Overview of TD Ameritrade fees and charges
It's safe to say that TD Ameritrade's fees are low in general. They either don't charge a brokerage fee for things other brokers do charge for, or they only charge a small amount. This means that you can use TD Ameritrade even in case you trade frequently like multiple times a week or daily.
Here's a high level overview of TD Ameritrade's fees
| Assets | Fee level | Fee terms |
|---|---|---|
| US stock fee | Low | Free stock and ETF trading |
| EURUSD fee | Low | The fees are built into the spread, 1.3 pips is the average spread cost during peak trading hours. |
| US tech fund fee | High | $49.99 per transaction, although there are also ca. 4,000 free funds |
| Inactivity fee | Low | No inactivity fee |
TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade fees explained
Online brokerages in general charge much lower brokerage fees than traditional brokerages do - this is largely due to the fact that online brokerages' businesses can be much better scaled: From a purely technical standpoint it doesn't make that much of a difference for them if they have 100 or 5000 clients.
This is not to say however that they don't have any fees at all. They make money by charging you at various events for various rates. Usually you need to keep an eye on these 3 types of fees:
- Trading fees - these are brokerage fees that you pay when you actually do a trade. What you pay is either a commission, a spread or financing rate. Some brokers apply all of these.
- A commission is either based on the traded volume or it is fixed.
- A spread is the difference between the buy price and the sell price
- Financing rate or overnight rate is charged when you hold your leveraged positions for more than one day.
- Non-trading fees. These occur related to some operations you make in your account, i.e. depositing money to your account, withdrawing money from it or not trading for an extended amount of time.
We compare TD Ameritrade fees with its closest competitors, E*TRADE and Charles Schwab.
TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade trading fees
TD Ameritrade's trading fees are low which makes it suitable for you even if you trade often (i.e. multiple times a week).
Let's break down the trading fees into the different asset classes available at TD Ameritrade.
Trading fees
TD Ameritrade's trading fees are low.
Stock fees and ETF fees
TD Ameritrade has low stock trading fees.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US stock | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 |
| UK stock | - | - | - |
| German stock | - | - | - |
Forex fees
TD Ameritrade's forex fees are low.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| EURUSD benchmark fee | $7.0 | - | - |
| EURGBP benchmark fee | $9.3 | - | - |
Fund fees
TD Ameritrade fund fees are high.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mutual fund | $50.0 | $20.0 | $24.8 |
| EU mutual fund | - | - | - |
Bond fees
TD Ameritrade has low bond fees.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US Treasury bond | $0.0 | $0.0 | $0.0 |
| EU government bond | - | - | - |
Options fees
TD Ameritrade's options fees are low.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US stock index options | $6.5 | $6.5 | $6.5 |
| UK stock index options | - | - | - |
| German stock index options | - | - | - |
Futures fees
TD Ameritrade's futures fees are low.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| US micro e-mini stock index futures | $22.5 | $15.0 | $15.0 |
| UK stock index futures | - | - | - |
| German e-mini stock index futures | - | - | - |
Financing rates
TD Ameritrade financing rates are low.
If you want to trade on margin and prefer to hold your positions long, financing costs can be significant.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Apple CFD financing rate | - | - | - |
| Vodafone CFD financing rate | - | - | - |
| EURUSD financing rate | 1.2% | - | - |
| EURGBP financing rate | 1.3% | - | - |
Leverage is a double-edged sword and can dramatically amplify your profits. It can also just as dramatically amplify your losses. Trading foreign exchange/CFDs with any level of leverage may not be suitable for all investors.
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TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade non-trading fees
When it comes to looking at all the non-trading fees TD Ameritrade is a cheap broker. This means that they don't charge you a lot for non-trading related activities on your trading account, like withdrawal fee.
Non-trading fees include various brokerage fees and charges at TD Ameritrade that you pay not related to buying and selling assets. Among some others, typical non trading fees are withdrawal fee, deposit fee, inactivity fee and account fee.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Withdrawal fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
| Inactivity fee | No | No | No |
| Account fee | No | No | No |
TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade deposit fee
Deposit fees are applied when you send money to your trading account from your bank account. Usually brokers don't charge money for that and TD Ameritrade is not different: you will see the exact same amount on your brokerage account that you sent by any of the deposit methods TD Ameritrade offers.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | No | No | No |
| Electronic wallets | No | No | No |
| Deposit fee | $0 | $0 | $0 |
TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade withdrawal fee
Unlike some online brokers we have reviewed TD Ameritrade does not charge a withdrawal fee. This means that you'll see the same amount of money on your bank account that you transferred from your brokerage account.
| TD Ameritrade | E*TRADE | Charles Schwab | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bank transfer | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Credit/debit card | No | No | No |
| Electronic wallets | No | No | No |
| Withdrawal fee with bank transfer | $0 | $0 | $0 |
TD Ameritrade fees
TD Ameritrade inactivity fee
TD Ameritrade does not apply an inactivity fee which is great because your account will not be charged even if you do not trade for a longer time period (months or years).
