E*Trade PRO Overview
E*Trade PRO is the premier trading platform offered by E*Trade Securities, LLC, a leading online discount brokerage. E*Trade PRO is designed for
active, sophisticated investors and traders who do their own research and make their own trades. E*Trade PRO trading platform provides traders with real-time price quotes
of stocks, ETFs, and other securities; and offers instant trade executions.
E*Trade PRO Cost
Naturally, investors are wondering whether E*Trade PRO is free and how much does it cost. Well, there is no charge to use E*Trade PRO platform.
However, this software is intended for serious traders who trade frequently. Minimum requirements to use E*Trade PRO are either maintaining a $250,000
brokerage account balance or executing at least 30 stock or option trades during a calendar quarter. In contrast, TD Ameritrade's
Thinkorswim and Trade Architect
platforms don't have any requirements attached and are available to all customers.
E*Trade PRO Features
- Complete flexibility in setting up charts, graphs, newsfeeds, research inputs, account monitoring, watch lists, and stock and option screens
- Real-time quotes and charts
- Numerous news and research options including a live link to CNBC (US, Europe, and Asia channels) as well as archived CNBC videos on demand.
- The real-time stock ticker streams various market mover lists such as most active or biggest gainers, watch lists, or stocks in a particular account.
- The trade platform can be used for stocks, options, option spreads, buy-write transactions, mutual funds, ETFs, and conditional orders such as bracketed, contingent, or one-cancels-all.
- Six viewing screens can be set up in any manner an investor desires, enabling full monitoring of individual securities and markets. Navigation from screen to screen requires only one mouse click.
- Fully customizable charts with options such as candlestick, line, or bar charts, and time frames from one-minute bars to monthly bars.
- Charts can be set up for numerous technical analysis studies such as stochastics, relative strength, MACD, Bollinger Bands, moving averages, and volume.
- Linkable windows enable multiple data windows in a screen to change from one stock to another simply by typing a different ticker symbol into one window.
- News options include streaming data from sources such as Briefing.com, Marketwatch, Dow Jones News, and PR Newswire.
- At-a-glance, all-on-one-screen monitoring of all E*Trade accounts (taxable, IRAs, Roth IRAs, etc.).
- Multiple layouts of all six screens are possible, and a user can switch between layouts with two mouse clicks.
- Eleven predefined layouts to use as a start and customize as needed.
- Money may be transferred from one E*Trade account to another, or to or from E*Trade and an outside account.
- A user may print screens or charts, or export copies of orders to one’s computer.
Usability
After logging in with username and password, PRO is up and running quickly and opens screen in image above of whatever layout the user has set as the default layout. Accounts can be monitored, charts can be constructed or studied, and trades can be placed with a few clicks of the mouse. Windows can be maximized for closer study (especially useful with charts). Orders can be monitored from an “Order Status” window that can be called up instantly.
An especially useful feature to investors with more than one monitor is the ability to move individual windows or screens to separate monitors to increase available information and data that can be viewed simultaneously. An investor may want to have a full-screen chart showing on one monitor, with detailed studies, trend lines, or moving averages easily seen, and on another monitor look at fundamental data such as news items, CNBC videos, research reports, or related data such as the stock’s industry or competitor stocks.
Placing orders is as easy as either double-clicking on a stock’s chart or on the bid or ask window of the stock in the “Positions” window of a particular account. This brings up an order entry window where the trader inputs the details such as number of shares, buy or sell, market or limit order, etc.
All order confirmations or any other notifications such as trade executions or price alerts will pop up as well as be added to the alert list, which is easily accessed on the bottom tool bar.
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Customer Service & Software Quality
PRO uses Oracle Corporation’s Java software, which has been prone to problems in the past. Those seem to have abated, but as Pro is updated on a regular basis, glitches are certainly possible.
Customer service of PRO has been exemplary. Any problems a user reports is handled by a technical advisor who will either guide the user through the proper fix or determine the solution offline and communicate the fix to the customer, usually within 24 hours.
E*Trade Account Review
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Pros of E*Trade PRO Platform
- Ease of use for experienced traders
- Flexibility
- Comprehensive functions. It’s hard to imagine what would be lacking in data or service for all but the most sophisticated trader
- High-quality tutorials and technical support
Cons of E*Trade PRO Platform
- Learning curve may be steep for less experienced traders
- Occasional freeze-ups or other glitches may occur during trading hours and prevent an order from being executed in a timely manner
- Virtual trading in order to test trading strategies is NOT available
- Requires at least 30 trades per quarter or account balances above $250K
E*Trade PRO Review Summary
It is definitely not the cheapest or best overall trading platform, but it is fast, easy to use, and comprehensive for most investors. Anyone who
could not meet steep E*Trade PRO platform requirements could easily get a compeletely free access to the top-rated and most widely used platform in
the industry - Thinkorswim at TD Ameritrade.
Open Etrade Account
Etrade PRO
reviewed by Brokerage-Review.com.
Rating: 3.5
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