Registration Grade: B
Overview:
Thinkorswim has a nice registration process. The standard questions and forms take only a few minutes to fill out. Downloading and installing the desktop application is surprisingly fast and pain free. On top of that, the gorilla freebie is a nice touch. My only minor complaint is the requirement to mail or fax a customer signature card when many other brokers have electronic identification processes.
Details:
Minimum initial account deposit: $3500
I opened an individual brokerage account.
The thinkorswim welcome screen (click on images for larger views):
I signed up for margin and options trading. To be eligible for these account features, users have to answer standard net worth questions:
Many of the standard brokerage account forms, as well as the margin and options trading forms are viewable and can be electronically signed all on a single page. Very convenient:
Other forms, including the NASDAQ, NYSE and AMEX quotes agreement forms are handled separately and are less convenient.
I chose to fund my account by transferring funds electronically from my Bank of America checking account. This required a deposit verification process which is handled very quickly by customer service.
New customers are required to mail or fax a copy of a customer signature card. This is a bit inconvenient and could use an upgrade to electronic verification:
Immediately after I finished these initial account opening steps, I was free to browse the web application or install the desktop application. I was pleasantly surprised by how quick and easy it was to setup the desktop version. Downloading and installing the software took me less than a minute and I was able to log in right away.
Finally, the best part of the registration process came a few weeks later. In the mail I received my very own thinkorswim gorilla!
Pretty cool freebie if you ask me. It should be noted that thinkorswim sends out whatever items they currently have available so not everyone is going to receive a gorilla. If you have received other cool items from thinkorswim let us know about it - [email protected].
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