ETrade offers an easy way to invest in stocks and other financial instruments online or from a mobile app. You can also take control of your financial future by opening a checking and savings account with them and retirement accounts (IRAs). You can also use the recommendations from the app to start investing based on your goals for now and the future, choosing the level of investment risk you want to take.
What Is ETrade?
ETrade offers both an online and mobile app platform for investors looking to trade stocks, options, mutual funds, ETFs, futures, bonds, and CDs or access pre-built portfolios. In addition, they offer a range of account types, from brokerage accounts to retirement, checking, and savings accounts.
Since ETrade Bank is a member of the FDIC, your deposits at their bank accounts are insured up to the legal limits when you bank with ETrade. In addition, ETrade also provides you with the necessary tools for in-depth market analysis across stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds, and more.
Who Is ETrade for?
ETrade is for investors looking to save money on fees; for example, it offers more than 250 commission-free ETFs. The app will provide recommendations similar to other online brokers, so it’s useful for people starting this investment type. If you are a beginner, you can access investor education covering topics about retirement, investing, or trading. Since it offers a range of accounts, from automated investing to managed portfolios, ETrade seems to have a solution for nearly every investor type.
ETrade Benefits and Drawbacks
The benefits of ETrade include recommendations to help you get started and lower fees for buying and trading stock. Also, if you don’t want to choose your investments, they offer a prebuilt portfolio to save you the time to research your options. Therefore, if you are a more expert investor, you can use a brokerage account to access buy and sell stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, options, bonds, and more. However, ETrade also offers managed portfolios from what they call Core Portfolios that are monitored and managed from a small fee to professionally managed and custom-built portfolios.
ETrade Trading Platforms
Once you open an account with ETrade, you have options for the way you want to interact with their trading platform. If you’re going to work from your computer, you can opt to use ETrade Web or the Pro Platform. The Pro Platform has more features, and it’s typically utilized by the more experienced investors, although both offer an easy-to-use format.
ETrade Web
If you aren’t interested in doing everything from your mobile app, the ETrade web platform can be accessed from a web browser. There isn’t a fee for trading stocks; however, there is a $0.65 fee for option contracts and a $1.50 fee for futures contracts. In addition, you can open an account, monitor your stocks, trade, and more from the website.
Pro Platform
If you’re a day trader, frequent trader, or an extremely active trader, then the Pro Platform, a download software, is your best option. It allows you to keep up with the market in real-time. The pricing is the same as trading on the web, but you get functions to help you analyze risk and growth potential. The software also scans for specific stock and helps you create an exit plan if the market gets volatile.
ETrade Mobile App
Are you always on the go? The ETrade mobile app offers the functionality of the website platform for you to use from your phone anywhere you roam. You can download the app for use on iPhone and Android devices from your phone and start trading in a few minutes. You can even set up your account and enroll in the platform from the mobile app. The E*TRADE’s mobile apps are very well designed, making them easy to use and comprehensive.
Additional Investing Features and Services
ETrade has all the services and features that you need to take control of your investing goals and monitor how your investments are doing. Additional features and services include:
- Research
- Calculators
- Education
- Portfolio Analysis
- Exit Plan
- Risk and Reward Probabilities
- Charts
- Preset Scans
ETrade offers a comprehensive set of features and services to meet your investing needs. Additionally, you can reach the ETrade customer service by phone or by live chat through the app.
ETrade Banking Services
ETrade also offers banking services. You can open both a checking and savings account that you can access on the website or mobile app. There are several options available for the checking account, such as:
- Max-Rate Checking
- ETrade Checking
If you qualify, you can also open and access a line of credit for times when you need cash fast and don’t have the time for a loan to process. In addition, ETrade Bank, member FDIC, offers FDIC insurance on your deposits up to the legal limits.https://www.banks.com/recommends/online-brokers/e-trade/
How to Get Started With ETrade
It’s easy to open an account and start trading with ETrade. You’ll need to provide some basic personal information to get started. This includes:
- Legal name
- Address
- Date of birth
- Social Security number
You may need to prove your identity and your citizenship by uploading documents. This can be done online on their website here.