TD Ameritrade expands reach to customers via new Twitter service

TD Ameritrade Holding Corp. could be sliding into your DMs. The brokerage is allowing customers to buy and sell stocks and exchange-traded funds using direct messages on Twitter Inc.'s platform, months after creating a similar feature for Facebook Inc.'s Messenger services, according to a company statement Thursday. Even non-TD Ameritrade customers can message the Twitter chat bot to receive market updates on stock prices and monitor sentiment on social media. Chief Executive Officer Tim Hockey has been expanding the company's reach to customers. TD Ameritrade bought Scottrade's brokerage operations last year and has been introducing new social-media and technology features. The company said this year that it would allow investors to trade 24 hours a day during the week and it created a program to let customers get stock quotes and market updates through Amazon.com Inc.'s voice-activated Alexa platforms. Through the new Twitter service, clients can pull up information on market prices in direct messages and then easily tweet them, according to TD Ameritrade's Sunayna Tuteja. Trading on the social media service requires a log-in, according to the statement. "There's actually a built-in community of investors on Twitter," Ms. Tuteja, director of emerging technologies and innovation at TD Ameritrade, said in an interview. "News breaks on Twitter, people are talking about brands and products. Well, all of those are really good signals for me as an investor when I'm making my purchase decision."