TD Ameritrade move to Schwab - No TOS access

[rasar 1,885]

I've been receiving messages alerting me to the forthcoming move of all my accounts from TD Ameritrade to Schwab.

Today, I received a notification about setting up a Schwab account, and at the bottom of that instruction sheet was the following statement:

Your account will move to Schwab over a weekend. On the day the market opens following your transition
weekend, starting at 5 a.m. ET, you’ll be able to access your accounts for the first time on Schwab.com
and the Schwab Mobile app. thinkorswim® will be available at Schwab later in 2023.

I called the listed number, and the guy on the phone confirmed that ThinkorSwim will only be available later in 2023, probably around November. He confirmed that after September 5, I would NOT have access to ToS until it became available on Schwab. He huffily suggested I use the Scwab website for my trading, when I tried to explain that ToS was critical to me, and obviously to the options-trading customers at TD Ameritrade.

At the risk of sounding calm and unperturbed, I find that extremely disruptive and ridiculous. Does any other SO user have any experience with ToS migrating to Schwab ?

 

[Ringandpinion 1,621]

@rasar Once I read your post, I fired off a support request.  I've seen several communications for Schwab about the transition, none suggested this.  Very concerning, not only will it be disruptive, it says something about the attitude of Schwab towards its smaller retail clients like us.

[rasar 1,885]

I just got off the phone with Schwab first, then TDA. The Schwab guy, as I mentioned, was bombastic, tone-deaf, and possibly ignorant (even though he claimed he had "come over from TD Ameritrade, and was very familiar with ToS"). He babbled something about seeing what they could do to "give me early accces to ToS", whatever that means.

The TDA guy was much more helpful and contrite. He looked up my accounts and claimed that my retail accoutns (mine, my wife's and my kids') had been pushed back to 2024, while my Institututional acccounts would move in September.

Maybe it's time to move all my accounts to TastyTrade after all.

[Ringandpinion 1,621]

Here is what I got.  I don't have any institutional accounts but it seems if you access them from the same login, that would be a problem in and of itself.  The only trouble I've ever had with TDA support was lack of knowledge or experience, and that only seldom.  It concerns me that Schwab, a much much larger company, may not be as nice about it.  That said, I opened a Tastytrade account last year and I found the platform very weak, centered around how Sosnoff trades without the bells and whistles of TOS.  I closed the account after about 6 months.

11:33 Ringandpinion: Combating misinformation about transition of TDA accounts using Thinkorswim to Schwab usually is pretty easy.  But I saw a post this morning from an individual I know is a serioius trader and I wanted to confirm his statements.  He said that TDA support told him that when his account is transitioned to Schwab, over a weekend, that he will not be able to use Thinkorswim till later in 2023, date unknown.  Even if the date was known and I only got booted off TOS for a week, this would be extremely disruptive for me.  Since I have read many statements from Schwab on the transition and none mentioned the loss of use for Thinkorswim, I thought it best to ask for clarifitcation.
11:33 admin: Thank you for chatting with us. We appreciate your patience as the next available associate will be with you as soon as possible.
11:34 Kyrillos_A: Hello, thanks for chatting in!
11:36 Kyrillos_A: Your source is correct in that Thinkorswim is not set to launch until Late 2023 for Schwab clients. However, this will not affect you since all of your TD Ameritrade accounts are set to transition over in early 2024
11:40 Ringandpinion: Does the 2024 transition date apply to all Thinkorswim customers?  So only Schwab customers will be unable to use Thinkorswim for a while?
11:42 Kyrillos_A: Each individual person is part of a transition group date. This is based on overall Thinkorswom usage. Since you use Thinkorswim so frequently, you were put in the last transition group so you can use Thinkorswim throughout the whole transition process and once the account is officially Schwab. As of now, only clients with TD Ameritrade are allowed to use Thinkorswim. Schwab clients will have access to Thinkorswim some time in late 2023
11:44 Ringandpinion: Well, that alleviates my concerns, possibly the trader I spoke with should check on what group he was put in, I'm sure he is as active a trader as I am.  Thanks for your help.
11:45 Kyrillos_A: Happy to help Please chat back in for any further questions. Have a great day!

[Ringandpinion 1,621]

I'm also wondering what effect 10 million Schwab customers all climbing on to Thinkorswim will have on functionality.  I'm sure they'll increase the number of servers but I can't help but think there will be research and development done in the field, since that is pretty much an all industry standard.

[z0ned 2]

I just got off the phone with TD.  They told me all accounts will be available on Desktip&Mobile TOS the first trading day after the transition 

[rasar 1,885]

1 hour ago, z0ned said:

I just got off the phone with TD.  They told me all accounts will be available on Desktip&Mobile TOS the first trading day after the transition 

They have staggerred transition dates, so it probably depends on when your specific account is transitioned. They admitted that ToS would be complicated to move, and it sounds like they've pushed ToS users' migrations to 2024. I seriously doubt ToS will be available to Schwab users in September.

I'm waiting for them to call me back to provide clarification, as they had promised yesterday.

[Ringandpinion 1,621]

Over the past 4 years I've tried to create a backup to TOS for when they might go down, either short or longer term.  I used IB TWS, Tastytrade and Tradier, all of which have minimal functionality compared to TOS, IB TWS was probably the runner up.  I also looked at some very expensive software like DAS.  Moral of the story - if Schwab screws up TOS, I'm going to be up $$!t creek without a paddle.