E*Trade is a pioneer in the discount brokerage market. They’ve been around since 1982, and are arguably the most popular and well known of all online brokers. Over the years they’ve continued to impress the pundits and regularly receive awards in excellence from the major reviewers like Smart Money and Barron’s.
What they offer: $9.99 trades (less if you’re an active trader), access to a wide range of mutual funds (7,600+), free education resources, free access to research, 24/7 customer service (and it’s quick), and an easy to use platform.
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The Verdict: Over 2.3 million people already use E*Trade, so you’re going with a market leader and you know what you’re getting – a service you can trust. E*Trade can be especially good for you if you keep a high balance ($50,000 +), make over 150 trades per quarter and are looking for a wide range of investment products.
Where to join: Click here to open an account with E*Trade and trade FREE for 60 days (special offer)
In-Depth E*Trade Review
Setting Up An Account
The entire sign up process is online – it takes about 10-15 mins and is 100% paperless. Be sure to have your details handy (address, SSN or Tax ID #, employer name and address). No initial minimum deposit is required for retirement, custodial, or employee stock plan accounts.
Fees/Commissions:
- $7.99 per stock or options trade if you make 150 + trades each quarter.
- Otherwise you’ll pay $9.99 per trade for stock option and futures trades
- (plus $0.75 per options contract and plus $2.99 per futures contract).
- Expect to pay $45 extra for broker assisted trades.
- $25 per quarter maintenance fees if your account is less than $5,000 or you make less than 2 trades
- Minimum to open an account is $500 (you must deposit within 60 days of opening an account).
- $2 per paper statement, $60 for ACAT out.
Trading/Investment Tools:
- E*Trade is great for being able to customize your own trading platform to suit your needs.
- Trading platform is intuitive and easy to navigate.
- Their mobile app tools are also top-of-the-line.
- On a side note, E*Trade also offers banking services such as high interest savings accounts, checking accounts and mortgage accounts.
Investments Offered:
Probably E*Trade’s biggest strength. They offer one of the widest ranges of foreign and domestic investment products available from online brokers, which is ideal if you want to balance your portfolio with a mix ETFs, mutual funds, stocks, bonds, and fixed income investments. Check out their website to see their updated range of investments.
Ease of Use:
- E*Trade website and platform in general is very intuitive, user friendly and easy to navigate.
- Choice between a variety of platforms (web based, desktop, and mobile) allows flexibility to pick the one you like best.
Customer Service/Support:
24/7 phone and email support is responsive, but there is no Live Chat support, which is a negative because it makes life so much easier.
Awards:
- 5/5 stars from Smartmoney (2010) for Trading Tools, Customer Service and Banking Services.
- 4/5 stars from Barrons for Long Term Investing Tools and International Trading (2010).
Current Promotions:
Open an account with E*Trade today and trade FREE for 60 days
The Final Word:
E*Trade is used by millions of people from over 40 countries worldwide. They’ve certainly had a head start in learning a thing or two about running a good online brokerage. E*Trade stands apart by offering a wide range of investment products, a fantastic mobile trading app, and solid customer service. The only possible downside is the relatively high commissions you’ll pay if you’re not an active trader. But then again, if you want to go with a trusted name, sometimes you’ve got to pay…
Don’t get nickeled and dimed by eTrade. I left eTrade 6 years ago due to poor customer service. I heard that things got better and their fees were very reasonable, so I came back a year ago. I have 3 accounts with a significant amount of money, so they assigned me a dedicated rep. I noticed that every time any of my stocks had what eTrade calls an organizational change (i.e. stock split, name change, etc.), eTrade charged me a $20 fee. I enquired about these fees and they confirmed that they were eTrade specific fee (Schwab does not charge these fees). This added up to ~$200 over the course of the year. I ended up calling my “dedicated” rep to complain and ask for reimbursement. After 3 phone calls not being returned by my dedicated rep, I finally contacted the toll free number. The toll free rep was very pleasant and got ahold of my “dedicated rep” via IM, who finally called me back. I explained my issue over the fees and asked to be reimbursed. He reimbursed me $60 and was researching the other $140. After not hearing back from him for a month, I called him back. Again … multiple phone calls. I received 1 eMail response stating that he was looking into it, then another month went by with no response. I decided again to leave eTrade due to these fees and poor customer service. To add insult to injury, they charged me $60 per account to transfer them out ($180).
