TD Ameritrade vs TradeStation
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- Ally Invest vs ATC Brokers
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- FOREX.com vs TD Ameritrade
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- IG vs OANDA
- IG vs Saxo Bank
- IG vs TD Ameritrade
- IG vs TradeStation
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- Interactive Brokers vs eToro
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- Interactive Brokers vs TD Ameritrade
- Interactive Brokers vs TradeStation
- OANDA vs Ally Invest
- OANDA vs ATC Brokers
- OANDA vs TradeStation
- Saxo Bank vs Ally Invest
- Saxo Bank vs ATC Brokers
- Saxo Bank vs OANDA
- Saxo Bank vs TD Ameritrade
- Saxo Bank vs TradeStation
- TD Ameritrade vs Ally Invest
- TD Ameritrade vs ATC Brokers
- TD Ameritrade vs OANDA
- TD Ameritrade vs TradeStation
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Overall Rating
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
| Overall | ||
| Commissions & Fees | ||
| Offering of Investments | ||
| Platforms & Tools | ||
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Research | ||
| Education | ||
| Trust Score | 98 | 98 |
| TD Ameritrade Review | TradeStation Review | |
| Winner | ||
| N/A of retail CFD accounts lose money | N/A of retail CFD accounts lose money |
Regulation
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
| Trust Score | 98 | 98 |
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Year Founded The year the firm was founded.
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1955 | 1955 |
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Publicly Traded (Listed) Directly or indirectly traded-publicly and listed on a stock exchange.
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Bank Is a regulated bank.
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Tier-1 Licenses Number of tier-1 (high trust) licenses.
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5 | 5 |
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Tier-2 Licenses Number of tier-2 (high trust) licenses.
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0 | 0 |
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Tier-3 Licenses Number of tier-3 (high trust) licenses.
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0 | 0 |
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Authorised in the European Union Authorised by an EU-member state with MiFID Passports to other member states.
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RTier-1 Licenses (High Trust)
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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ASIC Authorised (Australia) Regulated by the Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC).
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IIROC Authorised (Canada) Regulated by IIROC or other Canadian Province Regulator.
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SFC Authorised (Hong Kong) Regulated by the Securities Futures Commission (SFC) in Hong Kong.
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FSA Authorised (Japan) Regulated by the Japanese Financial Services Authority (JFSA).
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MAS Authorised (Singapore) Regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).
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FINMA Authorised (Switzerland) Regulated by the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA).
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FCA Authorised (UK) Authorised or Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) in the United Kingdom.
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CFTC Registered (USA) Registered by the CFTC and regulated by the NFA as a member in the United States.
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Investment
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Forex Trading Trading forex as a CFD or spot contract.
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CFDs (Total) Number of Contract for Difference (CFDs) available.
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0 | 0 |
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Forex Pairs (Total) Total number of forex pairs (CFDs or spot contracts) available, e.g., EUR/USD.
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73 | 73 |
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Cryptocurrency (Physical) Offers ability to buy actual (delivered) cryptocurrency (not CFD) with wallet storage.
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Cryptocurrency (CFD) Offers ability to trade (buy and sell) crytocurrency as CFD (non-deliverable). Note: Crypto CFDs are not available to UK residents or traders using a broker's UK entity.
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading Platform that allows traders to follow signals or copy the trades of other users.
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Cost
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Average Spread EUR/USD - Standard Average spread for the EUR/USD pair for standard accounts.
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1.065 pips (Sep 2019) | 1.065 pips (Sep 2019) |
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All-in Cost EUR/USD - Active EUR/USD all-in spread including commission for best pricing available for Active Traders.
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1.065 pips (Sep 2019) | 1.065 pips (Sep 2019) |
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Active Trader or VIP Discounts Broker offers premium services, discounts or rebates to clients.
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Funding
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Minimum Initial Deposit The minimum deposit needed to start a live trading account.
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$0 | $0 |
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Bank Wire (Deposit/Withdraw) Offers option to use a bank wire to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Visa/Mastercard (Credit/Debit) Visa or MasterCard debit or credit cards be used to deposit or withdraw funds.
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PayPal (Deposit/Withdraw) PayPal can be used to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Skrill (Deposit/Withdraw) Skrill can be used to deposit and/or withdraw funds.
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Trading Platforms
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Proprietary Platform The broker offers their own developed platform that is unique to them and that they may license to other brokerages (but not vice versa).
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Desktop Platform (Windows) Desktop platform for Windows OS such as Windows 7, 8, and/or 10.
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Web Platform Offers a web (browser) based trading platform. Broker website counts if trading can be managed through interface.
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Social Trading / Copy-Trading Platform that allows traders to follow signals or copy the trades of other users.
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MetaTrader 4 (MT4) Offers the native MetaTrader 4 (MT4) platform (for desktop and mobile) developed by MetaQuotes Software Corp.
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MetaTrader 5 (MT5) Offers the MetaTrader 5 (MT5) platform developed by MetaQuotes Software Corp, and which supports automated trading strategies.
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cTrader Offers cTrader platform developed by Spotware Systems, which supports automated trading capabilities.
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DupliTrade DupliTrade offers trading strategy providers that traders can copy trade in their brokerage account.
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ZuluTrade Offers Zulutrade platform for traders to copy other user-created trading strategies automatically in their account.
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Trading Tools
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Virtual Trading (Demo) Offers simulated trading such as via a free virtual demo account (trial-period).
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Alerts - Basic Fields Ability to set basic price alerts and be notified when price is reached.
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Watchlists - Total Fields Total available fields when viewing a watchlist. Examples: price, symbol, bid, ask, volume.
