Ameritrade will buy rival Scottrade for $4 billion

Online brokerage TD Ameritrade (AMTD) is buying Scottrade in a $4 billion cash-and-stock deal that would tie up two major players in the day-trading industry during an era when an increasingly large number of investors are choosing index funds over stock-picking.

In the two-stage deal announced Monday, TD Bank Group will buy Scottrade Bank from Scottrade Financial Services for $1.3 billion in cash. Scottrade Bank will be folded into TD Bank, and it will buy 11 million shares from TD Ameritrade for $400 million. Then, TD Ameritrade will buy Scottrade Financial Services for $4 billion.

The deal is targeted to close by Sept. 30, 2017.