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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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.
Don’t use etrade. We have problems with them too. I left my 100k in the account and we can’t get the money out of the brokerage account. They use all excuses not to let you wire the money. They said that they gave you a good rate but that is only for 2 months. After 2 months, you got nothing and will have problems to get your money out. We have accounts with different companies. Etrade is the worst.
Etrade rips you off on $20 Reorg fees. Is pure profit for them. Why charge more than a trade?
Thank God I googled e-trade to read up on them before getting started in online investing. I am going to research opinions on EVERY online stock trader sight before I even think about trying to invest the money I’ve worked hard for. You’d expect to see some good feedback on a company that is suppose to be so good to customers. I only saw one on this forum. It’s great that it’s working out for Adam but it sucks for the rest of you that have lost money. You’ve helped me in my decission making and I hopefully your next experiences in online investing will be better. If I find horror stories like these in the other online services then I guess I’ll try a different venue for getting started in stock investing.
I was hoping to find a way to reverse 5 (FIVE) years of inactivity fees which they started charging me once I turned off paper statements. If I had been getting a paper statement I would have done whatever it took to stop these exorbitant fees. I only had 2 stocks with $2000 in the account and actually forgot about them until I wanted to transfer them to another brokerage account. They have been stealing all of my cash dividends which I have been paying taxes on for five years and STILL charging me $40 a quarter for an Inactivity Fee!
Now before I can transfer these stocks I have to pay over $800 in Inactivity Fees and $60 to transfer and close the account.
A lot of the comments above are spot on. To my dismay I recently realized that I have been charged $40 per quarter in inactivity fees (for a total of almost $280 now). It is partly my own fault for not keeping up with my account, but nevertheless it’s ridiculous because they charge these fees for doing nothing. What’s even more frustrating to me is that at the time I opened my account you could avoid these inactivity fees by opening a linked savings account with E-Trade, which is what I did. I did not need this account and don’t use it. I simply opened it and put some money in it for the specific purpose of avoiding the $40 per quarter inactivity fee. It seems that while I have not been using the account their policies have changed and they started charging me. This is absolutely infuriating and I am looking for alternatives. They have refused to issue a refund even as a one time courtesy and I’m now in the process of closing my account with $280 of my money flushed down the toilet. Apparently they don’t mind losing young investors who are just starting out as customers as long as they can make a few bucks now. Very shortsighted policy.
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E*Trade is awesome. All these people who are complaining about $40/quarter are themselves to blame. These guys opened the account without reading the instructions. Instructions clearly state that you will be charged $40/quarter unless your account balance/securities value is less than $10,000. E*Trade is not for small investors. It is for serious investors only and it provides awesome services. I am with E*trade for over 11 years and I do not have any complaints.
Avoid E*Trade at all costs. They told me that if I opened a Money Market account there would be no more $40/quarter ($160/year!) service fees. So I did. Several months later, there was another $80 in fees. After many furious messages to them, their response was, “We can change the rules at any time, no matter what you were told they were when you opened your account. Pay it”
This an Fantastic post, I will bookmark this in my Furl account. Have a good day.
My employer offers ESPP (Employee Stock Purchase Plan) through E-Trade at a 15% discount. The first enrollment/buying period is approaching and I am seriously thinking of enrolling and starting to add deductions from my check to the stock plan. After reading all of these reviews I am having second thoughts. Should I enroll in the program? These reviews make me want to just invest on my own. What do you guys think?
Thanks
E*Trade won’t let me close my account until I pay them almost $900 for many years of inactivity fees of $40 per QUARTER! I bought several stocks to hold for the future and they now own them. After I pay them all of their past inactivity fees, then they want another $75 to close the account! I just discovered that they have been keeping all of the cash dividends my stocks have been paying out all these years and yet I had to pay income tax on the dividends that I never saw. NEVER, NEVER use E*Trade — they will rob you blind!
I have just opened an account with E-Trade and in the process of depositing some funds. I have read many comments and reviews of the service and the main complaint of negative remark was for the quarterly charge. I personaly did not discouraged from this and did not come to a surprise to me. E-Trade website and decalrations are very straight forward and tells you how much you expect to be charged based on your trading pattern or level. My comments to all those people who have made these negative remark is honestly get out of investing in stocks becuase its obviously not for you. If you failed to monitor your own account in a brokerage firm and knwe exactly how much you are paying for the service how do you expect to make money in today highly volatile stock market where every month the rules changes. My advise to anyone who is reading these reviews you be the judge of any service and dont rely on others to form your opnion. start with a small account and see how the service is relay like before increasing your position.
Etrade has got the worst customer service in the industry. They are full of misinformation and every time you call back you get a different answer to very simple questions. What a waste of time. I don’t know how the other online brokers are but Etrade is horrible.
