E*TRADE review 2026

Active options traders

Active options traders who place 30 or more trades a quarter pay $0.50 a contract instead of $0.65. If you place 120 trades a year of 5 contracts each, that's 600 contracts, or $300 in contract fees instead of $390.

Exercise and assignment cost $0, and regulatory fees still apply. Under E*TRADE's Dime Buyback Program, you pay no contract fee to close a short option priced at 10 cents or less.

Mutual fund and bond investors

Mutual fund and bond investors get more than 6,000 no-load, no-transaction-fee funds and online bond trades at $1 a bond. The bond fee has a $10 minimum and a $250 maximum, and Treasury auctions and online secondary Treasury trades cost $0. Load funds charge the load stated in the fund's prospectus.

IRA savers and 401(k) rollovers

E*TRADE IRAs are free to open with no maintenance fee, and E*TRADE works with Capitalize to help you move an old 401(k) into a new IRA. If you're choosing between a traditional and a Roth IRA, the IRA section below lists every account type E*TRADE offers.

E*TRADE pros

$0 commissions

Online US-listed stock, ETF, mutual fund, and options trades carry no commission.

No account minimum

You can open a brokerage account with $0, though E*TRADE says it must be funded within 30 days to stay open.

6,000 no-fee mutual funds

You can buy more than 6,000 no-load funds without a transaction fee.

Lower options fee for active traders

The contract fee drops to $0.50 once you place 30 trades in a quarter.

E*TRADE cons

$0.65 per options contract

Below 30 trades a quarter, ten contracts opened and closed cost $13 in contract fees.

High margin rates on small balances

Borrowing under $10,000 costs 12.70% a year, 2.50 points above E*TRADE's base rate.

$75 transfer-out fee

You'll pay $75 to move your whole account to another broker.

$25 broker-assisted trades

Any trade you place by phone with a broker adds $25 to the online price.

Trading fees

Online stock, ETF, and options trades cost $0 in commission, and options add $0.65 a contract, or $0.50 once you place 30 trades in a quarter. When you sell stocks, ETFs, or options, the SEC's Section 31 fee applies, and options orders also carry a regulatory fee, as at every US broker.

E*TRADE also offers Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana trading through zerohash, at 0.50% of each trade's value. Crypto sits in a separate account at zerohash, outside Morgan Stanley.

Margin rates

E*TRADE's margin rates run from 12.70% on balances under $10,000 to 10.70% on $250,000 to $499,999.99. Each rate is set as a spread over a 10.20% base rate, effective September 21, 2026.

Borrowing $10,000 for a year at 12.45% costs about $1,245 in interest. E*TRADE quotes balances of $500,000 or more by phone, and it can change the base rate without notice.

Core Portfolios

Core Portfolios is E*TRADE's managed account, and it charges a flat 0.30% a year on a minimum of $500. That's $30 a year on $10,000, billed monthly in advance, and the funds inside the portfolio charge their own expense ratios on top. Our best robo-advisors roundup shows how it compares with other managed accounts.

E*TRADE IRAs

E*TRADE offers traditional, Roth, rollover, inherited, and Complete IRAs, plus SEP and SIMPLE IRAs and an Individual 401(k) for small businesses, with no opening or maintenance fee.² The E*TRADE Complete IRA is built for savers over 59½ and adds checking, online bill pay, and a debit card for taking money out. Retirement accounts don't pay E*TRADE's $2 quarterly fee for paper statements.

E*TRADE doesn't match IRA contributions. Our best Roth IRA accounts roundup lists the brokers that do, and our Fidelity IRA review covers the most common alternative.

The E*TRADE bonus

E*TRADE pays a cash bonus of $50 to $10,000 for a new brokerage account (code OFFER26) or retirement account (code RETIRE26) opened by October 31, 2026, and funded within 60 days with at least $1,000 of new money.³

The money has to stay 12 months after the 60-day funding window, or E*TRADE can take the bonus back, and you can enroll in only one offer at a time.⁴ The Tweed Brokerage Account Bonus Calculator shows what a bonus nets once you count the hold and the $75 exit fee.

E*TRADE vs Charles Schwab

E*TRADE vs Charles Schwab comes down to options volume and managed accounts. E*TRADE's contract fee drops to $0.50 at 30 trades a quarter, and Schwab Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee from $5,000. Both charge $0 on stock and ETF trades and $25 for broker-assisted trades, and our Charles Schwab review covers Schwab's other fees.

E*TRADE vs Fidelity

E*TRADE vs Fidelity comes down to how often you trade options and whether you might move. E*TRADE is cheaper per contract for active traders, and Fidelity charges $0 to transfer out. Neither pays an IRA match, and our best brokerage accounts roundup compares both with other brokers.

Before October 31, 2026, check what E*TRADE's bonus nets after the 12-month hold in the Tweed Brokerage Account Bonus Calculator. To see how an IRA at any broker could grow, try the Tweed Retirement Calculator.