This post is part of our series on IRA & Brokerage bonuses. Every Tuesday we share another bonus with you.
The Offer
E*TRADE is offering a tiered deposit bonus in the form of 60 days of free trades and cash bonuses of up to $2,500 for customers who open a new E*TRADE Securities Individual, Joint, or Retirement account and fund it with qualifying deposits.
60 days of free trades are available for deposits of $10,000 or more, while a combination of cash and free trades are offered for deposits of $25,000 or more.
Note that while the offer link page will indicate that this bonus is up to $600, the fine print at the bottom of the page clarifies the complete bonus ladder of up to $2,500 for higher deposits. E*TRADE customer support also confirmed this. If you plan to deposit $500,000 or more and would like additional confirmation that the higher bonus would be honored, it is advisable to contact E*TRADE prior to pursuing this offer.
Free Trades and Deposit Bonus Up to $2,500
| Bonus | Deposit | Receive | Return on Investment (pre-tax guideline, shown for cash basis only, excluding trade value) |
| Free Trades and Deposit Bonus Up to $2,500 | $25,000+ | 60 free trades + $200 | 0.8% |
| $100,000+ | 60 free trades + $300 | 0.3% | |
| $250,000+ | 60 free trades + $600 | 0.24% | |
| $500,000+ | 60 free trades + $1200 | 0.24% | |
| $1,000,000+ | 60 free trades + $2,500 | 0.25% |
To receive the cash bonus you must do the following:
- Open an E*TRADE Securities Individual, Joint, or Retirement account by 12/31/2015 and make a qualifying deposit or transfer of new funds or securities (including rollovers) from external accounts within 45 days of account opening.
Rules:
- Accounts must be opened by 12/31/2015 for offer eligibility.
- You will not be compensated for unused free trades.
- Offer not available to current E*TRADE associates, non-U.S. residents, or for Unincorporated Organization or E*TRADE Bank accounts.
- You must maintain the qualifying funds or securities in the account (minus trading losses) for a minimum of six months to avoid forfeiting the credit.
- Limit one per customer.
- Receive up to 500 free trade commissions for each trade initiated within 60 days of the funds being made available for investment.
- You will pay $9.99 for the first 149 stock or options trades and $7.99 subsequently, up to 500 stock or options trades (plus 75¢ per options contract). Your account will be credited for trades within a week, after paying the standard commission charge.
- Eligible IRAs are Rollover, Traditional, Roth, and E*TRADE’s OneStop Rollover. The OneStop Rollover allows you to open a new Rollover IRA with E*TRADE and deposit your old 401(k) directly into an Online Managed Investment Portfolio.
- Prior to investing in a managed account, E*TRADE will obtain information about your financial situation and provide you with a detailed investment proposal, investment advisory agreement, and program brochure. It is recommended that you read these documents before participating in E*TRADE’s managed account program.
- You can invest in mutual funds through E*TRADE Securities’ no-load, no-transaction fee program without paying loads, transaction fees, or commissions. E*TRADE charges an Early Redemption Fee of $49.99 on redemptions or exchanges of no-load, no transaction fee funds that are held fewer than 90 days. Direxion, ProFunds and Rydex mutual funds are not subject to this Early Redemption Fee.
The Verdict
E*TRADE’s $200 cash offer at the $25,000 deposit tier is only matched by the Capital One ShareBuilder promotion. However, E*TRADE has a leg-up on ShareBuilder at this deposit tier due to its additional offer of 60 days of commission-free trades. For E*TRADE, this may be a valuable option, as their standard pricing structure for stocks, options, and ETF trades is $9.99 for 0-140 trades per quarter. The rate is reduced to $7.99 for 150+ trades per quarter, and $6.99 for 1,500 trades per quarter. Therefore, you would have to be quite an active trader to take advantage of the lower trade fee at E*TRADE. The ShareBuilder rate is just $6.95 for online trades, regardless of number of trades executed.
As with TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE has a large selection of no-load, no-transaction-fee funds – over 1,300+. However, if for any reason you should opt to select funds with transaction fees, E*TRADE would be more cost-effective than TD Ameritrade in that respect as their trading fee is $19.99 for transaction-fee funds, versus $49.99 for transaction-fee funds at TD Ameritrade. E*TRADE also has a number of commission-free ETFs, but note that E*TRADE (as well as TD Ameritrade) charges a short-term trading fee on sales of participating ETFs in order to discourage short-term trading.
E*TRADE continues to be cited in Kiplinger’s list of Best Online Brokers. In 2014, E*TRADE came in third in Kiplinger’s list in the category of research insights, for utilizing eight top research firms including Credit Suisse, Thomas Reuters, and Market Edge.
Do they refund the transfer costs from another brokerage? The $9.99 commission is double the price of TradeKing so this isn’t really that good of a deal in the long run.
Hey Eric, thanks for your comment – the CSR said that they are usually able to credit the fee or a partial amount of the fee if the customer is transferring in over $25,000. They did say the credit is given on a case by case basis though.
How would you compare this to the Merrill Edge offer. Also, how would you compare Etrade with Merrill as a trading platform. I have used Etrade for 8+ years, they used to be good, but have been slipping recently – higher trading commissions, no upgrades to the trading platform for many years and not the best customer service – I have no experience with Merrill.
Hey SM, thanks for your comment. There’s a fairly significant trade fee difference between the two (Etrade’s charges $9.99 vs Merrill Edge’s $6.95). This makes Etrade imo expensive for the casual trader who executes <150 trades/quarter. To qualify for a lower trade fee at Etrade, you'll have to be a active trader with 150+ trades/quarter. They do provide impressive research tools though.
That said, a reader in the Merrill offer also reported not having the smoothest user or customer experience with them. But I imagine there is still a convenience factor for existing BoA banking customers to choose Merrill due to the linkage option there. For an in-depth side-by-side platform comparison, I'll recommend http://online-brokers.credio.com/compare/2-6/Merrill-Edge-vs-ETRADE.