Brokers going bankrupt

I trade with thinkorswim. I'm worried if they could go bankrupt? what about tradestation. just take a look at the charts

TRAD - TradeStation Group, Inc. - Google Finance

SWIM - thinkorswim Group Inc. - Google Finance

down real bad over the last year

what do you guys think?

go with your gut in these situations, how much net adjusted capital do they have in segregated funds? if it is very high then you should have nothing to worry about. its if they are using clients money for operational purposes that could cause a major problem.

you lose nothing to pull the plug if it doesn't feel right, go against it and face the concequences.

There is more to a company going bankrupt than a declining share price. You think those charts look bad, take a look at HBOS.

Remember that if you have shares then you should be ok, it's only the cash that may be at risk.

For example, if you paid in £25k to XYZ Brokers and bought £20k of Tesco leavng £5k of cash then the £5k is at risk and not the £20k in Tesco's shares. But of course the £5k should also be covered as I think all FSA brokers insure client monies up to £48k.

But with CFDs and things like that I'm not so sure as that's an OTC contract, you never own the shares, assuming you've gone long.

If in doubt and youhave a lot of cash try and spread it around, or send it all back to your bank - Oh wait, it might not be safe there either