In this ETrade review (often styled E*Trade or simply E Trade), every aspect of the services they offer have been researched to provide users with an unbiased account.
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Who is ETrade?
ETrade Capital Management, LLC (ETCM), an affiliate of ETS, is registered with the SEC as an investment adviser. ETCM began offering investment advisory services under its current name in 2008. ETS and ETCM provide online brokerage, investment advisory services, and related products and services primarily to retail investors.
ETS and ETCM are indirect subsidiaries of Morgan Stanley, a leading global financial services firm providing a wide range of investment banking, securities, wealth management, and investment management services.
ETCM (ETrade Capital Management) offers discretionary investment advisory services. Discretionary means that ETCM is an unaffiliated money manager that makes trades for you based on your selected portfolio strategy without consulting you in advance of making trades. Depending on the program selected, your account may be invested in mutual funds, ETFs, stocks, and/or fixed income securities and maybe offered or traded based on trading ideas at that moment.
Why use ETrade?
E Trade was named “Best Brokerage for Beginning Investors” in Benzinga’s 2020 Fintech Awards.
Core Portfolios
- Commission Free Trading Stock Trading platforms for Stocks and ETFs.
- Stock trading on web platform, mobile and desktop platforms.
- Options Trades for 0.65$ a leg.
- Exchange Traded Funds (ETF) Trades.
- Mutual Funds.
- Bonds and & CDs.
- Futures for Experienced Traders.
- Who is ETrade?
- Why use ETrade?
- ETrade Ratings
- ETrade’s Online Trading Platform
- Power E Trade Platform
- E Trade’s Educational Resources
- E Trade Special Offers
- E Trade Fees
- Retirement investors
- E Trade Mobile App
- E Trade Customer Service
- E Trade’s Mutual Fund Alternatives
- Here is some important notes about the E trade review for mutual funds:
- FINRA Brokercheck
- Power E Trade Online Brokers: How to Day Trade
- ETrade FAQs
- ETrade Customer reviews
ETrade Ratings
Overall
Pros
- The Power E Trade Platform is almost as good as professional trading software.
- Access to Morgan Stanley research and trading ideas.
- Their mutual fund screener can help anyone setup mutual funds based on risk, assets, and trading ideas.
Cons
- Customer service chat never connected.
- The standard Web Portal trading system offers only the most basic functionality.
- Most of the “Investing insights” come in a video format.
ETrade’s Online Trading Platform
Surprisingly, E Trade’s online trading platform is very simple and does not live up to competing websites. The Power E trade platform is excellent, and performs all the functions a modern trading system should provide.
If you do not have $2,000 to invest and hold in the platform, you should not use E Trade’s website for trading.
Power E Trade Platform
Power E Trade is generally useful for advanced traders and uses innovative trading technology on a online brokers trading platform.
They have converted their downloadable platform to a web based trading platform, and the paper trading account is excellent and allows you to trade paper money on the platform with investment advice and ETF trades and free transaction fee mutual funds while you are pursuing active trading.
E Trade offers Power E Trade if funded with an investment account within three days. E trade offers access to financial advisors and standard transaction fee mutual funds. Unfortunately, E trade offers futures data only with a $2,000 deposit minimum.
Opening an Account
Opening a Power E Trade account is relatively easy, but it does require more information about your liquidity and occupation than the web platforms or mobile trading platforms. The Power E Trade trading platform requires a minimum deposit information and Power E Trade is not meant for passive investors. Advanced traders, options trade, futures traders, and traders who use research offerings and support and resistance lines and active trading along with technical patterns are the core target audience for Power E Trade.
Here you can see the E trade review of the power E trade online brokers and active traders agreements which are fairly complicated: https://express.etrade.com/etx/rtao/ma/disclosures.
E trade’s Power E Trade is meant for active traders who are liquid and can handle levels of risk in options trades and futures trading that are appropriate for advanced investors, not new investors.
Here are the disclosures needed for Power E Trade for options trades, futures trading on margin, and other characteristics of the Power E Trade trading platform. The information needed to open a Power Etrade Account far exceeds a web trading platform or e trade mobile platform.
Some important information from the disclosures is that the ETF E*TRADE Securities LLC (ETS) is registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as a broker-dealer and is a member of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC). Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) protects your brokerage account up to $250,000.
ETS was founded in 1982 and conducted its first online trade in 1983.
There is no minimum deposit or minimum investment to open an ETS (Etrade Securities) account for E Trade’s innovative trading technology, trading platform, free streaming market data, options trading, futures traders, educational resources, international markets, market research, $0.00 transaction fee mutual funds, independent research reports, or to place trades.
