Online Stock Trading Web

E*Trade has been in the online stock trading industry for more than 20 years now. As of the present, it is considered as one of the pioneers to provide great, satisfying online trading services to all kinds of investors and traders.

However, though this online stock broker is one of a kind, it also has some flaws that made it unlikely at all costs. Basically, E*Trade has a tiered pricing schedule that might not work for all as it encourages at least $50,000 investment assets or 1500 trades every quarter. And if in case you can’t meet these, there would be a charge of $40 per quarter as maintenance fee.

Possible Costs

As of the present, E*Trade is just one of the brokers that is quite expensive. With E*Trade you will be encouraged to have more than 1500 trades per quarter for you to avail the rate of $6.99 per trade, or have between 150 and 1499 trades per quarter to avail the rate of $7.99 per trade.

Similarly, to have the rate of $9.99 per trade, you should have an account balance of over $50,000 or else execute 30–149 trades per quarter. Unfortunately, if you can’t have at least$50,000 as your account balance or just make 0–29 trades per quarter, you’ll have to pay a whooping rate of $12.99 per trade.

What’s more, if you can’t reach even an account balance of $10,000, you’ll have to pay a maintenance fee of $40 per quarter. Well, this is absolutely expensive, most especially if you are just a beginner or don’t have enough funds.

Investments Provided

E*Trade, just like some of the many online stock brokers, has also provided the basic investments and array of fixed income investments that every online trader would need. The basic investments actually provided are the stocks, mutual funds, exchange–traded funds, and bonds.

Tools and Features Offered

E*Trade is actually not far behind in terms of tools and features, particularly when compared to some other online brokers. Basically, E*Trade has provided a fully customizable trading interface for you to have total power and control over your trades. E*Trade has also a number of automated trading features like hidden stops, trailing stops, bracketed trades and contingents.

Useful educational resources and tools like written articles, retirement planning, tax center and calculators are also included in E*Trade’s list of features. Thus, if you don’t know much about online stock trading, E*Trade could actually help you with that.

Security and Ease of Use

One of the strengths of E*Trade is actually in relation with its security. Well, E*Trade has made sure that all traders’ information are safe and sound through the full fraud protection system, secure website, and being a member of SIPC and even FDIC as well.

In terms of ease of use, well, E*Trade offers only simple programs and understandable tools and features so more or less you won’t have much problems at all. If in case you’ll have, E*Trade has provided some step-by-step tutorials and educational materials that barely explain everything from the simplest various kinds of orders to the procedures on how to request orders straight from your computer.

Customer Support

E*Trade’s customer group is available via phone or email, and directly on the 20 centers scattered in California, in some states like Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, Texas and Washington.

However, if you are seeking for a live chat, well, as of now E*Trade does not yet extend this kind of service. Perhaps in the future E*Trade can have some innovations and be able to later on provide live chat services.

Summary

In general, though E*Trade has provided the basic investment vehicles, tools and features important to every trader, it is not a viable choice most especially if you don’t yet have large account or don’t trade a lot, this probably isn’t for you and your trading potential.