TD Ameritrade Launches Inaugural Social Research Module for Retail Investing

TD Ameritrade Inc., a broker-dealer subsidiary of the TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation has targeted social trading and research for retail investors, launching a new module for publicly traded Equities Equities Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Equities can be characterized as stocks or shares in a company that investors can buy or sell. When you buy a stock, you are in essence buying an equity, becoming a partial owner of shares in a specific company or fund.However, equities do not pay a fixed interest rate, and as such are not considered guaranteed income. As such, equity markets are often associated with risk.When a company issues bonds, it’s taking loans from buyers. When a company offers shares, on the other hand, it’s selling pa Read this Term and their associated brands.

The use of social networking or twitter as a component for market research is hardly a new concept, though it is a new addition to TD Ameritrade. The group has partnered with SwanPowers LLC, allowing retail traders to experience social media functionality directly through their brokerage accounts.

The use of social media is well documented, though when utilized in conjunction with sentiment and volume analyses, it can give traders tangible information and benefits, namely in regards to potential warnings or vantage points looking into a company’s fortitude and future prospects.

According to Kevin Finn, managing director of eCommerce at TD Ameritrade, in a recent statement on its inception, “Industry trends and our own research show us that engaged investors view Twitter as a destination of choice for getting a more comprehensive view of how a public company and its associated brands are faring.”

“Consumers are continuing to weave social media into their daily routines, so we thought it was important to continue to level the investment playing field for our retail clients and integrate Twitter into our award winning research offering,” he added.

Using a TD Ameritrade account, retail investors may simply input a given company’s stock ticker symbol and see what other market participants or Twitter users are saying about that company. This includes the following functions:

• Targeted Recent Tweets, filtered by SwanPowers
• Social Volume, including the aggregate number of mentions on Twitter of the company over varying timeframes
• Sentiment Indicator showing the percentage of positive tweets about the company
• Most Tweeted Brands
• Trending on Twitter

“For the first time, retail investors can get crowd-sourced market insight and up-to-the-minute intelligence on a company and its products and brands. We are proud to lead the industry by enabling our retail investors to harness the power of social media for their investing ideas,” reiterated Finn.