TD Ameritrade Review of the Site: Security, Usability, Look & Feel
The TD Ameritrade site has a smooth and light design with splashes of green on a white background, which perfectly marries the sophistication of classic trading sites with the modern-edge that newer crypto brokers provide. If you’re interested in seeing another site that does this well, then have a look at our
TradeStation Review
later on.
TD Ameritrade Highlights
- Mobile trading app available
- Low trading fees and commission rates
- Fast and reliable customer service
The site is user-friendly overall and new traders should find the basic relatively intuitive. However, once you get a little deeper, novices may find things a little complicated. This is often a small issue faced by veteran trading companies moving online – they’re often catered to the more old-school office traders. TD Ameritrade is improving by the day here though. In terms of performance, the site and trading platform run quickly, free of bugs or lagging – which is pretty impressive given that it deals with some serious volume on a daily basis.
How to use TD Ameritrade:
A Step by Step Guide
Note For Beginners:
Td Ameritrade offers you the chance to test drive the thinkorswim trading platform and to practice trading actual futures without having to risk your real money. You can do this before registering your actual TD Ameritrade account by signing up for paperMoney. Once you’re comfortable, follow the steps below.
Open
Like with any trading platform, your first step towards trading with TD Ameritrade is to sign up and create your account. You can do this quickly and easily via the online form. Not including the approval and verification process below, it’s done in minutes.
Approval
You’ll then need to apply for approval in order to be able to start trading with real money. To do this, log into your account and click Client Services then My Profile. Once inside, find the Elections & Routing drop-down menu, look for Futures then click Enable. Once that’s all done, you should be approved to trade within 2-3 Business days.
Download
While waiting to be approved, you can use the time to download the thinkorswim trading platform to your desktop and mobile devices. Additionally, you can also take the time to study futures, and other trading options and familiarize yourself with the trading platform.
Trade
Once that’s all done you’re ready to start trading by clicking on the “Buy/Sell” button and going from there. The process is easy and self-explanatory from there on in. If you have any problems, the customer service team is excellent and happy to help.
| Company |
TD Ameritrade, Inc. |
| Headquarter |
200 South 108th Avenue Omaha, NE 68154, United States. |
| Year of Founding |
2006 |
| CEO |
Steve Boyle |
| Website |
www.tdameritrade.com |
| Available Languages |
English |
| Customer Support |
Live Chat, Email Support |
| Email |
info@tdameritrade.com |
| Phone |
+800-454-9272 |
| Licence |
CRD#: 7870 |
 |
| Verified by |
– |
| Payment Methods |
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TD Ameritrade Funding Account - Payment Methods
There are five ways in which you can fund your TD Ameritrade account – electronic bank deposits, wire transfer, Check, transferring to your account from another firm and via physical stock certificates. Electronic bank deposit is by far and away the quickest and overall efficient deposit method available with TD Ameritrade. Transactions are usually completed within 5 minutes with deposit limits between $50 and $25,000 and the process can be done entirely online. If you’re a high volume trader, then wire transfer or check is your best bet as there are no deposit limits in place.
You can avoid paying the $75 transfer fee, as partial transfers are free to complete, making this your best avenue if you want to withdraw 100% funds without paying any fees or commission. However, this will take time, as partial brokerage account transfers can take between three and four weeks from the date the online form is completed.
TD Ameritrade Customer Service
If the old school nature of some of TD Ameritrade’s operations sets them back a little bit in some aspects, it definitely helps them excel when it comes to customer service. While some of these modern brokerages try to pawn you off on a live chatbot, TD Ameritrade has a strong and attentive attitude towards customer care, delivering a world-class level of client service, the likes of which America has been built upon. You can contact the team 24/7 via live chat, email and telephone – and when they say 24/7, they actually mean it as well.
We mentioned they are old school in some ways, but this shouldn’t undersell the fact that the live chat is excellent, with polite and helpful customer service agents at the other end who are – wait for it – actual human beings and not bots! Barring any major events in the financial world, you should be able to reach a phone rep within minutes and emails are generally answered within a day, though some enquiries may be quicker.
Is TD Ameritrade Safe? - Licenses and Security
If you’ve come here asking questions about TD Ameritrade being legit and secure, then we’re here to tell you that you really should be in no doubt. TD Ameritrade started life as Ameritrade in Omaha Nebraska back in 1971. Now headquartered in Texas, the original Omaha HQ is still there and TD Ameritrade still holds true to the trustworthy middle American values upon which it was built.
TD Ameritrade holds a banking license, is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and is regulated by FINRA among other top tier regulatory bodies. In addition, TD Ameritrade also publishes regular financial updates. When it comes to the question of security, TD Ameritrade has multiple products, services and tools to help protect both your funds and your data and your assets are protected in case of unauthorized activity in your account. If you have any issues, their award-winning customer service team have procedures which are at the cutting edge of the trading sector.
TD Ameritrade Ratings –
Customers Feedback
TD Ameritrade rates consistently higher for customer satisfaction in a sector where customers who have had bad experiences with heavy losses tend to be the most vocal. The fact that their customer service has been named as the #1 broker for customer service for the last four years in a row by StockBrokers.com comes as absolutely no surprise. In addition, they have also been given the top rating for tools & platforms for the last 9 years and in 2019 & 2020 it was voted best overall broker.
Do We Recommend TD Ameritrade?
Overall, it’s easy to see why TD Ameritrade was named the best overall broker in 2020, as they’re still at the top of their game in 2024. This true American brokerage has risen from humble beginnings in the heart of Nebraska to become one of the slickest and most trusted online trading platforms in the USA today. Add to that $0 commission fees, excellent customer service and multi award-winning educational tools, and we think you truly have a winning recipe.
There are naturally some drawbacks, with the lengthy withdrawal times and the lack of proper cryptocurrency trading. However, that looks to be on the very near horizon and the TD Ameritrade customer service team are keeping us constantly up to date with the changes. Would we recommend TD Ameritrade in the here and now? 100% yes!
