eTrade Online Broker – Users Reviews
The first online stock broker I came to know happens to be ETrade, and this was way back in the 1990’s. So I’m a bit more familiar with this company than I am with other brokers, only because ETrade has been around longer and is certainly considered as one of the most recognizable. ETrade has established itself as one of the top brokers synonymous with online investing, being best known for their comprehensive tools, resources and customer support which cater to both long term investors and active traders alike. Let’s check out ETrade on various fronts:
E*Trade’s Awards
ETrade has received top awards (like TradeKing), and is obviously highly regarded by the financial press. So right off the bat, they’ve got a good reputation if you’re going to base it on what publications are saying:
1. Smart Money (WSJ Magazine) rated them as #1 Online Broker in 2007 and 2008.
* 5 Stars for Trading Tools, Mutual Funds and Investing Products, Banking Services
* 4 Stars for Customer Service, Research
2. Barron’s gave them 4 out of 5 stars in 2008 and recognizes them as part of the Top 10 in the 2008 Online Brokers Survey.
3. As an aside, Money Magazine pegged them as one of the Best of the Breed for their online banking arm.
And here’s a look at ETrade’s pricing, products and features:
Pricing: Low Commissions and Brokerage Fees
Check out this quick table to show you how their pricing works:
Trades Per Quarter Cost Per Trade Per Options Contract
Standard $12.99 per trade 75 cents
Minimum $50,000, or 30 to 149 trades $9.99 per trade 75 cents
150 to 1,499 trades $7.99 per trade 75 cents
1,500 trades and over $6.99 75 cents
When you open a brokerage account with ETrade, the most you’ll pay is for $12.99 per stock or option trade, which is the standard commission. Note that there are no fees for bond and mutual fund trades. For better rates, you can fund your account with at least $50,000 or make frequent stock trades (30 to 149 trades a quarter); by doing so you’ll lower your cost to $9.99 per trade. If you make over 150 trades a quarter regardless of how much you have in your account, you’ll lower your trading fees even further to $7.99 a trade.. There’s also a bonus for those opening new accounts: you can qualify for up to 100 free trades, which is rebated (credited back to your account) after 8 weeks.
To open a brokerage account, you can sign up here. If you’re interested in an IRA, here’s where to go.
ETrade Online Brokerage Account: Complete Investment Account
If you sign up for a brokerage account with ETrade, you’re effectively opening an ETrade Complete Investment Account, which is an “integrated investment and cash management account”.
The Basic Features
* You can trade and invest in stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, IPOs and bonds.
* Lots of no load and no transaction fee mutual funds are available.
* Use investing tools (streaming quotes, screeners) to help you with ETF management and asset allocation.
* Financial advisors are available, but this may require extra (paperwork, fees).
* Learn from free educational resources and materials, seminars, tutorials and webcasts.
* You can open IRAs of various stripes and colors with ETrade. There are no fees and no minimums when you sign up.
* You get free bill pay, checking, a debit card and some free checks.
* You have ATM access.
* Fund transfers are easy.
* You’ll get access to a sophisticated “trading platform” with high end trading tools if you’re an active trader. This platform is called the Power ETrade Pro platform, which I describe further below.
Power ETrade Account and Power ETrade Pro Platform
If you’re an active trader, you’ll get lower transaction costs, better prices and more advanced tools for your use. Once you have an ETrade Complete Investment Account it will automatically be “upgraded” to a Power ETrade Account if you make at least 10 trades a month, or a minimum of 30 stock or options trades a quarter. You will then have the features of the Power ETrade Account (via the Power ETrade Pro platform) available for as long as you maintain your trading frequency. These features include free access to powerful trading tools, advanced charts, technical studies, scanners and analytics tools, and something called “NASDAQ TotalView”, a tool which gives you a more comprehensive view of market liquidity. All this for $9.99 a trade or less, if you really trade a lot.
ETrade also has many more products in its roster, including support for retirement accounts, investment clubs, global trading, educational accounts, small business plans and of course, their banking division. So if you’re all for this, you can open an account with them here.
If you’re interested in more options, check out this list of online stock broker accounts.
