Broker Reviews
A sourced look at E*TRADE's stock, ETF, and options commissions, its tiered margin rate structure, and its account minimums, pulled directly from E*TRADE's own pricing page. Not a recommendation to open an account with E*TRADE.
E*TRADE is a large, long-operating online broker now owned by Morgan Stanley, offering self-directed brokerage, retirement, and banking accounts alongside its Power E*TRADE platform built for active traders. As a unit of a major, publicly traded financial institution, it carries no operating-status concern of the kind that applies to newer or smaller firms. This page summarizes its published commission schedule, margin rate structure, and account minimums as of this run. It is not a recommendation to open an account with E*TRADE.
E*TRADE charges $0 per online trade for U.S.-listed stocks and ETFs on both its standard platform and its active-trader Power E*TRADE platform. Options carry a per-contract fee of $0.65 for the first 30 trades placed in a calendar quarter, dropping to $0.50 per contract for any trades beyond that threshold in the same quarter — a volume-based discount that rewards more frequent options traders within a given quarter, then resets each quarter.
Source: us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates (official E*TRADE pricing and rates page, fetched directly August 2026).
E*TRADE's margin interest is volume-tiered: the published base rate is 7.70%, effective December 15, 2025, and the all-in rate a given account actually pays is that base rate plus or minus a premium or discount tied to the size of the financed (borrowed) balance, with larger balances generally receiving a better effective rate. Independent rate-tracking sources checked this run place the resulting range at roughly 9.20% to 13.45% APR across typical retail balance tiers, though the published base rate is the only figure sourced directly from E*TRADE itself this run; the full tiered schedule was not available on the page fetched. E*TRADE separately discounts its base rate for participants in specific programs — a 2.75% discount for its Margin VIP program and a 1.70% discount for the Costco Advantage program — and directs accounts with balances of $500,000 or more to call in for a negotiated rate rather than publishing one.
Source: us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates (official E*TRADE pricing and rates page, base rate and program-discount figures fetched directly August 2026); tiered APR range cross-referenced against brokerage-review.com's and brokerchooser.com's independently published E*TRADE margin rate breakdowns since the full balance-tier table was not visible in this run's direct fetch.
| Account Type | Minimum to Open |
|---|---|
| Standard brokerage (cash) | $0 |
| Margin account | $2,000 (FINRA-mandated minimum, not E*TRADE-specific) |
| Futures account | $1,500 |
E*TRADE does not require a minimum deposit to open a standard self-directed brokerage account and charges no monthly account fee on that account type. The $2,000 margin account minimum reflects FINRA's own industry-wide margin account requirement rather than a figure E*TRADE set on its own, the same rule that applies at Robinhood, Webull, and most other U.S. brokers.
Sources: us.etrade.com/what-we-offer/pricing-and-rates (official E*TRADE pricing and rates page) cross-referenced against brokerchooser.com's and brokerage-review.com's independently published E*TRADE minimum-deposit breakdowns, checked August 2026.