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TD to Schwab migration latest

rforno
in Other Investing
Brokerage mergers in my experience are always a PITA. Once the Schwab aquisition of TD was announced in 2020, I transferred my account over immediately to avoid being caught up in the (likely) chaos and disruption -- full margin, options, futures authorizations. But I've kept $1000 at TD to keep the account active and keep access to ThinkDesktop, which I really like (I despise StreetSmart). And apart from a few growing pains and grudgingly accepting their insane cash-management practices, I've been fairly pleased with Schwab.

Anyway, Schwab rolled out ThinkDesktop last month for its customers ... heck, they're even advertising it during football games. But can I use the platform as a Schwab customer? Nope -- because my Schwab account has futures trading enabled on it.

They said they could remove futures trading on my Schwab account and I'd have access to ThinkDesktop ... BUT I was warned that there was a good chance I'd have data errors with how the system calculates my buying power, and the rep rightly noted that could interfere with making trades. HUH? This seems like Merger 101-type of stuff that should've been figured out long ago.

My alternative? If I want to get on ThinkDesktop sooner than 'sometime' in Spring '24, I would need to create a brand new Schwab account, transfer everything over to it, and then I'd have access to ThinkDesktop -- which apparently is running on a different network (presumably legacy TD/ThinkorSwim). And then futures access whenever they spin up futures trading on it.

What an unbelievable runaround for a situation that never should've been allowed to happen!

Comments

  • BaluBalu
    How is ThinkDesktop different from ToS?
  • rforno
    It's the same thing now. But when ThinkorSwim was an independent brokerage before TD bought them, ThinkDesktop was their rockin' trading/analytics platform .. I still use that term, since I'm a longtime 'swimmer.
  • BaluBalu
    Thanks
  • rforno
    edited November 2023
    Opened a second Schwab account (instant approval) Wed afternoon and moved a bunch of cash over to enable Level-3 options trading, which got approved yesterday morning. Once the few piddling items and cash from my legacy TD account hit my Schwab account, I'll move everything into that new Schwab account and close my 'original' 2020 Schwab account next week.

    Along the way I'll be rebuilding and configuring my Schwab-linked ThinkDesktop platform -- which is why I'm enduring this process to begin with.

    Anything for fun...

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