TD Ameritrade Invites Traders-In-Training

Take the thinkorswim(R) Challenge

OMAHA, NE--(Marketwired - September 17, 2014) - TD Ameritrade, Inc. ("TD Ameritrade"), a broker-dealer subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation (NYSE: AMTD), invites college students with an appetite for investing to put their best ideas in action with the thinkorswim^® Challenge, a new virtual trading competition designed to teach the next generation of investors about engaging with the market. Starting today, students at colleges and universities nationwide can register to be a part of the first-ever thinkorswim Challenge, which will award prizes to students and their schools based on the performance of their virtual trading portfolios over a four-week time frame beginning Oct. 13, 2014.

"The thinkorswim Challenge encourages students to go beyond the classroom and experience what it's really like to make decisions about investing in a competitive market environment," said Nicole Sherrod, managing director of the trader group at TD Ameritrade. "We're excited to see how young investors act on their own ideas and react to breaking market news."

The thinkorswim Challenge is offered through TD Ameritrade U, an educational program for professors and college-run organizations that provides free access to virtual trading through paperMoney^® on thinkorswim, the industry's #1 ranked trading platform¹. TD Ameritrade developed these programs to help students prepare to enter the real world of personal finance by giving them the ability to put classroom theory into real-life investing practice. Students participating in the thinkorswim Challenge will access paperMoney and the thinkorswim platform from their desktops and their mobile devices as if they were TD Ameritrade clients trading in real time with their own assets.

TD Ameritrade's most recent Generation Z survey revealed that only 17 percent of individuals ages 15-24 currently believe that the best way to save for retirement is through investing in the stock market. Nearly half (47 percent) consider a savings account the best way to prepare for retirement.

"Though the next generation of investors may be comfortable with technology in its many forms, our research shows they are unsure about investing and the markets," says Sherrod. "The thinkorswim Challenge gives students the opportunity to build confidence about their ability to invest successfully -- and to get comfortable with risk -- by using what we believe are the best tools of the trade."