Level II Quotes at TD Ameritrade
Sometimes Level I quotes on Nasdaq stocks just aren’t enough. If you’re day trading, for example, you need more information than just the current
bid-ask spread. That’s where level II quotes come in handy. They provide more information than Level I quotes. Level II quotes also tell you who the
market makers are for a given security, and what the order sizes are.
TD Ameritrade offers Level II quotes free of charge to both professional and non-professional traders. This is a very generous policy. Not all
brokers offer Level II quotes at no cost. For example, TradeStation charges $10 per month for Level II quotes for non-professionals, while
professional traders must pay a very steep $110 per month for the same data.
TradeStation’s fee include Level I quotes. TD Ameritrade charges professional clients $22 per month for this information, although non-professionals
get the data for free.
How to Access Level II Quotes at TD Ameritrade
Finding Level II quotes on TD Ameritrade’s website is fairly simple. You first must be subscribed to the appropriate market data, though. Clients that receive Level II data for free must also subscribe. Just go to ‘My Profile’ under the ‘Client Services’ tab and click on ‘Subscriptions.’ Here you can sign up for the data.
Once you have subscribed, go to the Positions page and hover over a ticker symbol. You can also go to a watch list and do the same. A pop-up window will appear showing ‘Additional actions.’ Select this and you’ll see the option for Level II quotes. Choosing this will produce a small pop-up window with bid and ask prices with share amounts from various market makers. A Level I quote is shown at the top of this window along with the day’s graph.
Trade Architect Level II Quotes
In the broker’s basic platform, Trade Architect, Level II quotes appear on the right-hand side of the screen. Just look for the ‘Level II’ tab. On TD Ameritrade’s basic mobile app, there is a top menu with Level II as one of the options. You will have to scroll the menu to the right to find it. The menu starts with ‘Overview’ on the left-hand side.
thinkorswim Level II Quotes
Finding Level II quotes on the company’s advanced desktop platform,
thinkorswim, is a little more difficult because the
software has more information on it. Go to the ‘Trade’ tab and then find ‘Trade Grid’ underneath. Here, type in a ticker symbol and the
thinkorswim Level II info will show up. The window the info is displayed in may be difficult to resize. The broker’s mobile app provides
the best presentation for Level II data, with bids and asks right next to each other, with the lowest spread at the top and the widest
spread at the bottom.
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Other Market Data
TD Ameritrade also offers streaming news, and OPRA, AMEX, and NYSE quotes free for all non-professional traders. However, professional accounts must pay $99 for streaming news, $30.50 for OPRA quotes, $23 for AMEX data, and $45 for NYSE numbers.
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