Thinkorswim Minimums
Thinkorswim is Charles Schwab’s flagship desktop trading platform. It’s a robust and fully-featured platform, but what are the minimums needed to start and use it? We break down these requirements as well as other key minimums at Charles Schwab.
Thinkorswim Minimum Deposit
Charles Schwab does not require a minimum deposit to open an account. You can start an account without any initial funding and decide to add money later. For electronic transfers (ACH), the minimum transfer is $50. There are no minimums for wire transfers, checks, or account transfers from other firms.
| Thinkorswim minimum deposit to open a cash account | $0 |
| Thinkorswim minimum deposit to open a margin account | $2,000 in cash and/or securities |
| Thinkorswim minimum initial deposit to open a ROTH IRA, Traditional IRA, Simple IRA, or SEP IRA | $0 |
| Thinkorswim minimum balance requirement for a taxable account or an IRA | none |
Get Thinkorswim For Free
Visit Thinkorswim Website
Thinkorswim Minimum Balance Requirement
Generally, Charles Schwab does not require a minimum balance; however, specific circumstances do require one. Like most brokers, day trading requires a $25,000 minimum balance. For margin accounts, a $2,000 minimum is needed.
For options trading approval, there isn’t a general minimum balance needed, but you do need $5,000 in marginable equity to hold an uncovered short option position.
Charles Schwab does not require a minimum balance to get advice from their Financial Consultants. You can have a free planning session with a consultant either over the phone or in person at any of their 400+ branches.
Thinkorswim Account Minimums
There are no account minimums required to open any type of account with Charles Schwab. They do not charge fees for having a low balance or for account inactivity, nor do they charge annual or monthly maintenance fees. There are also no minimums needed to access Thinkorswim or its streaming market data.
Thinkorswim Minimum Investments
Charles Schwab offers fractional share trading, so you don’t need to buy full shares of stocks and ETFs. While there are no set investment minimums for mutual funds at Schwab, the funds themselves may have their own minimum investment requirements.
Thinkorswim Minimum System Requirements
For PC users on Charles Schwab’s website, they recommend Windows 7 or newer and the latest versions of Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Mozilla Firefox. Mac users should have at least Mac OS 10.11 and use Apple Safari 11 or later, or the latest version of Chrome or Firefox.
The Thinkorswim desktop platform has specific requirements for PC: at least Windows 10, an Intel Core i3+ processor, 8GB of RAM, 1GB of free disk space, and a 1280x768 display resolution. Mac users need at least Mac OS 10.11+ with the same other specs.
The mobile app from Charles Schwab just requires a smartphone with enough space to download the app.
Thinkorswim Review
Read detailed Thinkorswim review »
Get Thinkorswim For Free
Visit Thinkorswim Website
Updated on 2/24/2025.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
|