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TD Ameritrade vs Thinkorswim - What's the Difference?

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When it comes to investing in the stock market, a couple of names you might hear repeatedly are TD Ameritrade and Thinkorswim.

If you go to look them up, you'll see that they are affiliated, which might create confusion about what each one is and how they differ from each other.

This is a guide about the difference between TD Ameritrade and Thinkorswim.

 

What Is TD Ameritrade?

TD Ameritrade is a brokerage. It is a place where you can hold money and use that money to make investments in stocks, options, ETFs (Exchange-Traded Funds), and similar financial instruments.

In essence, TD Ameritrade is a financial institution that provides the infrastructure and services for individuals to engage in various forms of investment and trading activities in the stock market.

 

What Is Thinkorswim?

Thinkorswim is a free trading software available from TD Ameritrade.

You can use it to buy stocks and options in the stock market.

TD Ameritrade customers can download Thinkorswim from here. It's available in different versions: desktop, web, and mobile.

Each version is unique and different from each other.

This video about TD Ameritrade vs Thinkorswim offers more information that might help:

 

The Thinkorswim layout we used in that video was a custom one we created here at Stock Market Guides. It's available for free and you can learn how to use it in this guide about setting up Thinkorswim.

 

TD Ameritrade vs Thinkorswim

When you look at TD Ameritrade vs Thinkorswim, the difference is that TD Ameritrade is the brokerage itself, and Thinkorswim is a trading platform that they offer their customers.

In other words Thinkorswim is owned by TD Ameritrade. It's the name of TD Ameritrade's signature trading platform.

Any trades made using the Thinkorswim trading platform are connected with a TD Ameritrade brokerage account.

 

Learning More About TD Ameritrade vs Thinkorswim

You can contact us any time if you would like to ask any questions about TD Ameritrade, Thinkorswim, or anything about trading in general.