TD AMERITRADE

PO Box 2760 Omaha NE 68103

General Description: TD AMERITRADE is one of the largest online brokerages with a commission rate of $9.99 for online equity orders, regardless of order type, order size, account size or trading frequency. Online options trades are $9.99 plus $0.75 per contract.

Additional Services: Free check writing, free electronic deposits and withdrawals (via ACH), electronic confirmations and statements, e-mail fill notifications, real-time portfolio values including unrealized gain and loss, integrated tax-lot accounting for Apex-qualified accounts, searchable and sortable account history to 1997, customizable watch lists, and a variety of portfolio reports and alerts. Accounts with five trades per month qualify for Apex. Benefits include: free streaming Dow Jones news, free Nasdaq Level II quotes, free Advanced Analyzer and free tax-lot accounting.

Options Trading Services: Online order entry for buy-writes, spreads, straddles, strangles, and combinations, supported by new 2 leg option chains; searchable real-time options chains; an options pricing model including Greeks, theoretical values and implied volatilities; streaming real-time options quotes in Streamer watch lists; streaming real-time regional options quotes; streaming real-time most active lists for options and direct routing of options orders. Options orders entered via interactive voice response (IVR) are $34.99 plus $0.75 per contract; option orders placed over the phone with a broker are $44.99 plus $0.75 per contract. The Positions page has recently been enhanced with a dedicated option view, and five new position Greek columns are now available.

Stock Commission: $9.99 for Internet trades with no share limits, $34.99 for IVR, $44.99 for broker-assisted orders.

Account Minimum: $10,000 for uncovered short equity options and $50,000 for uncovered short index options. The maintenance requirement to hold uncovered short option positions is generally 30% of the underlying equity or index, plus the option premium, less any out-of-the-money amount. $2,000 is the minimum equity required to hold a debit balance in a margin account.

Quotes: All non-professional accounts get free real-time quotes including free, real-time streaming quotes with Streamer. Exchange fees for professional accounts apply.

Miscellaneous: The company seems committed to improving the quality of their offering. In fact, their Apex program recently received a four-star rating in Barron's 2005 Review of Online Brokers. Numerous enhancements, including the launch of a new Web site this year, and their new rate of 9.99 plus $0.75 per contract for online trades, show their commitment to options traders.

Risk Disclosure: Options are not suitable for all investors as the special risks inherent to options trading may expose investors to potentially rapid and substantial losses. Please read Characteristics and Risks of Standardized Options before investing in options. Multiple leg transactions (buy-writes, spreads, straddles, strangles and combinations) are subject to twice the number of contracts as a sole long or sole short position, and each leg will incur commissions and contract fees which may impact any potential return. Online trading has inherent risks due to system response and access times that vary due to market conditions, system performance and other factors such as your Internet provider. An investor should understand these and additional risks before trading.