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548 | 548 |
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Charting - Indicators / Studies (Total) Total number of indicators/studies insertable in a chart (SMA, MACD, RSI, etc...).
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382 | 382 |
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Charting - Drawing Tools (Total) Total number of drawing tools in chart. (pointer, trendline, arrow, note, etc...)
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20 | 20 |
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Charting - Trade From Chart Trade by right clicking on the chart or from a dedicated chart quote bar.
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Charting - Drawings Autosave Drawing features such as trendlines can be saved on any of the charts from within one of the available platforms.
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Order Type - Trailing Stop Continually adjusts its price level based on a specified thresholds.
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Mobile Trading
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Android App Offers an Android smartphone app available in the Google Play store.
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Apple iOS App Offers native iOS app for Apple devices available in the app store for iPhone or iPad.
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Alerts - Basic Fields Set basic alerts in the mobile app. Examples: price alerts, percentage change from open, volume alerts, etc...
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Watch List Watch list in mobile app uses real-time quotes.
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Watch List Syncing Watch list in mobile app syncs with client's online account. Updates made in the mobile app migrate to the online account and vice versa.
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Charting - Indicators / Studies How many technical studies / indicators are available to add to a chart in the mobile app.
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148 | 148 |
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Charting - Draw Trendlines Ability to draw trendlines on chart within mobile app.
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Charting - Trendlines Moveable Ability to easily move trendlines to adjust them (via long press w/ finger).
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Charting - Multiple Time Frames Adjust the time frame while viewing a chart in the mobile app (e.g. 1m, 5m, 1hr, daily, weekly, monthly).
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Charting - Drawings Autosave Trendlines are saved after logging out so they appear after next log in.
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Forex Calendar A calendar with upcoming economic news releases (may include expected vs prior).
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Research
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Daily Market Commentary Daily updates written by staff regarding market prices and news events.
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Forex News (Top-Tier Sources) Real-time forex news headlines from top-tier sources such as Bloomberg, Reuters, Dow Jones, etc.
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Weekly Webinars Webinars scheduled in advance that clients can join on a weekly basis.
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AutoChartist Offers one or more technical or fundamental research tool from AutoChartist
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Trading Central (Recognia) Offers one or more technical analysis or fundamental research tool from Trading Central
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Delkos Research Offers one or more technical or fundamental research tools provided by Delkos Research
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Social Sentiment - Currency Pairs Sentiment tool showing ratio of long/short positions across currency pairs or other instruments.
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Economic Calendar Shows upcoming global news events for various economies around the world.
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Education
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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Has Education - Forex A minimum of 10 educational pieces (articles, videos, archived webinars, or similar) with the primary subject being Forex. (Platform tutorials and FAQs, etc.. do NOT count).
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Has Education - CFDs A minimum of 10 educational pieces (articles, videos, archived webinars, or similar) with the primary subject being CFDs. (Platform tutorials and FAQs, etc.. do NOT count).
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Client Webinars Provides educational client webinars through the web, at least one per month.
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Client Webinars (Archived) Provides an archived area to search and watch previously recorded client webinars.
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Videos - Beginner Trading Videos At least 10 educational videos are available. A beginner video is a short clip, typically several minutes in duration, that explains a trading concept, term, or strategy. Archived webinars and platform demos do NOT count.
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Videos - Advanced Trading Videos Educational videos with relevant content of value for experienced traders.
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Investor Dictionary (Glossary) An online dictionary with definitions of at least 50 investing terms.
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Major Forex Pairs
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
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GBP/USD Great British Pound (GBP) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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USD/JPY United States Dollar (USD) versus Japanese Yen (JPY).
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EUR/USD Euro (EUR) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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USD/CHF United States Dollar (USD) versus Swiss Franc (CHF).
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USD/CAD United States Dollar (USD) versus Canadian Dollar (CAD).
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NZD/USD New Zealand Dollar (NZD) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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AUD/USD Australian Dollar (AUD) versus United States Dollar (USD).
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Overall
| Feature | TD Ameritrade | TradeStation |
| Overall | ||
| Commissions & Fees | ||
| Offering of Investments | ||
| Platforms & Tools | ||
| Mobile Trading | ||
| Research | ||
| Education | ||
| Trust Score | 98 | 98 |
| TD Ameritrade Review | TradeStation Review |
TD Ameritrade or TradeStation? Which is good for you? If you have these questions, you are welcomed to read our brief brokers’ comparison to make a reasonable choice.
Which of the two offers the best pricing?
TradeStation spread policy looks more attractive for intraday traders as they offer 0.5 pips on average against 1 pip at TD Ameritrade. It is also to mention that spreads are floating and may change in various market situations.
When it comes to minimum deposit, TradeStation requires 0 amount to start trading (you can invest any amount you want). The same is with TD Ameritrade but they recommend investing from $2,000 to get access to all their margin and options features.
Which of the two is more reliable?
TD Ameritrade and TradeStation are both regulated in the United States. Those companies are subject to the US financial markets regulations. This means that investing with them is safe and you don’t need to worry about your funds.
Trading platforms
TradeStation provides traders with their own proprietary trading platform. It includes all the necessary tools for deep technical analysis and various types of orders. If it is not enough for you, you can choose TD Ameritrade with their Thinkorswim trading terminal which is considered to be one of the best platforms for investors.
Payment methods
TradeStation accepts wire transfers, checks, smart transfers. The range of payment methods that you can use to deposit and withdraw at TD Ameritrade is a bit more attractive as it includes ACH. None of the two accept debit cards.
Financial instruments
Those brokers are designed for both traders and investors. You can create a diversified investment portfolio that will include securities and derivatives. Speculative trading is also possible. Both companies offer plenty of currency pairs and other financial instruments to benefit from their price difference.
