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- Stocks and ETFs: $9.99 if 0-149 trades per quarter; $7.99 if 150+ trades per quarter
- Options: $9.99 plus $0.75/contract if 0-149 trades per quarter; $7.99 plus $0.75/contract if 150+ trades per quarter
- Mutual Funds: $19.99
- Futures contracts: $2.99 per contract, per side + fees
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, futures, options, ETFs
- Minimum to open Etrade account: $2,000 for margin account. For securities accounts (except retirement accounts), an account minimum deposit of
either at least $500 in cash or a deposit of securities is required within 60 days of account opening for the account to remain active. There is no initial minimum deposit requirement for retirement, custodial, or employee stock plan accounts. Accounts not meeting the minimum deposit requirement will be closed after 60 days.
- All Etrade fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $6.95; for stocks at or under $2 and trades over 5,000 shares,
add 1/2 cent per share for the entire order
- Options: $6.95 plus $0.75 per contract for market and limit orders
- Mutual funds: $9.95 no-load funds, $0 load funds
- Bonds: net yield basis
- CDs: $30 for primary market CDs, net yield basis for secondary market CDs
- Investment products: stocks, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, ETFs
- Minimum to open Firsttrade account: $0
- All Firstrade fees
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- Very good trading tools
- No IRA account fees, no minimums with electronic statements and confirms
- Minimum to open: $1,000 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account
- Banking products: checking, savings, money market accounts, CDs and credit cards
- No surcharges on large orders, penny stocks and extended hours trading
- Great research amenities
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- $0 minimum to open account
- 10,000 mutual funds and fixed income investments to choose from
- No inactivity or account maintenance fees
- No annual, setup or termination fees for IRA accounts
- Free dividend reinvestment
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- High commissions on all investment products
- High margin rates
- Customer service complaints
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- Expensive commissions for stocks under $2 or orders of over 5,000
- Paper-heavy registration and service setup process
- Short Term Redemption Fee of $19.95 will be applied to redemptions of no-load fund shares held less than 180 days
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Etrade vs Firstrade: Comparison Summary
Firstrade (Firstrade Review) offers better commissions on
stocks and ETFs than
Etrade (Etrade Review): $7 and $10 per trade respectively.
Etrade also has much higher mutual fund commissions:
$20 versus $10 at Firstrade. But while Etrade has no surcharges, Firstrade charges half penny per share on stocks under $2 and on
orders with over 5,000 shares which makes these trades very expensive.
Etrade comes ahead in this broker comparison in trading tools, banking services and customer service categories.
It's hard to recommend opening an investment account at either one of these brokerage companies primarily because of high
commissions at Etrade and surcharges at Firstrade. But, as long as one hardly ever trades, Etrade is fine for an
IRA account (no IRA fees) as well as
for buy-and-hold investors.
We encourage investors to research other highly rated by investment magazines discount brokers with much lower costs and excellent services,
like TradeKing (TradeKing Review) and
OptionsHouse (OptionsHouse Review). Also take a look at our picks for
Best Brokerages in 2012.
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