As the picture implies, I’m a thinkorswim guy. Thinkorswim, which was recently acquired by TD Ameritrade (AMTD), is certainly not the cheapest broker out there. $5 stock trades were impressive a few years ago, but you can do better at a lot of other places like Interactive Brokers (IBKR). The same goes for options trades.
So what keeps me coming back?
Simple – customer service.
I mostly use thinkorswim’s online customer service reps, who are incredibly knowledgeable about the company’s trading software. You ask a question, bam, within 30 seconds you get an answer back. No wasting cell-phone minutes waiting for someone to help me, and the right answer the first time, every time. The one time I couldn’t get an answer to a very obscure question about a volatility calculation, I received an email from a senior staffer just a few hours later.
Thinkorswim also did one very tiny, seemingly unimportant, but hugely impressive thing in my first customer service experience with them – they didn’t ask me for 50 pieces of data including my mother’s maiden name before helping me. I was having trouble installing the software, so I gave the company a call. All they asked was my name and account number, and after that, they jumped right in and solved my problem (a security software conflict).
No transfers between departments, no interrogation, and no accusations that the problem is my fault. (unlike that stupid PC company I no longer do business with…)
Thinkorswim also made it VERY easy for me to do business with them. I opened my account online, but funded it with a check. The company paid for overnight FedEx service so I could get started trading right away.
And finally, my laptop is one buggy S.O.B. The wi-fi functionality goes in and out as it pleases, no Internet browser is remotely stable, and sometimes it decides that my wireless network password is wrong. God bless, HP – they have fantastic customer support, but this Vista-powered monstrosity has me thinking Apple is the only way to go.
But you know what DOES work well on my wacky laptop? Thinkorswim’s trading software. I can’t believe it. It’s crashed maybe twice in the past 15 months, and each time, it restarted without a problem. It took me a long time to learn to stop messing with stuff that just works, and this software just works. I don’t use a lot of bells and whistles – I just want something fast and stable, and I’ve got it.
So I may pay a little more for trades than I could elsewhere, but I’m happy where I am.