* Stock trades: Free stock trades from Zecco, Cheap stock trades from TradeKing, Stock news and Investment info at INO TV Free, No cost Trend Analysis for stocks
* Earn top returns: FNBO Direct [1.90%], HSBC Direct [1.65%], WTDirect [1.76%], E*Trade Bank [0.95%], ING Direct [.25% to 1.65%]
* Cash bonus: Discover More [$50], American Express [$25], Lending Club [$25]
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Categorized under: Investment, Smart Spending, Special Offers & Reviews
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
1 FB April 19, 2009 at 8:20 pm
This is your opinion. I don’t know what class you base your review on. If you decide to base you review on someone making $20,000 a year and the person make only 10 trades, then the commission fee is a lot. In scottrade, you can buy stock for $7 compared with etrade that costs $13 for buying a stock . It is only day traders that make 1500 trades a year.
2 Silicon Valley Blogger April 19, 2009 at 8:36 pm
ETrade is not the cheapest broker around (TradeKing, Zecco and OptionsHouse are), but they’re well regarded. I’ve been reviewing the well-known online brokers for a while now, and it was ETrade’s turn.
Also, it’s possible that not everyone opens an account with a broker purely because of price. To me, it’s all about value — if I find that a broker offers me good value, service and works well for my purposes, I keep an account with them. ETrade has the advantage of a product that is both an investment account and a cash management account in one (they called it an integrated account, and yes, ING has the same set up). I also know many people who trade at full service brokerages and who refuse to go with discount brokers (even though they are heavy traders) for various reasons. So it all depends on what you’re looking for in a broker. I won’t disagree with you that most people will look at commission costs to determine their choice of brokerage.
3 jim April 22, 2009 at 8:53 am
I use both E*Trade and TradeKing but I prefer TradeKing mostly because of price, $4.95 trumps $12.99 a trade (or even the $9.99 I’m paying).
4 Silicon Valley Blogger April 22, 2009 at 2:39 pm
I have my money spread around a few brokerages for diversification purposes. And ETrade has served me well.
5 Dhani Ram June 28, 2009 at 2:15 pm
Yes, ETrade is best. Not because of price but of the value and the services. So many good services for little money. If you look at all the infrastucture provided, it’s actualy cheaper. “QUALITY IS ALWAYS CHEAPER IN THE LONG RUN”.
6 Rina August 11, 2009 at 12:33 pm
I had my money in a brokerage firm that ETrade bought. Hadn’t heard much of them till that point but now I’m pretty happy with my account with them. I have ETrade’s index fund and so far I’ve done well with it over the long term. I like their customer service too. I’d recommend them to anyone.
7 Immobilier September 18, 2009 at 4:19 pm
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E-Trade is arguably the most popular and well known online discount stock brokerages. Boasting over 4000 employees and having a net income over 600 million dollars per year (2006), E-Trade clearly is sitting high on the list of top online brokerages. I personally use E-Trade for all of my investment needs and do recommend it to anyone who is considering opening an account with an online stock broker. Here is how it E-Trade ranks among their competition:
Site Layout – 4 out of 5
E-Trade’s site layout is effective, intuitive, professional, and easy on the eyes. Compared to some of the other online stock brokers I’ve used in the past, E-Trade easily ranks the highest in this category. Finding my portfolio’s allocation is just as easy as finding quotes for a stock.
Tools – 3 out of 5
E-Trade has powerful and easy use tools for just about everything you’d need as an investor. It has fully customizable market and trading platforms, along with other useful tools such as asset allocation, account performance, income estimator, risk estimator, and more. The only complaint I have is that some of their more effective and desired tools are not free to users unless you pay a fee or have a minimum numbers of trades per quarter.
Security – 5 out of 5
E-Trade really sets itself apart from its competitors because they offer a free SecurID product to ensure that your account stays in your protected and in your possession at all times. I love the SecurID product, it’s extremely easy to use, creates an incredibly strong second layer of protection on my account, and of course it was free thanks to E-Trade. This feature alone is enough for me to stay with E-Trade, because I like sleeping at night knowing that I have added protection on my account.
Customer Service – 5 out of 5
E-Trade’s customer service is extremely good, especially in a time where most customer service departments are full of outsourced employees who are reading off a page of specified things to say. Customer service employees are friendly, knowledgeable, and extremely helpful. I’ve made countless numbers of calls to their customer service phone number and had my questions and issues resolved instantly. In fact, E-Trade was recognized for outstanding customer service in 2007 by Smart Money (a financial magazine).
