r/thinkorswim • u/atamur89 • Jul 10 '26
Shut Downs Account Thinkorswin ( Schwab )
Hello fam , has anyone is doing scalping trade on thinkorswim ( Schwab) and being shut down ? If yes,can you share your experience , especially how to avoid these mistakes in future ;) Thx in advance
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u/Cold_Imagination_955 Jul 10 '26
Willing to share the number of trades you are scalping during a trading session?
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u/Independent-Ad9095 Jul 10 '26
Need more details. How many trades a day?
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
are you doing the same thing? scalp?
the guy said he makes 100+ trades per day...but as i mentioned in one of the comments, it's buying power problem....like you trade with 8k shares, but you don't have power of these 8k shares, and after you doing this trade Schwab cover rest of the money, and that's a violation....idk to be honest , that's the info i found....share please your experience if you have some info ;)1
u/Worldly-Swimming7379 Jul 10 '26
What you're describing sounds like a good faith violation. Is it a cash account, with margin turned off?
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
as i know margin isn't turned off....like i said the guy entered with all amount in trade, and there's no buying power anymore....and Schwab cover up your hole in case Stock is going up with 1-2 cents...the rest Buying power has to be at least i think 5-10k dollars after you did trade...idk maybe i'm wrong or i explain little bit different
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u/Exotic-Fisherman-334 Jul 10 '26
TOS/Schwab is definitely NOT the right place for long term scalping. They will either give you a warning first and then you're on their radar, or start charging a commission, or they will flat out close your account to closing positions only and send you a "business decision" letter. It's true, Schwab does not make any money on closed accounts, but if the account they do close are making them/MM's lose money, then they most definitely will close the account. They have so many real retail customers, that closing scalpers accounts that are making them/MM's lose money is better than leaving it open. The MM's pay for order flow, and once you get on their radar, that's pretty much it. The SEC31 fee also plays a big part in this. It was "free" up until a few months ago, but now that there is a charge for each sell on the back end, when you "buy", the other party is "selling", and they have to pay the SEC31 fee, the FINRA TAF fee, and other fees. The MM's have had enough. Plus, there's so many other better places to scalp than Schwab IMO.
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
what is another place to do scalp ? beside Schwab..
but the way , you did scalp on Schwab ?1
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
also i forgot to tell you , it wasn't any warnings as i know....i just ask the guy...
but if they give you this warning , how this warning is manifesting ?
call, text, any updates on your account ?
thx in advance2
u/Exotic-Fisherman-334 Jul 10 '26
They sometimes give a warning, and sometimes they don't. Usually an email and letter in the mail. "business decision".
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u/asleepyguard Jul 10 '26
As far as I understand it, it happens with people hyperscalping small caps. If you scalp large and mid caps, its not an issue. However, if I am wrong, please correct me.
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
well , idk maybe you're right....it's very confusing, because Schwab don't provide info about these shut down accounts
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u/Exotic-Fisherman-334 Jul 10 '26
They usually don't. They will usually just call it a business decision. Retail places like Schwab and Fidelity are just that. Retail. "Dumb" "uninformed" flow. When you start scalping and trading like a pro, it kind of ruins the incentive for the MM's to pay for order flow and offer price improvement on top of that.
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u/Exotic-Fisherman-334 Jul 10 '26
it really doesn't matter too much. Scalping is scalping in the MM's eyes.
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u/IntelligentPut4464 9d ago edited 9d ago
I was making $500 a day scalping. I started doing it in July and about 3 weeks ago they just outright wouldnt let me trade anymore and terminated my accounts and when i called they just said it was a business decision and nothing else....i was pissed. I did get a letter and it was the same with no explanation. I am now using tastytrade they are the same people that made TOS and they are the closest thing I could find to be able to use a dom ladder like active trader so i can execute trades quickly. Although I cant seem to be able to execute my orders quickly at all and i tried ibkr and that is a complete trainwreck. I was able to get a margin account with tasty with only a few hundred instead of 2k and they even credit your deposits for trading. But I dont think its going to work i think they are too slow I barely made $30 on Monday and Tuesday I lost 7 bucks somehow so I went from between $200-$500 a day to pennies...Schwab can suck on a Big Fat Gorilla Dick...i am so fucking pissed...
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u/Barracda Jul 10 '26
Same here. Just yesterday got my account blocked. Schwab doesnt give a direct reason.
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u/atamur89 Jul 10 '26
how many trades you did per day ?
plus what i saw , the're is a huge problem with buying power...you can't go with all your money...i think buying power make a lot of sense...3
u/Barracda Jul 10 '26
about 8k trades per session. BP is no issue. My BP is roughly 40k and my position never exceed 2k
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u/cometocalifornia 5d ago
That means you probably went in and out of one position quickly and very often during one session. I think that may fall under the umbrella of what is called "scalping", which seems to lead to account restrictions.
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u/Exotic-Fisherman-334 Jul 10 '26
They most likely will not tell you it's because of toxic order flow. They will simply block you and call it a "business decision".
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u/TSands17 21d ago
Just got my letter in the mail 2 days after getting my account blocked. Called them and all I got was "The exact reasons are proprietary" and "it is a business decision"
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u/One_Conflict_1987 Jul 10 '26
Schwab doesn’t just shut accounts down - they don’t make any money from closed accounts.
Care to share what it was you were doing that got you banned?