Best Thinkorswim Alternatives for Canadians
INTRODUCTION
Canadians have always been searching for the best alternative to trading brokers/platforms other than the big banks, as over the years the U.S. has progressively provided more attractive trading platforms to their American customers that include features like zero-dollar commission trades, powerful trading applications, and the ability to trade in various markets.
TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim is a trading platform that is popular with many traders. for its powerful trading, charting and analysis tools built into a singular intuitive UI desktop & mobile application. TD Thinkorswim was offered as a platform to TD Direct Investing clients here in Canada, but later removed the ability for new clients to join the platform in early 2021.
This article will explore the best trading brokerage/platform options available to Canadians as an alternative to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform. Only IIROC (Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada) regulated options will be mentioned in this article for the well-being of Canadian clients and their capital.
Disclaimer: This is not financial or investment advice, I am not a registered financial or investment advisor, nor am I a representative of The Toronto-Dominion Bank or Interactive Brokers and it’s entities. This is purely my own personal opinion. This is not a sponsored post by Interactive Brokers or its affiliates. However, some of the links and other products that appear on this website are from companies, which Michael Zhang will earn an affiliate commission or referral bonus.
POPULAR OPTIONS
Canada Big 5 Banks (TD, RBC, Scotiabank, BMO, CIBC)
TD Direct Investing
RBC Direct Investing
Scotiabank iTrade
BMO InvestorLine
CIBC Investor’s Edge
Wealthsimple Trade
Questrade
Interactive Brokers
Interactive Brokers
is an international brokerage firm with offices in Canada, United States, Australia, Hong Kong, India, U.K., Japan, Singapore, Ireland, Luxembourg and central Europe. Interactive Brokers allow the ability for customers to trade in over 135 markets in 33 countries and with 24 different currencies. Customers are able to trade a wide-range of financial instruments including, but not limited to equities, options, futures, single stock futures, forex, CFDs, crypto, bonds, mutual funds, warrants, and hedge funds. Interactive Brokers is considered one of the best alternatives to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform as it offers similar functionality, features and data available to its clients on their native Trader Workstation platform & API. This article will dive into the specifics of Interactive Brokers, and its native trading platform: Trader Workstation and their API functionality.
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For comparison, this is a brief overview of other alternate options available to Canadians starting with the Big 5 Banks then Wealthsimple Trade and lastly Questrade. If you wish to jump straight into learning more about Interactive Brokers in this article, click here.
Canada’s Big 5 Banks…
offer similar trading products and desktop & mobile platforms to their customers, which include basic analysis, charting and trading tools for equities, ETFs, options, and mutual funds. Many platforms available from the Big 5 are web-based dashboards, which includes basic features for making orders, charting and research. When compared to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim, it barely comes close to scratching the surface to the amount of information and data available to traders with Thinkorswim. Most Big 5 Banks are charging the standard $9.99 / trade commission on equities trade with expectations from a few brokerages that offer discounted or free trading fees on ETFs, mutual funds, as well as number of trades per quarter from clients.
Wealthsimple Trade…
is a relatively new trading brokerage available to Canadians. Their selling point is zero commission trades on Canadian and US equities. Wealthsimple Trade does not offer options trading. Wealthsimple Trade is perfect for clients who want a simple and easy platform to start trading stocks from their mobile phone or desktop. Their minimalist and modern UI helps clients through the complicated world of trading. However, when comparing Wealthsimple to Thinkorswim as an alternative, it does not come close to offering any of the full-featured analysis, charting and trading tools available on Thinkorswim.
Questrade…
is a popular discount brokerage that offers an expanded option of trading products that not only include equities and options, but also forex, bonds and precious metal and international equities. Questrade offers equities trading fees as low as 1¢ / share with the minimum per trade being $4.95 to max $9.95. ETFs are also available for purchase for free but come with a trading fee like equities when selling ETFs. Qusetrade’s trading platforms IQ Edge & Questrade Global provides some form of similarity in terms of features to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform. Including scanners, customizable charts and built-in research tools all available on desktop, as well as mobile. However, users will still find that IQ Edge lacks the full customizability and wealth of trading data & information available on their trading platforms when compared to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform.
