Online Broker Review

Updated Saturday, June 18, 2011

Android App Grade: C

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Note: This Android app was tested on the HTC myTouch 4G handset

Overview:

The TD Ameritrade Android app is a good mobile trading platform. The interface is simple yet intuitive. Viewing basic account information other than positions is nowhere to be found, a glaring omission. Watchlists are useful and easy to customize. Stock charts are fully featured but are very small and cannot be viewed in horizontal mode, another glaring omission. These drawbacks are balanced by the highlight of the app: the trading platform. Stock and option trading is good, thanks to the well designed interface and respectable set of order types. One exception to this is an issue with executing stock limit orders under certain scenarios. TD Ameritrade customers who are simply looking for a powerful mobile trading platform without a lot of extras are well served by the TD Ameritrade Android app.

Android Market Facts:

App Name: TD Ameritrade Mobile
Version: 0.22
Requires: Android version 1.6 and up
App Size: 1.2 MB
User Rating: 2.5 / 5 stars

Details:

In 2009, TD Ameritrade acquired rival broker thinkorswim. Since then, TD Ameritrade has re-branded much of thinkorswim's technology to make it available to their customers. This includes the TD Ameritrade Android app, which is virtually identical to the thinkorswim Android app. Our review is as follows...

The Basics
Upon opening the TD Ameritrade Android app, users are prompted to log in. The Remember Me feature automatically logs users in when opening the app. This feature is valid for seven days after which the app will again prompt the user for their password. The general app features, such as quotes and charts, are accessible without logging in. This thoughtful design greatly enhances overall app usability.

The interface consists of a simple list of icons found at the bottom of the app. Let's examine some of the major features of these various menus.

Positions
The positions menu shows a list of the current holdings, the total value of holdings and the total account value. Other metrics that can be viewed include the profit and loss, delta, net liquid, margin and BP effect of each security.

Watchlists
Watchlists are pre-built lists of stocks and indices grouped into categories such as biggest gainers, largest percent losers, most active stocks, etc. Users can also create their own lists. Quotes for individual securities can quickly be accessed from a watchlist or using the symbol lookup search box.

Charts
By default, stock charts are shown below quotes. Charts can be customized by style (bar / area / line / candle) and time frame (1m / 3m / 6m / 9m / 1y / 2y / 3y / 4y / 5y / 10y / 15y / 20y). New to version 2.0, charts can be pinched and stretched to change the date range. There are a massive 187 studies to overlay on charts, which include bollinger bands, simple moving averages and MACD. Note that only one study can be displayed at a time. Here is an example of a three month candlestick chart for Google (GOOG) (click on images for larger view):

Charts can be viewed in horizontal mode by turning the phone on its side but the app interface obscures much of the chart. As is, the charts are nicely designed but poor integration with the app interface really reduces their appeal:

Alerts
Alerts are user customizable rules that trigger when security specific conditions are met. Unlike with the TD Ameritrade iPhone app, alerts cannot be created or modified within the Android app and can only be viewed. Select the Alerts icon found at the bottom right corner of the app to view active, triggered and canceled alerts.

Stock Trading
To trade stocks, begin by selecting the Trade button at the top right corner of a stock quote menu. This brings up the order editor with the default settings to buy 100 shares with a limit price equal to the most recent ask price. Order types that are available are market, limit, stop loss and stop limit. This is reduced from the full web based TD Ameritrade platform and less than what is offered in the thinkorswim Android app.

The menu layout is different from the TD Ameritrade iPhone app and while it is more aesthetically pleasing on the Android, we find that it is harder to correctly select menu items.

Here is an order we put in to buy 1 share of Google (GOOG) with a limit price of $526.50 and a duration of good until canceled (GTC). GTC orders are maintained in the TD Ameritrade system for an unspecified time period until they are purged:

When we were satisfied with the order we selected the Send Order button which brought up a password entry box and then an order confirmation screen. When we confirmed the order we were directed to the Order List menu with our order populated in the working queue. From this menu, orders can be modified or canceled, with both features working perfectly.

When our order executed our newly acquired position was populated in the Positions menu. Selecting an item from here loads the stock quote menu with an option available to close out the existing position. There is even an option to close out multiple positions at once, making the trading experience a breeze.

During a separate order that we attempted to submit, we received an error message noting that orders cannot be submitted with a limit price that is 10% or more above the last trade price. Note that this is the same issue found with the full web based TD Ameritrade stock trading platform but this issue is not present in the thinkorswim Android app.

Options Trading
To trade options, go to the quotes menu for the underlying security and select the Options tab. From here, options chains can be selected. Select the contract that you are interested in and this will bring up a detailed quote page for this contract. The contract quote screen shows bid, ask, volume, open, high, low and some additional information such as the basic Greek values.

We decided to purchase this contract so we selected the Trade button in the top right corner of the contract quote screen. This brought up a list of option order types, which includes single orders, verticals, calendars, spreads, straddles, strangles, condors and more. The order types are far beyond what is offered by the full web based TD Ameritrade platform because the Android app is based off of thinkorswim technology.

Like with stock trading, the options trading menu layout is different from the TD Ameritrade iPhone app and while it is more aesthetically pleasing on the Android, we find that it is harder to correctly select menu items.

We chose to trade a single order, which brought up the Order Editor screen and defaulted to purchase 1 contract with a limit price equal to the most recent ask price. This is exactly what we wanted so we selected the Send Order button:

When we were satisfied with the order we selected the Send Order button which brought up a password entry box and then an order confirmation screen. As with equities, from within this menu orders can be modified or canceled and both features work flawlessly.

When our order executed our newly acquired position was populated in the Positions menu. Selecting an item from here loads the stock quote menu with an option available to close out the existing position. There is even an option to close out multiple positions at once, making the trading experience a breeze.

TD Ameritrade Android App