Ameritrade Announces Innovative New Product Suite and Simplified Pricing
Client Involvement Leads to Free Streamer and Other Features for All Clients
Monday September 16, 6:45 pm ET
OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 16, 2002--Ameritrade Holding Corporation (Nasdaq:AMTD - News) today announced a new suite of products and services for its clients that will go into effect, along with a new pricing schedule, on October 19, 2002. These changes are based largely on the recommendations and feedback of clients of both companies. This launch represents the first steps of the integration of Ameritrade and Datek since the merger closed on September 9, 2002 and demonstrates the advantages of the combination.
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Products, Services and Tools
Both sets of clients will have the most popular tools and features they enjoy today plus new benefits such as free Streamer®, Ameritrade's command center, the Ameritrade 10-Second Guarantee(SM), highly-rated 24-hour client service by phone and online, Report & Alert Service, SnapTicket, access by subscription to the Advanced Analyzer(TM), access to Ameritrade's Interactive Voice Response quotes line and the ability to do Automated Clearing House (ACH) deposits.
Ameritrade's new command center utilizes the power of Streamer integrated into a single-page-trading experience, combining two key elements--order management and Streamer Real-Time quotes on one easy-to-operate equity trading screen. It includes Rapid Order Entry, integrated Positions/Balances, access to subscription-based Streaming News and Level II Quotes and is free to all non-professional clients.
"The combination of Datek and Ameritrade has quickly provided an outstanding combination of products, tools and services for our clients," said Anne Nelson, chief marketing officer. "What we want to achieve is not only an improvement in functionality but an improvement in the overall online experience--not just for our current clients, but to set a new industry standard for the active trader."
Ameritrade Apex(TM)
The Company also announced the formal launch of Apex, an exclusive suite of benefits and service for premier clients. Account qualification is based on an average of 10 trades per month over a three-month period, or a $100,000 total account value. Clients that currently have Ameritrade Gold or Datek Elite status will automatically be enrolled in Ameritrade Apex.
Apex clients receive these additional features at no extra charge:
Dedicated service team
Streaming Level I and II Quotes
Streaming News from Dow Jones Newswires(TM)
Free paper trade confirmations and statements
Discounts on other Ameritrade subscription products
10-Second Guarantee
The Company will continue the Ameritrade 10-Second Guarantee. Qualifying S&P 100® Internet equity market trades that take longer than 10 seconds to execute are automatically commission-free.
Pricing Changes
Ameritrade will implement changes to its commission schedule beginning October 19, 2002. At that time, all clients will receive free Streamer. The commission for online equity trades will be a flat $10.99, for both market and limit orders, regardless of the number of shares bought or sold with no additional order handling fees.
Ms. Nelson continued, "We turned to clients of both companies and listened to their suggestions regarding pricing. They asked us to keep the pricing schedule simple with no order handling fees, they wanted access to additional resources - but only wanted to pay for those that they use, they value the quality of their trade executions and do not want lower commissions at the expense of execution quality. This new schedule enables us to both simplify and standardize commissions across the Company while continuing to provide exceptional value and adding new benefits for every client we serve."
Other commission changes include:
Trades placed through the Interactive Voice Response system will be $14.99. This is a new capability for former Datek clients.
Broker assisted trades will be $24.99 for market orders. There will be an additional $5 fee for limit orders.
Options will be the same commission structure noted above for Internet, IVR and broker assisted trades plus $1.50 per contract.
A full commission schedule along with subscription pricing is available on the Company's Web site at www.ameritrade.com.
Conference Call
The Company will host a conference call to discuss the product and pricing changes discussed above Tuesday, Sept. 17, at 8:30 AM EDT. The call is available on the Company's Web site at www.amtd.com.
Other Resources
Fact sheets, product sheets, screen shots and other materials are available at: www.amtd.com. An online demonstration of Streamer is available at: www.ameritrade.com/streamer/intro.html. |
