The goal for the buyer is to increase revenue without equally increasing costs, once redundant costs are eliminated. It’s not unusual for brokerage firms to acquire competitors. TD Ameritrade was bought by Schwab in 2020. Schwab is in the process of moving all TD Ameritrade accounts to Schwab. TD Ameritrade and Schwab clients will see differences in their account features and tools as the TD Ameritrade conversion progresses. The deal closed in October 2020, though the two companies continued to function as separate entities (for the most part) until recently. Yes, Schwab entered into an agreement to buy TD Ameritrade in November 2019. We are confident Schwab has thoroughly prepared for the account conversion. That said, some of us at had accounts with OptionsXpress when Schwab bought them in 2011 (we’ve been around for a minute). Occasionally, there are snafus after brokers acquire competitors. That’s not a bad thing, but it might be more straightforward to simply open your account with Schwab. For all practical purposes, if you open a TD Ameritrade account, you should expect your assets to port to Schwab. As of August 2023, Schwab is transferring accounts in batches.
Schwab bought TD Ameritrade in October 2020 for $26 billion.