I’m surprised to see all the negative feedback on Etrade. I was seriously thinking about opening an account. I wanted to try it out for a while to see how well I would do before I invested larger amounts. Does anyone have a more positive feedback using some of the other online brokerage services?
I will never use E-trade again.
Back in 2004-2005 they started billing me $25 a quarter inactivity fee’s draining all of my cash reserves. When they were about to start cutting into my stock I finally had enough and requested paper certificates of all my stocks mailed to me.
E-trade got me for about 250 dollars worth of fee’s before I was smart enough to do that but atleast I have my paper shares in a vault far away from them.
Never use Etrade for anything. They are a scam for a regular investor unless you are a daytrader who makes 10 trades a month (at which point you are an idiot who is 9/10 times losing money anyway by being a daytrader).
Summary:
If you are a daytrader e-trade is good, but you will lose money due to being a daytrader.
If you are a regular investor you will lose tons of money each month in inactivity fee’s.
Bottom line 99/100 people who use Etrade will lose money.
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).
Don’t fall for their “free trade for 60 days” advertising. I sent a check for $5,000 in early March. I called on March 9, and they said they had received it and I could trade on March 14. I called my bank and learned the check cleared on March 8. I have an account with Scottrade, and they let me trade the next day. I called and asked them to refund my check. It is March 20 and I am still waiting.
I’ve had etrade for 3 months. I love the service. I am an active trader. I have made 97 trades this quarter. I started out with Scottrade, but they restricted everything worth actively trading. I then moved to a direct ENC brokerage house. Each trade was $8, but there were hidden fees and trades were costing me $150 each way. Then I tried etrade and love it. I never have any issue with their Etrade Pro trading platform. Quick fills on my orders and none of the fees everybody is talking about. Which I assume is due to my activity level. I highly recommend them to other traders.
To the individual who said 9/10 day traders loose money is mistaken. If you want to be a day trader, it must be your job. Learn how to read charts and watch Level 2 and you can be a good day trader. You just can’t day trade as a hobby.
I received the check today. It was for $4800. (See the note above.) Avoid Etrade!
people should use penny trading to expirence how to trade
AVOID E-trade … fees, fees, fees! i had a residual company grant of ~250 shares that stayed mostly underwater, so i never had a need to do anything w/ the account (and they certainly didn’t do any work managing the account). when it came time to sell the shares (w/ only one transaction) they pocketed $40.00. They didn’t even hit the market-value in real-time trading. easy money, especially considering $40 fees occurring every second – a lucrative racket…
I was forced to sell stock immediately due to margin call, even though the date shown to meet the margin call was still 3 days away. Even worse, was the way this rep spoke to me. He kept on saying, “I have done my job”. Later I called to complain. I asked for a supervisor. I was told that the Supervisor will call me back at the end of the day. This was more than a week ago. I still have to receive a call. I will do what a consumer can – publicize this bad treatment.
I lost about $100000 due to being forced to sell at the bottom of the market.
One time I got charged for an inactive account charge. lol
no charge to give them your money but to get it out a $10.00 charge
-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.
-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.
After reading a good portion of this page it seems that many of the positive reviews have numerous grammatical errors. This lends to a suspicion the E Trade may be paying their outsourced employees to surf review blogs and defend them. This goes for Adam ‘s post as well.
ETrade is the worst financial firm. I trade a fair amount and deal with several financial firms and they are by far the worst. Don’t get suckered in by low commisions; it is not worth the hassle.
I am having so many problems with eTrades charts. Missing days in the charts, poor chart scaling, incorrect MA’s and many days I have to hit refresh until the chart shows up (I am getting price & time changes so it’s not a cache problem on my end). I’ve sent them pics of many examples. Nothing ever gets fixed.
Bottom line, you can’t trust eTrade charts (actually being provided by wallst.com).
Say no to eTrade. There always seems to be a catch with their promotions, they can never figure out how to credit you with the free trades you were promised
After reading the comments section of this article, I think I’m going to open an account with scottrade and buy etrade stock. They clearly know how to turn a profit.
E-trade has quite frankly the worst customer service of any financial institution I have ever dealt with and I have closely dealt with nearly a dozen on 3 different continents through the years. I have repeatedly had situations where I get an agent on the phone who assures me that if I submit document X or Y they will authorize a or b. I submit exactly those documents, in exactly the way they say and they utterly fail to authorize what they said they would, and require more documentation or don’t do the transaction at all. This is to the point of fraud. They have been misprocessing my tax status for months despite immaculately filled paperwork on my part and more than half a dozen calls, 4 emails and countless faxes. They even acknowledge that the paperwork from me is correct.
They cashed in some of my stock to pay the taxes on a RSU grant, against my explicit instructions and despite the fact that there was enough money in the account to pay the taxes.
If only my company didn’t use them for options grants I would have left them long ago.