Independent rating of Forex broker E-Trade

About company

E-Trade offers its clients a wide range of trading instruments, e.g. stocks, options, ETFs, options or futures contracts, as well as bonds. Notably, this broker only cooperates with traders from the United States.

The company was established in 1982 under the name TradePlus in California. Later in 1991, the founders of the company created a new one – Etrade Securities. They began to offer trading services together with America Online and Compuserve. In 1994, the company's profit reached almost $11 million. Just two years later, the company had 73,000 customers. The company processed an average of 8,000 transactions daily. In 1996, it entered the initial public offering (IPO).

Today, the E-Trade broker is headquartered in New York. It also has 30 other offices in the United States.

The company is regulated by FINRA and SIPC.

Trading conditions

E-Trade provides its customers with the following types of trading accounts:

• Brokerage
• Retirement
• Custodial
• IPA

To start trading, clients should deposit at least $500. Notably, this amount is considered quite standard. However, for US brokers, it is a relatively low initial deposit. So, many require a deposit of at least $1,000.

E-Trade charges customers the following fees:

• $6.95 –for transactions with shares
• $6.95 (+ $0,75) fees – per contract for options trades

The broker also offers wholesale discounts. Active traders (those who make more than 30 trades every four months) have access to rates from $4.95 (+ $0.50).

The leverage is 1:2. After opening a margin account, the client has the opportunity to borrow up to 50% of their deposit from the company. Thus, the margin volume helps the client to increase their income.

Customers should keep in mind that if the bids are too high, there is a probability that the losses may exceed the initial account balance. Given this, it is necessary to be extremely careful when using this leverage.

Trading platform

• E-Trade Web
• Power E-Trade
• E-Trade Pro

They are free and available for all categories of clients (even for those who have no trading activity and have a minimum balance).

The company offers traders a ready-made portfolio service, which includes mutual and exchange-traded funds. For those investors who make their decisions on the recommendations of analysts, the broker provides consensus ratings.

Notably, the charts presented on the broker's website take into account the Trefis price estimate directly on the chart itself, as well as with the opportunity to quickly go to the full Trefis analysis page.

When depositing and withdrawing funds, customers can use an electronic transfer (Transfer Money service), an account transfer (clients can transfer their accounts from another company), a wire transfer (Visa, MasterCard, etc.). The time of withdrawal depends on the selected payment method. Wire transfer is considered the quickest.

Support service

The support service works 24/7 via phone or online chat. Visit the broker’s main webpage to find out the appropriate method and contact the support service. You can also upload documents from your account.

Traders’ reviews

There are a lot of negative comments on the Internet. Many customers are unhappy with unfair trading and withdrawal problems.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the advantages, the broker is regulated. It offers an advanced trading platform and up-to-date analysis on the official website. Among the disadvantages, there are a large number of negative reviews about the company from residents of the United States. There are enough complaints about the high deposit and large commissions.