However, to make any trades a minimum investment is needed and varies depending on the asset being traded.
E Trade’s Educational Resources
E Trade provides an excellent tool for ranking stocks, bonds, and cash to graphically see the best 12 months and worse 12 months the portfolio would have historically provided.
Thematic Investing
One unique investment option E Trade provides is “thematic investing” where you can invest in climate sustainability, space exploration, communications, infrastructure, hedging inflation, and more. These thematic investing choices help you find ETFs to build a portfolio based on large trends you think will require large investments by society, and allow you to benefit from the returns from these activities.
Morgan Stanley Investing Essentials and Markets and Research
One major strength E trade has is access to Morgan Stanley research and investing knowledge. One good example of this is “Six Ideas to Watch in 2023“.
- Will Fed Tightening Snuff Out Stocks?
- Can Global Air Traffic Recover?
- Is the Metaverse a Real Opportunity?
- Are Investors Underestimating the Zero Emission (ZEV) Adoption Curve?
- Are Indian Stocks Overvalued?
- Can Chinese Equities Make a Comeback?
As you can see, this one article covers a variety of risk and return scenarios. Morgan Stanley also has excellent forecasts for 2022.
2023 Outlook Growth Despite Inflation
Morgan Stanley discusses the dangers of inflation, and then provides a global forecast where they are on the higher end of consensus forecasts. This market research is excellent and a major asset when it comes to E Trade trading ideas.
E Trade Special Offers
Earn Up to $3,500 when opening new accounts
Offer valid for new E TRADE Securities customers opening one new eligible retirement or accounts by 4/18/2022 and funded within 60 days of account opening with $5,000 or more. Promo code ‘BONUS23’.
Cash Credit for Deposit Amount
- $50 for $5,000–$19,999
- $100 for $20,000–$49,999
- $200 for $50,000–$99,999
- $300 for $100,000–$199,999
- $600 for $200,000–$499,999
- $1,200 for $500,000–$999,999
- $2,500 for $1,000,000–$1,499,999
- $3,500 for $1,500,000+
How it works:
E trade review bonus opening account credit. Open a new eligible E trade brokerage or retirement account.
Enter promo code ‘BONUS23’ when opening the new account. Use promo code BONUS23 only once for one account.
Fund your new account within 60 days of account opening. Cash credits will be granted based on deposits of new funds or securities from external accounts made within 60 days of account opening. Your reward will be paid within seven business days following expiration of the 60 day period.
E Trade Fees
E-trade generally has a $0.00 commission on stock and ETF trades, and a $.65 cent charge for option trades. Futures trading fees depend on how many futures trades you are making per week. For mutual funds, no-load, no transaction fee funds are $0.
Transaction fee funds are $19.99, load funds can vary depending on the prospectus. To discourage short-term trading of mutual funds, E Trade charges an Early Redemption fee of $49.99 on redemptions or exchanges of no-load, no transaction fee funds that are for less than 90 days.
Retirement investors
E Trade offers a professionally managed bond portfolio customized to your individual needs. A professionally managed advisory solution to help reach your financial goals. This requires an account value of $500 and charges a flat 0.30% annual advisory fee.
Blended Portfolios
A blended portfolio works with financial consultants to choose a diversified portfolio, with significant minimum deposits needed.
Account Market Total (Minimum of $25,000) Blended Financial Consultants Fee
- $100,000 0.90%
- $150,000 0.80%
- $250,000 0.75%
- $500,000 0.70%
- Next $1,000,000 or more 0.65%
E Trade Mobile App
E trade has one of the best mobile trading platforms available in the retail discount broker class. It is available for Apple and Android devices, even including the Apple Watch and tablet devices.
You can invest in stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and options (including 2, 3, and 4 legged spreads). $0 commissions for stocks, ETFs, and options.
Power E Trade Mobile App
The Power E Trade Mobile app is where the mobile trading really shines for E Trade. They have built a system that:
Quickly trade stocks, ETFs, simple and complex options, and futures on single streamlined trade tickets.
Options strategies with options chains and custom and four-legged spreads.
Trade analysis with interactive charts and technical studies.
Market movement with streaming quotes, news, earnings, dividends, depth view, gains and more.
E Trade Customer Service
E Trade Customer service has 24/7 phone support at 1-800-387-2331 and globally at +1-678-624-6210.
The mailing address is E Trade Securities LLC, PO Box 484, Jersey City, NJ 0303-0484
E Trade has a screen share option for real-time support
They also have online chat available, but the wait times may make this infeasible especially if the market is moving quickly and you need help right away. I waited more than 20 minutes for contact with an E Trade professional which is simply unacceptable in a fast moving market.
