E*Trade Pro Review
E*Trade Pro is not as easy to get your hands on as some other platforms. Once you get it, though, the popular trading platform is worth the trouble. E*TRADE Pro gives traders many powerful tools to make the most of the markets.
This E*TRADE Pro review will show you how to get the trading platform on your machine, get things started, and maximize the platform to suit your needs the best.
Keep reading to learn more.
How to Get E*TRADE Pro (How to Download)
One of the first things you will notice when you want to download and use E*TRADE Pro is that the download link is not present on the broker’s site.
While the ‘missing’ link is undoubtedly a frequent source of confusion for traders, the solution is easy.
E*TRADE reserves the professional trading platform for its more serious investors. AS such, there are some minimum requirements traders should meet to get access to the platform. If you (and your trading account) meet the requirements, you can request the download link from support.
Once confirmed, the broker will email you a download link, populate your account page with a download link, or both.
Requirements to Access E*TRADE Pro
The requirements to gain access to E*TRADE Pro are pretty straightforward. For some reason, the steps you need to complete to be eligible for the platform aren’t easily accessible from the account page, but here they are.
Investors completing 30+ trades per quarter are eligible to receive the download link.
Before you get too excited, though, there is a catch. In order to use the platform to trade, you will need live market data. For that, you must maintain an account minimum of at least $1000.
So, to use E*TRADE Pro, focus on both requirements.
E*TRADE Pro Cost
Is E*TRADE Pro free? Yes, once access requirements are satisfied, E*TRADE Pro is free.
Open E*Trade Account
Open Etrade Account
E*Trade PRO Market Data Subscriptions
Your market data subscriptions may differ depending on what you plan to trade.
E*TRADE offers delayed market data for Level 1 equity and equity options by default. This may be OK for you if you are a longer-term investor or swing trader, but most investors would agree that live data is better in nearly every way.
To get live data, you need to subscribe to it.
The fastest way to the subscriptions page is by entering ‘subscriptions’ in the search field. E*TRADE (strangely) does not offer a straightforward way to get to the page other than through linkbacks from different parts of the site and trading platforms.
At any rate, once you get there, you are presented with several choices.
Turning on all the free live market data subscriptions is a good first step. Remember that you’ll need at least $1000 in your account to switch them on.
Tools and Market Insights
E*TRADE Pro offers all the tools and market insights you expect from a professional-level trading tool. You can build watchlists, follow news events, set alerts, and analyze your trade ideas before making a transaction.
Once you have the platform open on your PC, you can use the ‘Tools’ menu to populate your screens with any of the tools you need for trading.
You’ll find customizable windows related to accounts & trading, options & futures, charts & market data, and research & insight.
You can design your trading platform using the tools menu to suit your trading style and preferences. Whether you are a news-based investor, a technical analyst, an options trader, or a futures day trader, the tools available make it easy to tailor your trading experience.
E*Trade PRO Charting Options
Of all the available tools to add to your platform, charts are among the most popular.
On E*TRADE Pro, charting is quite good, and there are plenty of timeframes, indicators, and drawing tools to choose from.
To add a chart, you can add it from the ‘tools’ menu or use one of the built-in layouts provided by the platform. Once open, there are several things that you can do to view market data in the most suitable way for your trading style.
Timeframes
The available timeframes are what you would expect. You can view charts on an intraday basis, loading everything from one-minute bars to several hours. There are also convenient buttons right on the top of the chart for other popular timeframes, ranging from a single day to 5 years’ worth of price data.
Using the duplicate chart option, creating clones of charts you have set up is also easy. With multiple charts open, you can set each one to a different timeframe to get a more holistic picture of what is happening on your charts.
Studies
Studies are another helpful feature, and E*TRADE Pro makes applying and using them easy. At the top of each chart is a dropdown menu containing all of the available studies.
One thing to note (and it might be a pro or a con depending on your preferences) is the lack of third-party indicator support. Many other brokers offer platforms that support community indicators, but it is not an easy thing to do on E*TRADE Pro.
Instead, you have access to the long list of built-in industry standards. There are certainly plenty to choose from for most investors.
Look & Feel
Apart from the timeframes and studies, you can also adjust the look & feel of your E*TRADE Pro charts. There are several candlestick styles to choose from, and you can modify the color scheme of the chart elements, background, text, etc.
Platform Layouts
For traders looking for specific layouts, E*TRADE Pro has a lot of exciting features.
One of our favorites is the screen tab implementation. At the bottom of the platform, there are six tabs. Each tab represents an additional screen, and you can cycle between them as if using a six-screen setup.
You can set each one up with different tools, charts, and settings. The tabs can operate independently, but you can also link them. The feature allows you to create complex layouts that support whatever you want to do.
Renaming the tabs also helps with organization.
Another thing that you can do is save layouts for future use. Using the layout saving feature, you can save the screen state from any of the screen tabs. Then, depending on what you are doing in the markets, you can load a custom layout on any screen tabs you want to use.
Alternative Brokers For Traders
For active traders, a better alternative platform to E*Trade Pro is
Webull.
It has a number of advantages over E*Trade: $0 commissions on options, lower margin rates, virtual
trading, crypto-currencies, easier-to-use interface, and no account requirements.
Continue to Webull Brokerage Review.
If you would like to have the most advanced trading platform on the market for free, then give
Charles Schwab's thinkorswim
a try. Continue to thinkorswim Review.
Open Webull Account
Open WeBull Account
E*Trade PRO Review Judgment
E*TRADE Pro is a good trading platform for most investors. There are many tradable securities, nearly everything about the platform is customizable, and the platform provides some clever solutions for traders using a single monitor.
Despite some powerful features, there are also some things about E*TRADE Pro that some traders may not like. Examples include a lack of third-party indicator support and the need to meet account minimums for access.
Open E*Trade Account
Open Etrade Account
Ben Wright is an investor, a trader, an educator, and something of an explorer. He spends his days in the markets when he is not teaching or spending time with his family. Ben writes about stockbrokers, markets, investment vehicles, promotional offers, and tools that help investors make the most of their time in the markets.
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