INTERACTIVE BROKERS ACCOUNTS
Interactive Brokers offers two account types, individuals and institutions.
Individual account sub-types include individual, joint (two parties only), trust, informal trust, formal trust, registered retirement savings, spousal retirement savings and tax-free savings accounts. As well as, small business, family office and friends & family advisor accounts. Institution Accounts sub-types include registered investment advisor, proprietary trading group, hedge or mutual fund, introducing broker and money manager accounts.
This specific article will focus primarily on the “Individual” account type.
During account setup, clients can select the type of financial instruments they wish to trade. Note: certain specific trading products have a minimum net worth and liquid net worth requirement. Clients are also able to select the countries and markets they wish to trade in, with 135 different markets in 33 different countries. Each market / country may have their own additional specific account requirements for trading in their market / country for regulation purposes. Clients can select specific market data subscription or opt out of subscribing to market data with Interactive Brokers.
TRADING PLATFORMS
Trader Workstation is Interactive Broker’s full-fledged native desktop trading platform for its clients, available on Windows, Mac and Linux operating systems. Trader Workstation will be the primary trading platform for comparison to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim. Additional trading platforms offered by Interactive Brokers include its mobile app, client portal and API. These additional platforms will be touched on in the comparison.
Upon logging into Trader Workstation for the first time, users are greeted with the “Mosaic” Layout, which includes windows for order entry, charting, account overview, orders/trades, and news. Users can add or remove layouts at the bottom of the window. Trader Workstation comes with pre-defined layouts for users to choose from or create their own layout to their own liking. Creating a new layout will present users with a blank layout with the ability to manually add specific windows / tools they wish from the “New Window” tab. Once users are satisfied, they can lock the layout to prevent unwanted moves. To modify the layout users can click the “Window Lock” icon again to unlock the windows.
In comparison to TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform, users are given a layout: “Monitor, Trade, Analyze, Scan, MarketWatch, Charts, Tools, Education and Help”. However, users do not have the ability to create their own layout like Trader Workstation. Instead, they are limited to the customization of the tools in the windows themselves in each layout. Depending on the user, this can be either a positive or negative in being able to have an organized layout but giving up the ability to fully customize the platform.
CHARTING
Charting is one of the most talked-upon tools regarding TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform. The ability for customization, chart styles and studies is endless with Thinkorswim. Users have the ability to truly make their charts fit their trading personality and style, whether that be custom studies/indicators, chart styles or candlestick patterns. On the other hand, Interactive Broker’s Trader Workstation is much simpler and does not allow for the customization that Thinkorswim offers. Indicators are limited and lacks the ability to customize them. However, one work around for more customization and chart styles is using Interactive Broker’s API to connect to third-party charting and trading software.
Examples of TD Thinkorswim Charts
IB API
Interactive Brokers clients have access to to IB API, which is an API that allows clients to use third-party software or custom-developed software to connect to Interactive Broker’s servers for trade execution and account management. IB API also allows clients to develop their own software in various different languages. Many of the downsides found in Interactive Brokers Trader Workstation platform can be worked around by using third-party software connected to Interactive Brokers via their API such as NinjaTrader, Sierra Charts and many more. This allows Interactive Brokers clients to have more flexibility and customization in the platform they prefer instead of being stuck to Interactive Brokers native platforms.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, even though the options remains limited for Canadians in searching for an alternative to TD Ameritrade Thinkorswim platform, Interactive Brokers desktop, mobile and API platforms provide an adequate alternative for traders looking for similar analysis, trading and charting tools. However, as we all can hope for TD Direct Investing to bring back the option of allowing new Canadian clients to sign up for the TD Ameritrade’s Thinkorswim platform as it remains one of the most powerful and popular trading platform among many traders with ever-new updates and features.