Posted by Brian | March 17, 2011, 10:32 pmBrian,
I understand the frustration in that chasing people around that are allegedly “dedicated” is a pain. However, your comment seemed to be geared toward unsatisfactory customer service and normal fees you were unaware of. No one likes paying more than they have to and customer service can go a long way in customer retention (irrespective of how inane the complaint may or may not be). However, this boils down to inadequate research on your part. You may have “heard they got better”, but did you speak with anyone WITH E*Trade to verify word on the street? There are many pages of guidelines and regulatory fees outlined. If you didn’t take the time to read them over prior to reinstating your status with them, that’s not the fault of E*Trade.
That said, I’m considering several options to invest money and E*Trade was one of them. I’m looking in to a few others but I asked the online “live chat” assistant directly and concisely about what Brian mentioned and other structured fees presented in vague wording – and got direct answers to them. Many of the fees Brian mentioned are there, yes and other investment groups don’t have them – but they do have things like maintenance fees, higher trade commissions, and much higher minimum investment requirements that offset the nickel and dime aspects perceived in E*Trade.
The lessons here are this:
1.) NOTHING good comes easy; if you want it, you’ll have to work for it. You can’t expect any operation to affront opportunity to accrue wealth at no cost.
2.) You’re not the only client a company has. Many people complain that they aren’t treated fairly or equally but in fact they are; equality means no one is special. If you expect special treatment, so too do others and if a company treats you special then its safe to assume someone else is being treated special. Special takes time – give it time or give it up.
3.) Do you research. It is the responsibility of the person seeking gain to ensure there are gains to be had. “Want” goes only so far before “work” must pick up the slack. The more work invested into a task, the greater “want” is fulfilled. The trick is butting work before want and not the other way around.
Posted by Shawn Gordon | April 12, 2011, 6:08 pmNO fees for giving then your money but a $10.00 free to take it out.
-Request a check (this service carries a $10 fee/ $20 to expedite). If the request is received before 11 a.m. PT on a business day, it will be processed the same day.
Posted by jimw | September 13, 2011, 12:44 am-Use Quick Transfer to move cash to and from outside external accounts as well as between all of your E*TRADE accounts. Go to http://www.etrade.com/quicktransfer for details.
-Request a wire transfer ($25 fee). If the request is received before 11 a.m. PT on a business day, it will be processed the same day (next business days if received afterwards).
-Write a check against the available cash balance in your account. (If checkwriting is available and has been enabled for the account)
-Withdraw up to $1000 in cash per day with an ATM/debit card or up to $2,500 per day on Visa purchases.
E trade fees are very high when it comes to option trading. If you’re not a big time trader they really could careless about you. I got the same run around when inquiring about fees. Decided to move over to Zecco. Fees are fair for the small time investors and you don’t have to pay for all the big time marketing ETrade has…
Posted by Ed | January 24, 2012, 5:37 pmETrade Fail.
I recently had an extremely frustrating situation occur with eTrade. I decided to move a couple of my accounts over to Vanguard (for several reasons). However, the process, eTrade decided not to pass along any of my cost basis information. They cited that legally they were not required to do so.
Furthermore, none of the cost basis info is on any of the statements. As a result, I now am going to have to manually calculate the cost basis info by hand.
I have spent several hours on the phone with various eTrade customer service folks to no avail.
I share this story as I think it could be indicative of other customer service issues as well.
Jim
Posted by Jim | April 26, 2012, 2:50 pmEtrade is horrible. They say one thing and do another. I was told I would have $200 deposited into my account if I brought over $50,000 for my 401k. I did this and never saw the money. I called them and they said they put me into the 60 day free trade promotion accidentally. So I made my trades and they were not free. I was also told I would get free real time quotes. I realized this was not true one day while trading options (and if you’re an option trader you know how badly that can screw you over). Plus the website is very difficult to use. Personally I hate the way it is set-up, but that’s just my preference. I also think the online trader is horrible. I have been with them for about 30 days now and have nothing positive to say. When the 60 day holding period is over for my mutual funds I will be done with etrade (if you sell within 60 days you are charged a 5% fee). In summary… DO NOT USE ETRADE!!!!
Posted by Jason | May 10, 2012, 10:52 am