Commission Fees – 2 out of 5
This is really the only downside to E-Trade. With E-Trade your commission fees are higher than most online discount brokerages unless you make a minimum number of trades per quarter. I tend to overlook this part of E-Trade as it is obvious that the higher commission fee is definitely worth what I get in return compared to other brokerages.
Overall – 4 out of 5
E-Trade is a great online discount brokerage, and I truly believe E-Trade leads the industry with their superior tools, outstanding customer service, and ease of use for investors. Their commission fees are definitely higher than their competition, but if you want the best, you should expect to pay a little more than usual.
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8 Responses to “E-Trade Brokerage Review”
1.
How to Avoid Stock Market Corrections and Crashes on December 27th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
[...] I was able to avoid two stock market corrections in 2007. Here is a picture I took off my E-Trade account showing my performance versus the S&P 500. Note the stock market corrections that [...]
2.
Dana on November 28th, 2008 at 3:00 pm
I DO NOT recommend E*Trade for stock trading! E*Trade will take money from your account without you knowing. I have a STOCK account with E*Trade and have been sitting on just a few stocks for a couple of years. I am not receiving any service from them, yet I just found out I’ve been charged a $40 “Account Services Fee” every three months for the past year and a half just for having an account with them! I wasn’t charged anything when I first signed on so I thought it was a great way for me to try investing without the help of a broker and to do it for free. I was so wrong! They never even notified me that they were going to start charging me. It wasn’t showing it on my account summary or transactions page. I didn’t receive a phone call from them, nor did I receive an email alert mentioning that I was being charged a penny. I wouldn’t mind paying $40 on occasion if I were investing a lot of money and needing the advice of a qualified broker, but to be charged $40 every 3 months for holding less than 30 shares in a couple of companies that I picked by myself is ludicrous! There is no cap to these fees either. It now shows I have a negative balance! Unless you are a day-trader, I think E*Trade is a horrible recommendation to anyone. I wish I had paid more attention to the complaints than the praises like I see here before I opened an account with them.
3.
Adam Freedman on November 28th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Sorry to hear that Dana. With Etrade, the more active you are (buying,selling,etc) the less they charge you. I get lots of free services that you normally would have to pay for.
4.
sarcasmo on March 29th, 2009 at 5:00 am
I completely agree with Dana, having had the same experience myself. If you are a smaller trader, do NOT go with Etrade. ScottTrade might be a better choice, though I need to do more research there as well. It’s $13 a trade, not the lower fees they advertise on TV. This means you need a gain of $26 on every transaction–no small thing for someone trading in small quantities–just to cover their fees.
Of course, this inhibits trading–it’s not worth it. But, if you don’t trade, you are charged $40 a quarter. Outrageous and simply not worth it. Even the mostly positive review above notes these high fees, though they are treated as an afterthought.
Bottom line, smaller investors should not choose Etrade.
5.
Robert on May 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I deposited $2,000.00 in 2006 in an etrade brokerage account and purchased a stock for around $1,987.00. Unbeknown to me $40.00 per quarter in fees were accruing, taking me into a margin debit that also accrued interest fees. I would log-on monthly to view my account and the account value would only show my stock value–no reference at all to fees accruing or margin balance. I sold the stock for $2,400.00 and they mailed me a check for $1,936.00. Thereafter I received a paper statement showing a net account value of $224.00. So I called inquiring about that balance and they say I owe them $1,600.00!!!!!! They say the check for $1,936.00 was a mistake and should never have been mailed it to me. I never borrowed on margin to purchase stocks–so what kind of gorilla math is this? I’m now waiting for them to research my transaction history to justify that claim–minimum 24 hours. They will not let you speak to a manager or anyone without an accent. sleazetrade is the absolute worst brokerage–period.
6.
steve on June 30th, 2009 at 1:38 pm
I agree — stay away from eTrade if you want to hang on to your money. Their ever-changing fees are outrageous. Finally, fed up, I called to close my account. I was left speechless when I was informed there would be a $10 fee to issue a check. Incredible!
7.
Brad on July 28th, 2009 at 12:58 am
I totally agree with the above opinions!
e-scan has completely drained my account with their $40/quarter fees.
They charged $160 /year for the “service” of taking your investment away from you gradually.
What’s worse is this done by the accumulation of the fees and then the sale of your stocks and closure of your account to “pay for the great service” they provide. Not only do you have to pay the ridiculos lack of service fees, but worse you also loose your stocks!