E Trade’s Mutual Fund Alternatives
Here is some important notes about the E trade review for mutual funds:
The fund’s prospectus contains its investment objectives, risks, charges, expenses and other important information and should be read and considered carefully before investing. For a current prospectus, visit https://us.etrade.com/e/t/invest/mutualfunds
E Trade provides you with the ability to invest in thousands of mutual funds directly using your personal device. By making a mutual fund or mutual fund family available to you, however, E Trade does not make any representations, endorsements, or guarantees regarding the appropriateness, quality, or suitability of any mutual fund and we make no recommendation of any kind.
We provide, for informational purposes only, data about the various mutual funds published by independent third parties, such as Morningstar, Inc. and Markit on Demand. Fund commentary may also be provided by Morgan Stanley Investment Management Inc. (MSIM). While we believe that the data provided by these third parties is reliable, we have no independent basis to verify or contradict the accuracy or completeness of the information provided.
Past performance is not an indication of future results and mutual fund investment returns and share prices will fluctuate daily. Your e trade’s investment may be worth more or less than your original cost when you redeem your shares. Current performance may be lower or higher than the performance data quoted.
The E Trade Mutual Funds screener is excellent, with “All-Star” mutual funds, category analysis, and pre-built portfolios. You can even search by expense ratio, which is extremely important because low expenses are a prime determinant of mutual funds performance in the long run.
FINRA Brokercheck
One of the most important educational resources beginner investors should utilize is reading the FINRA Brokercheck provided free of charge by FINRA (The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) provided for ECM (E Trade Capital Management) which is the owner of record for all Etrade trades and activities.
The firm is approved in 53 states and territories.
ECM (Etrade Capital Management) is approved for 12 types of businesses.
Through this E Trade review you can discover E Trade’s the parent company to a variety of investment firms all over the world including Eaton Vance, Calver Research and Management, Parametric Portfolio Associates, and a variety of other businesses which may be relevant to you if you trade any assets internationally.
Other important information is contained in the report such as E Trade’s $350,000 dollar fine for failing to design fraud detection software that met with NYSE Arca’s exchange policies.
FINRA Brokercheck will allow you to make your own determination of the safety and history of E Trade’s performance in the online brokerage industry.
In general, after utilizing Brokercheck, E Trade is a very safe and well-funded brokerage with Morgan Stanley’s assets to back up any trading irregularities or excess volatility.
Power E Trade Online Brokers: How to Day Trade
The world of day trading can be exciting. Day traders are unlike many other investors because they only hold their securities for a day.
Day trading overview
FINRA rules describe a day trade as the opening and closing of the same security (any security, including options) on the same day in standard brokerage accounts.
Pattern Day Trader Accounts
Per FINRA, the term pattern day trader (PDT) refers to any customer who executes four or more day trades within a rolling five business-day period in a margin account. Keep in mind a broker-dealer may also designate a customer as a pattern day trader if it knows or has a reasonable basis to believe the customer will engage in pattern day trading. Once an account is designated a PDT account, it remains a PDT account until it is reset by the broker-dealer.
In regards to margin requirements, the minimum equity required for the accounts of customers deemed to be pattern day traders is $25,000. This minimum equity must be deposited in the margin account before the customer may open trades and must be maintained in the customer’s account at all times.
If a PDT account’s value closes below the $25,000 requirement, the customer will be issued a day trading minimum equity margin call the next business day, and the account will be moved to restricted status until the account value is brought above $25,000.
ETrade FAQs
Have My ETrade Account, Trading Platforms, and Brokerage Services Been Moved to Morgan Stanley?
Yes, all ETrade advisory or brokerage services, trading platforms, investment advice, power e trade, personal finance, penny stocks, market commentary, ETF trades, fixed income portfolios, forex trading, no transaction fee funds, futures trading, and Power ETrade have been migrated to Morgan Stanley.
You should continue to use your normal ETrade web platform login and E trade mobile, and cash management accounts for all ETrade core portfolios logins and trades.
How Do I Place a Trade in my Standard ETrade accounts?
At ETrade they make it easy to trade stocks, bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, and more. Watch their platform demos or join them live every Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET for a 20-minute getting started webinar and live Q&A session for e trade’s beginning investors and active traders alike.
How do I fund my ETrade web trading platform?
Good news! Any of the below fund transfers will fund all the accounts.
– Transfer Money Electronically
– By Check
– Wire Transfer
– Transfer an Account from A Different Set of Managed Portfolios
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