E*Trade offers a full suite of an easy to use online brokerage, investing and related banking solutions, such as stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and fixed income, options, futures, and no annual fee IRAs. They provide their users with all the products, tools and services they need to reach their short- and long-term investment goals, including popular downloadable mobile apps for Android and iOS users. E*Trade is an industry leader and was voted Best Of Online Brokers in a Kiplinger's survey and they are also a member of the FDIC. Other benefits of the service include:

Investment Products, Pricing And Rates

E*Trade offers stocks, options and ETFs for a standard $9.99 per trade. The price goes down to $7.99 if more than 150 trades are done per quarter. Options contracts for $0.75, futures contracts for $2.99, bonds for $1.00, mutual funds with a no-load and no-transaction fee are variable and all broker-assisted trades are $25.

Platforms And Tools

E*Trade 360 - allows you to access all your accounts, positions and more, including streaming quotes, all on one page so you can view everything all in one place and all in real-time.
E*Trade Pro - is designed for advanced traders and provides the user with sophisticated tools and easier market visibility.
E*Trade Mobile - allows you to have your portfolio with you at all times. This will give you access to real-time information and allow you to execute trades and more in an instant.

Research And Insights

Investing Insights - gives the user ideas based on current market trends and investing topics based on time-tested investing principles.
Independent Analyst Research - this is in-depth, company-specific analysis and company comparisons from outside sources, such as Credit Suisse, S&P Capital IQ, Thomson Reuters and more.
Financial Pros In The E*Trade Community - this community platform allows users to discuss recent market events, as well as ask questions and get answers from financial professionals within the E*Trade community.
Stock And Fund Screeners - this is a variety of tools that allow users to perform a search based on a set criteria or via their popular predefined screens.
E*Trade's Exclusive Top 5 Lists - this is a quick glance list of real-time rankings of stocks, mutual funds, ETFs and more that will help give you a clearer insight.

Tools For Managing Your Investments

Planning Assistance - with this feature E*Trade will help you build a diversified portfolio and assist you with determining how much you will need to save for your retirement and how to do so with the right investments. You will also have the help of a retirement planning calculator, an online portfolio advisor and mutual fund and ETFs screeners.
Asset Allocation Advice - this feature will analyze your current holdings, help you create a diversified portfolio and help keep on track should you choose to manage everything yourself or whether you decide to let the E*Trade Capital Management team do it for you. You will also have access to the online portfolio advisor tool as well.
Tools For Monitoring And Rebalancing Your Portfolio - this feature gives you access to E*Trade's state-of-the-art tools that will help you fine tune your portfolio. It will also help you find hidden risks, check your diversification and calculate potential income from your particular investments. You will also have access to a risk analyzer, portfolio analyzer, and income estimator as well.
Automatically Build Your Portfolio - with this feature, you just choose your investments and set your schedule, then just sit back and watch your investments automatically grow over time. You will also have access to an automatic investing program tool as well.

Guidance And Advice

Financial Advisors - E*Trade stresses the fact that you're investing for yourself, but not by yourself and that there's always help whenever you need it. They have financial consultants that will help you with personalized financial recommendations at no charge.
Managed Account Solutions - with this feature, you have a diversified portfolio managed by an experienced professional of the E*Trade Capital Management team.
Select Portfolios - allows you to select and buy mutual funds or EFTs with one click, then manage them yourself. You can easily use the online portfolio advisor tool to get started.

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The Bad

SEC lawsuit
Higher prices
30 trades per quarter for pro

While there are a number of positive aspects of the platform, there are drawbacks as well. This is where you really need to pay attention and consider the facts, the good and bad, before making any final decisions as to whether or not they are the right choice for your online trading needs. Limitations include:

SEC Lawsuit

Unfortunately, E*Trade's problems do not stop there. This case has been closed and the SEC announced that E*Trade and their current and former subsidiaries failed in their custodian roles during a four-year period when they inappropriately engaged in unregistered sales of their customers' microcap stocks while blatantly ignoring red flags that such activity was obviously occurring. This resulted in E*Trade being required to pay back more than $1.5 million in disgorgement and prejudgment interest from the commissions they earned on the improper sales, as well as a combined penalty of $1 million.

