We are a leading provider of securities brokerage services and related technology-based
financial services to retail investors, traders and independent registered investment
advisors ("RIAs"). We provide our services predominantly through the
Internet, a national branch network and relationships with RIAs. We believe
that our services appeal to a broad market of independent, value-conscious retail
investors, traders and investment advisors. We use our platform to offer brokerage
services to retail investors and investment advisors under a simple, low-cost
commission structure.
We have been an innovator in electronic brokerage services since entering the
retail securities brokerage business in 1975. We believe that we were the first
brokerage firm to offer the following products and services to retail clients:
touch-tone trading; trading over the Internet; unlimited, streaming, free real-time
quotes; extended trading hours; direct access to market destinations; and commitment
on the speed of order execution. Since initiating online trading, we have substantially
increased our number of brokerage accounts, number of RIA relationships, average
daily trading volume and total assets in client accounts. We have also built,
and continue to invest in, a proprietary trade processing platform that is both
cost-efficient and highly scalable, significantly lowering our operating costs
per trade. In addition, we have made significant investments in building the
TD Ameritrade brand.
We intend to capitalize on the growth and consolidation of the retail brokerage
industry in the United States and leverage our low-cost infrastructure to grow
our market share and profitability. Our long-term growth strategy is to increase
our market share of total assets in client accounts, while maintaining a leadership
position in client trading, by providing superior offerings to long-term investors,
RIAs and active traders. We strive to enhance the client experience by providing
asset management products and services, enhanced trading tools and capabilities
and a superior, proprietary, single-platform system to support RIAs. The key
elements of our strategy are as follows:
Focus on brokerage services. We continue to focus on attracting active traders,
long-term investors and RIAs to our brokerage services. This focused strategy
is designed to enable us to maintain our low operating cost structure while
offering our clients outstanding products and services. We primarily execute
client trades on an agency, rather than a principal, basis. We maintain only
a small inventory of fixed income securities to meet client requirements.
Provide a comprehensive long-term investor solution. We continue to expand our
suite of diversified investment products and services to best serve investors
needs. We help clients make investment decisions by providing simple-to-use
investment tools, guidance, education and objective third-party research.
Maintain industry leadership and market share with active traders. We help active
traders make better-informed investment decisions by offering fast access to
markets, insight into market trends and innovative tools such as strategy back-testing
and comprehensive options research and trading capabilities.
Continue to be a leader in the RIA industry. We provide RIAs with comprehensive
brokerage and custody services supported by our robust integrated technology
platform, customized personal service and practice management solutions.
Leverage our infrastructure to add incremental revenue. Through our proprietary
technology, we are able to provide a robust online experience for long-term
investors and active traders. Our low-cost, scalable systems provide speed,
reliability and quality trade execution services for clients. The scalable capacity
of our trading system allows us to add a significant number of transactions
while incurring minimal additional fixed costs.
Continue to be a low-cost provider of quality services. We achieve low operating
costs per trade by creating economies of scale, utilizing our proprietary transaction-processing
systems, continuing to automate processes and locating much of our operations
in low-cost geographical areas. This low fixed-cost infrastructure provides
us with significant financial flexibility. In addition, our insured deposit
account arrangement with The Toronto-Dominion Bank enables our clients to invest
in an FDIC-insured deposit product without the need for the Company to establish
the significant levels of capital that would be required to maintain our own
bank charter.
Continue to differentiate our offerings through innovative technologies and
service enhancements. We have been an innovator in our industry for 40 years.
We continually strive to provide our clients with the ability to customize their
trading experience. We provide our clients greater choice by offering features
and functionality to meet their specific needs.
Leverage the TD Ameritrade brand. We believe that we have a superior brand
identity and that our advertising has established TD Ameritrade as a leading
brand in the retail brokerage market.
Continue to evaluate opportunities for growth through acquisitions. When evaluating
potential acquisitions, we look for transactions that will give us operational
leverage, technological leverage, increased market share or other strategic
opportunities.
