Thinkorswim

The Company. Security of Funds

Forex trading is one of the lesser businesses of the company, but nevertheless TD Ameritrade Futures & Forex Llc is one of the five remaining active retail forex brokers on the US market, along with FXCM, Forex.com (Gain Capital), Oanda and Interactive Brokers.

TD Ameritrade is strictly regulated by the US Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) as an investment firm, and as a member of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as an Investment Adviser Firm. The company’s affiliate TD Ameritrade Futures & Forex Llc is also a member of the futures commission in the US National Futures Association (NFA) since 2014 and is a member of the forex dealer since February of 2016.

In the end it is clear that overall, the US foreign exchange market strictly controlled, and the watchdogs maintain the watch on brokers. They also look out the market for “intruders” who are not licensed to offer service to US residents, and are not willing to issue harsh penalties.

Trading Conditions

Minimum deposit

TD Ameritrade Futures & Forex Llc provides only one kind Live trading accounts, namely A standard account that can be joint or individual. In theory , there are two choices for deposit minimum requirements which are $50 for a basic account, and $2000 for “margin privileges”. However, in practice the minimum deposit required of trading forex amounts to $2000 in accordance with Ameritrade’s rules regarding margin trades.

Its American peers like FXCM and Forex.com for instance, will require $5000 to open the Standard accounts for US clients, and $50 for the Standard account, or $50, for clients from the US.

Spreads & Commissions

TD Ameritrade offers trading on currency pairs: commission-free standard and commission-based.

The non-commission pair trades by increments of 10 000 units (mini lots). These commission-based pair trades in 1,000 units (micro lots) and, as they are not marked up by the interbank provider, they can have a wider spread or tighter spreads since the quotes of these pairs are not controlled by the desk that deals with them. The commission is calculated in the terms of the counter currency , however it is usually around $1.00 minimum, and around $0.10 in micro lots.

Leverage

The leverage of foreign exchange trading within the US is restricted to 1:50. TD Ameritrade complies with the regulations and provides the maximal leverage ratio of 1:150 for major currency pairs. For exotic pairs, it is even lowerat 1:20.

Trading Platform

TD Ameritrade has a proprietary trading platform, known as thinkorswim. It’s an all-in-one platform and allows users to trade forex and also options for stocks, futures as well as stocks, options, and futures. through one account. It’s a powerful and flexible platform that offers advanced tools for analysis, education resources and tutorials, in-real-time data, customized strategies, live chat, statistics, etc.

Thinkorswim offers access to over 400 technical studies, ranging from resistance and support to candlesticks and profiles. It also offers a selection of 20 drawings, which includes 8 Fibonacci tools. It lets users create their own trading algorithm using thinkScript.

The drawback is that the software is extremely advanced and complex for traders who are not experienced.

The platform allows to synch across devices and includes apps for tablets and smartphones.

The problem is that TD Ameritrade does not provide other trading platforms, such as the well-known MetaTraders for instance. Contrary to that it is a rival on the US market, FXCM provides the MetaTrader 4 platform along with its own trading Station.

Promotions

TD Ameritrade has several types of promotions that offer trading bonuses Joint or IRA TD Ameritrade account opened by 331/2017 and credited after 60 calendar days from account opening by at least $3,000. To be eligible for a $100 bonus, account has to be filled with $25,000 or more within 60 days after opening the account. To be eligible for a $300 bonus, the account must be credited by $100,000 or more within 60 days after the account opening. To qualify for the bonus of $600 the account must be funded by $250,000 or more within 60 days from the account opening.

Payment methods

TD Ameritrade accepts account funding via the company’s own Automated Clearing House (ACH) services, which are electronic funds. Another method of finding accounts is through bank transfers and checks.

We haven’t been able to determine about whether the broker will accept other payment methods like PayPal for instance, however, the most likely solution to that question is “no”.

Conclusion

TD Ameritrade Futures & Forex Llc is a pure US forex brokerage that began operations in the year 2016 and is now operating solely on the US.

It is among five forex brokers operating in the United States although it is widely regarded as a lucrative market. The reason for the low number of forex brokers operating in the US is that the law is very strict, and the rules for forex brokers are very strict.

Although forex isn’t the primary operation for TD Ameritrade, it seems an extremely secure and well-regulated broker with a wide range of more than 100 forex pairs.