8.
fr3nch on August 13th, 2009 at 8:58 pm
etrade is HORRIBLE where it counts. Their commissions are really high and they have a TON of hidden fees. They charge you $25 to transfer money electronically to your bank account. They also have atarted charging inactivity fees. I decided to leave etrade after they charged me a $20 reorganization fee and billed an account I set up for my son $80 for inactivity (over half of the value of the account). Now its costing me another $120 just to get my money away from these crooks. I called them and just got the “tough s**t” response. They have $225 of my money that they shouldn’t have. Take your business somewhere else, these people are thieves.
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E-Trade (now iTrade) Canada Review
Written by FrugalTrader on Jul 19, 2007 filed under Stock Investing Print This Post
Nobleea, a regular reader here, posted a comment about being a user of E*Trade (now iTrade) Canada. Since I’ve never used E*Trade before, I thought it would be great to get a review from a long time user. Thanks Nobleea!
Frugal Trader asked me to do a review of E*Trade (i-trade), as I am a customer. I will try and follow the same format as he has used for previous brokerage reviews. I have been a customer of E*Trade since 2003, when I deposited a small $1100 cheque to fund my account.
Account types
Like most online brokerages, they offer several account types:
* Cash (both US and CAD). This is the basic account for trading stocks and mutual funds.
* Registered. For self directed RSP users.
* Savings. E*Trade has a Cash Optimizer savings account with a pretty high interest rate. 4.15% at the moment I believe.
* Options. For trading and creating options on popular stocks.
* Margin. Trading on margin.
The Application Process
* The last two accounts are a little bit more complicated. I have had a cash account since 2003 and have just opened a registered account. You can trade US equities and funds in a CAD currency account, but you obviously get hit with the forex (>1% each way) for each trade. You can have both CAD and US cash accounts simultaneously.
Commissions on Equity Trading, there are two price levels:
* $19.99/ trade for 1000 shares (2c per share thereafter for shares over $1, $19.99 flat for shares under $1) for accounts with less than 30 trades/quarter or less than $50K in account assets (for US equities it is $19.99 flat regardless of equity price or amount of shares)
* $9.99 flat fee/trade for accounts with more than 30 trades in the previous quarter or more than $50K in account assets.
* There is no difference in price for limit or market orders. They also offer Trailing Stop Orders which allows you to enter a stop order with a trigger price that changes with the market. E*Trade does dividend reinvestment, but will only purchase whole shares, with the remained being deposited as cash.
Real Time Quotes
* Real time quotes are available for US and CAD equities. Real time Level II information is also available on CAD equities (not sure about US equities). This is helpful when you are placing an order to see what the spread is like and if any iceberg orders exist.
Mutual Funds
* Access to over 3200 mutual funds. E*Trade charges nothing for mutual fund trades as long as you hold the fund for at least 90 days.
* Otherwise, they charge a fee of $38.88 or 1%, whichever is greater. I have not bought any mutual funds through E*Trade.
* ETFs are also available.
Funding
* You can set up E*Trade as a biller in order to fund your account. This takes 3-5 days for the money to show up in your E*Trade account.
* A better option is sign up for the automatic debit system where you can transfer cash back and forth between bank and brokerage in a day. Sometimes in can be done the same day if the timing is right. The good thing is that as soon as you initiate a transfer from your bank account to E*Trade, you can use the money immediately to buy stocks, even if the actual money has not been transferred yet.
Security
* E*Trade offers a key fob security device which increases the security of your password by creating a new password every 60 seconds. You enter your regular login and password and then add on the 6 digit security code from the key fob which changes automatically every minute. The key fob is free if you have more than $50K in account assets or $30 if you have less. I received mine a week ago.
Concerns
* Broker assisted trades over the phone will cost you extra, $35, I believe. Their telephone operators do not appear to be of the highest caliber, but are generally helpful. I have to exercise some warrants before the end of the month, so we’ll see if they can handle that.
Final Thoughts
* E*Trade Canada is good if you qualify for Power E*Trade, which is the cheaper price level once 30 trades/quarter is achieved (or $50K in account assets). Otherwise, there are better deals available. It is best for frequent traders who have a good grasp on what they are doing.
* If you are interested in stock trading, check out some of the free stock trading tools that I use.
