkorswim. One can take a look around, watch videos, read thinkMoney magazine, download the whole manual if you like.
Miscellaneous information about thinkorswim
Since 1999, thinkorswim has supported traders through innovative trading platforms that have been recognized as some of the industry's best for options trading. Recently they were bought out by TD Ameritrade.