Trading and Investing Platforms
tdameritrade.com Web Platform is our core offering for self-directed retail
investors. We offer a broad array of tools and services, including alerts, screeners,
conditional orders, free fundamental third-party research and a customizable
workspace. SnapTicket™ conveniently stays at the bottom of the browser
window no matter where investors navigate on the site, so that quotes may be
accessed and trades placed seamlessly at a moments notice. Free planning tools
are also provided, such as Portfolio Planner to efficiently create a bundle
of securities to trade, invest and rebalance and Retirement Planner to realistically
assess retirement needs. We recently introduced Social Signals, a one of a kind
new trading resource that pulls insights from Twitter and compiles them in one
place.
Trade Architect® is a powerful and intuitive web-based platform that helps
active investors and traders identify opportunities and stay informed. It includes
advanced features such as complex options, Level II equity and option quotes,
streaming news from CNBC, free research reports from sources such as S&P
Capital IQ, visual position profit/loss analysis and Trade Finder, a tool that
simplifies the process of identifying and making option trades based on the
clients strategy.
thinkorswim® is a downloadable desktop platform designed for advanced traders,
featuring easy-to-use interfaces, elite-level trading and analytical tools,
and fast and efficient order execution for complex trading strategies. thinkorswim
clients trade a broad range of products including stock and stock options, index
options, futures and futures options, foreign exchange and exchange-traded funds
("ETFs").
TD Ameritrade Mobile allows on-the-go investors and traders to trade and monitor
accounts from web-enabled mobile devices with features such as alerts, research,
streaming market commentary and the ability to deposit a check directly from
a smartphone or tablet. With a mobile device, a client can snap a picture of
a bar code on any item, and if the company is publicly traded, Snapstock™
can return the company name, ticker symbol and a stock quote along with company-related
news and charts. Access is available through the TD Ameritrade Mobile App, the
more advanced TD Ameritrade Mobile Trader App or via a mobile browser at the
TD Ameritrade Mobile Site.
TD Ameritrade Institutional is a leading provider of comprehensive brokerage
and custody services to approximately 5,000 independent RIAs and their clients.
Our advanced technology platform, coupled with personal support from our dedicated
service teams, allows RIAs to grow and manage their practices more effectively
and efficiently while optimizing time with clients. Additionally, TD Ameritrade
Institutional provides a robust offering of products, programs and services.
These services are all designed to help advisors build their businesses and
do the best possible job they can to help their clients with their financial
goals.
Other Offerings
TD Ameritrade Apex™ status offers top benefits to retail clients who place
an average of five trades per month over a three-month period or maintain a
total account value of at least $100,000. Apex clients receive certain services
for free that are otherwise subject to service fees, as well as discounts on
certain premium content.
Investools® offers a comprehensive suite of investor education products
and services for stock, option, foreign exchange, futures, mutual fund and fixed-income
investors. Our education subsidiary, Investools, Inc., offers educational products
and services primarily built around an investing method that is designed to
teach both experienced and beginning investors how to approach the selection
process for investment securities and actively manage their investment portfolios.
Course offerings are generally combined with web-based tools, personalized instruction
techniques and ongoing service and support and are offered in a variety of learning
formats. Designed for the advanced student, continuing education programs offer
students comprehensive access to education products and services priced either
individually or on a bundled basis. Typically included in the continuing education
bundles are additional curriculum, online courses, live workshops and coaching
services.
Amerivest® is an advisory service that develops portfolios of ETFs or mutual
funds, along with cash and cash alternatives, to help long-term investors pursue
their financial goals. Our subsidiary, Amerivest Investment Management, LLC,
recommends an investment portfolio based on an investors objective, time horizon
and risk tolerance.
AdvisorDirect® is a national referral service for investors who wish to
engage the services of an independent RIA. AdvisorDirect refers interested investors
to one or more independent RIAs that are unaffiliated with TD Ameritrade and
that offer investment management and/or financial planning services to investors
served by TD Ameritrades branch offices. All RIAs participating in AdvisorDirect
meet or exceed TD Ameritrades professional eligibility requirements.
TD Ameritrade Corporate Services provides self-directed brokerage services to
employees of corporations, either directly in partnership with the employer
or through joint marketing relationships with third-party administrators, such
as 401(k) providers and employee benefit consultants. Trust and custody services
are also offered to a wide range of plan types through our TD Ameritrade Trust
Company subsidiary.
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