OMAHA, Neb.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--TD Ameritrade1 is now bringing financial market updates and securities quotes to retail investors using voice-enabled search through Alexa, the Amazon virtual assistant. The new TD Ameritrade app - called an Alexa 'skill' - is TD Ameritrade's latest tool in a long-standing line of innovations aimed at providing investors leading-edge access to the market.
Accessible by anyone who uses a physical Alexa-enabled device, the TD Ameritrade skill provides quotes on more than 75,000 symbols, including stocks, mutual funds, exchange-traded funds and 3,800 indices, and covers all the major U.S. exchanges.
"Voice-enabled search and virtual assistants aren't the wave of the future - they're part of today's lifestyle. We expect the trend to build among those who want easy market access and updates," said Vijay Sankaran, chief information officer for TD Ameritrade. "We'll keep innovating to deliver the resources that investors want, in the ways they want to receive them - it's one of the reasons we're consistently ranked #1 by Barron’s for being the best broker for novice and long-term investors, and in 2016 for usability."
Voice-enabled search is gaining momentum; in fact, as of June 2016, Google voice search queries were up 35 percent worldwide since 20082. Launched in 2014, Amazon’s voice-enabled virtual assistant Alexa uses cloud-based artificial intelligence to answer spoken queries. The company allows third parties to add their own voice-based commands through a skill, the name given to Alexa apps.
How the TD Ameritrade Skill Works
The TD Ameritrade skill is available to everyone who has an Alexa-enabled device, such as the Echo, Tap, Dot or Fire TV. Consumers can visit the Alexa App and download the "TD Ameritrade skill" to set it up. It can also be accessed by saying, “Alexa, enable the TD Ameritrade skill,” to an Alexa-enabled device.
Once installed, users can verbally ask for quotes for all major market symbols, or ask for a market update, and answers are returned to them by their Alexa-enabled device. The TD Ameritrade skill recognizes multiple variations on the way users ask for information. For example:
-
User says:
"Alexa, ask TD Ameritrade for the price of Amazon." or
"Alexa, ask TD Ameritrade for the price of A-M-Z-N." -
Alexa responds:
"Amazon AMZN is trading at $756.40, up 1.33%."
Alexa immediately responds with clear, intelligible responses that provide exactly what the user requests with no extraneous or unnecessary information. Ticker symbol information currently reflects a 15-minute delay in pricing.
"Our relationship with Amazon is our first venture into this space, and we expect our footprint will grow as technologies evolve and these tools play a greater role in our daily lives," said Sankaran.
Additional features and functionality of the TD Ameritrade skill are already in development, including providing real-time quotes and the ability for TD Ameritrade clients to access certain account information.
For more information on the TD Ameritrade skill, visit tdameritrade.com/alexa.
Amazon, Alexa, Amazon Echo, and Amazon.com and all related logos are trademarks used under license from Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates.
Past performance of a security, strategy or index is no guarantee of future results or investment success.
For the latest TD Ameritrade news and information, follow the Company on Twitter, @TDAmeritradePR.
View Complete 2016 Barron's Online Broker Review
Source: TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation
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1 TD Ameritrade, Inc. (“TD Ameritrade”) is a broker-dealer subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation. Brokerage services provided by TD Ameritrade, Inc., member FINRA (www.FINRA.org) /SIPC (www.SIPC.org)
2 2016 Internet Trends, Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, June 2016