Higher Prices

There are plenty of people who are very happy with E*Trade and would never consider using anyone else. However, they do have a plethora of complaints in other places. We were hoping those complaints would be old; however, we found a good number of the complaints to be recent. Therefore, you should proceed with caution should you decide to give them a try. We can only hope they strive to make some improvement as they have been a big player in the online stock trading marketplace for quite some time. E*Trade's rates are competitive with other full-service brokerage firms; however, they do have higher stock trade commissions, which is a big part of what makes many people consider another company. So if you are looking for discounted commissions, you won't find them here. But with that being said, you have to remember that you get what you pay for and E*Trade does have plenty of fantastic offerings, which in our opinion definitely makes up for their higher commissions.

30 Trades Per Quarter For Pro

Another thing we aren't too fond of is the fact that E*Trade's Pro platform requires 30 stock or options trades per quarter, or $250,000 in assets, for access. And their Pro system is lacking when it comes to detailed charting and its options potentiality. This might not be an issue for you if you trade often; however, if you don't, this is something you need to take into consideration.

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The Bottom Line

Although E*Trade has experienced some turbulence over the last few years, after fully weighing the good and the bad, we feel they deserve a recommendation as a long-standing online financial brokerage. However, with that being said, you should always perform your own due diligence before making a final decision about whether or not they are the right fit for your particular situation. Overall, we recommend E*Trade as a service that can help you with your online trading needs. It may be somewhat complex for those that are just getting started with online trading but it can be one of the best solutions for those that have been in the business longer than the average trader.

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User Reviews

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8 Reviews

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2 grade

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1 grade

13%

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Leon Trios Ikeja, Lagos

It is essential to fully understand the terms and conditions of any agreement in order to avoid financial loss. I learned this through a difficult experience, until I contacted them. They successfully assisted me, and I recovered every cent.

2 months ago

star star star star star

W. H. Longview, TX

I have used more than 7 different online brokers over the years. ETrade is the best by far. I have found their website to be very clear and concise. From streaming stock watch lists to trading, this is the brokerage to use. Owned by one of the best investment banks, Morgan S, it is easy to understand why their platform is the best. Highly recommend.

2 years ago

star star star star star

Eddie Rios Ogden, UT

Full service, discount trading support, What's not to love about Etrade. I have used this platform for years and can't find anything that competes with it. the site is easy to use, rules are clear, and process is very smooth. Tons of investing tools to help make you as successful as possible. Excellent overall!

6 years ago

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Dilip Ganesan Secaucus, New Jersey

Recovering your lost investment funds as the case might be, is not what you can do alone, you’d require the service of a trained recovery specialist. A recovery specialist is a person or a group of people who are well equipped to work around the brokerage network. They have vast knowledge about the whole network and have the right software and private keys to follow any transaction. I was ripped off trading online to an investment broker, good thing I got every penny back through the help of Gavin ray he’s a genius Contact : Gavinray78 at gmail com It is also important to be patient and really calm during the process.

1 month ago

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Thomas Hullinger Pleasant Grove, UT

E *Trade is an easy way to get involved in the Stock Market and not have to pay the big brokerage fees. They are easy to use and I found it very rewarding.

8 years ago

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Timothy Rich Herriman, UT

I like the convenience of being able to manage stocks online and being able to have different portfolios in the same account

4 years ago

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Tiffany I Gaithersburg, MD

E*TRADE was one of the few place I could set up an IRA trading acct. app was easy to fun and buy/sell. No fees, quick transactions.

5 years ago

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Amy N Sandy, UT

The E*Trade website was very easy to navigate and find the info we needed.

4 years ago