Introduction
Stockbroker E*TRADE presents itself as a pioneer in online trading for retail investors. The company is one of the oldest in the world, founded in 1982 (E*TRADE, n.d.). The number of employees exceeds 4,000 people, more than 30 branches have been opened, which are located in the United States. One of the tools of E*TRADE is Equity Edge Online, a platform that allows one to manage shares, which has been considered the best in its class in popular American ratings for several years. Below, the essentials of the mentioned platform, as well as its competitive analysis, will be discussed to shed light on E*TRADE’s significance, which will be supported by the provision of recommendations.
Networking, Communications, and Security
E*TRADE is a discount broker, which means it offers more platforms for trading stocks and financial products and fewer investment recommendations. This broker is available on three platforms that are open for free to all of its clients. It doesn’t even require considerable trading activities or operating balances. The online platform allows one to broadcast market data in real-time, and access trading quotes and comments in real-time for free. It also provides access that helps identify emerging markets for free. It also has an intuitive dashboard that one can use to keep track of their accounts and investments.
Ecommerce Pro is a desktop application that contains all the significant traits of web platforms. Its resources involve a strategy scanner and sophisticated options trading strategies. It provides one with the opportunity to test various approaches to assess their possibilities. Next, energy e-commerce is a great and innovative platform for free E*TRADE trading in the bigger related markets. It is a web-based trading platform that contains a condensed list of both basic and advanced trading and analysis tools for the stock, options, and futures markets (Brock, 2021). Some of the powerful features included in the platform involve automated technical analysis and charting tools, risk analysis tools, and various charting layouts (E*TRADE, n.d.) In addition, they are all used in plain English rather than the specific categories of financial markets.
E*TRADE mobile trading platforms should also be mentioned in this context. The E*TRADE is among the few companies with more than one mobile trading application. According to their website, the E*TRADE APP is designed to help users stay connected to the markets and open accounts while on the move (E*TRADE, n.d.). The Power E*TRADE application includes all the professional trading instruments and capabilities of the platform, and this application is only intended to help bring the corporation closer to the client.
Trading on the platform is characterized by a high level of security. This is ensured, in particular, by the use of modern encryption algorithms and SSL certificates, which protect the personal data of clients. Concerning personal funds, it is worth noting that E*TRADE is one of the members of the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) – a federal, non-profit organization funded by its members. And this also means that customer funds up to $ 500,000 are insured against theft.
Impact of the System
As noted above, the E*TRADE stockbroker offers clients a proprietary Power E*TRADE trading platform (highly rated in reviews). It has several useful features that can save users time and effort. Among them are the following: interactive graphics; tools that make it possible to obtain technical, and operational analysis; an option that allows you to predict the future market situation if you purchase one or another asset; quick risk assessment; in-depth analysis of assets exhibiting atypical behavior (unexpected excessive volatility, etc.) for increased profitability; trading in demo mode while maintaining all the functionality. All these aspects allow one should study in detail – the properties of the E*TRADE platform, and its trading features – to trade more confidently.
Feedback from a large number of traders suggests that the speed and reliability of the E*TRADE stockbroker platform are at a high level. There is also a mobile application with which a trader can use a smartphone or tablet to trade (Houston, 2021). At the same time, the functionality of the application is no different from the web version. As for the stability and speed of work, the situation here is even better. Most experts consider a mobile application from etrade.com to be more successful than similar software from other companies.
Trading conditions and account parameters are designed with an eye on those clients who are actively trading and operate with investments of $ 100,000 or more (Friedberg & Curry, 2021). It should be noted that etrade.com clients have the opportunity to trade options. In this case, the commission is $ 0.65 per 1 open contract (Friedberg & Curry, 2021). If the client’s account has more than $ 250,000 and he makes more than 30 transactions per month, the commission can be reduced to $ 0.5.
It is important to note that E*TRADE is not the most affordable discount broker. A minimum of $ 500 is required to open an E*TRADE account and access the E*TRADE dashboard and all related tools and resources. The first 30 trades per quarter will cost $ 6.95 each, after which they will cancel the discount to $ 4.95 per trade (Voigt, 2021). On the other hand, a trade involving a broker costs $ 25 per trade. E*TRADE also reviews every new account for up to 100 free ETF trades. It should be emphasized that although users are not charged a fee for these 100 trades, they still have to pay an annual spending fee that ranges from $ 0.19 to $ 0.75 per year (Voigt, 2021).
Then, the etrade.com website is exclusively in English; there is no possibility to choose an alternative language version (E*TRADE, n.d.). Looking ahead, it should be noted that the research revealed the focus of the stockbroker, mainly, to work with US residents, which explains the “monolingualism” of the resource. However, for users who speak English but do not yet have significant trading experience, the Knowledge section will be very useful, where investment strategies, trading features, etc., are explained in an accessible form.
Competitive Analysis of the System
E*TRADE is among discount brokers that have the largest number of proprietary trading platforms. Its members can use one or all of the abovementioned platforms. They are accompanied by a considerable number of significant and high-tech trading and analysis instruments that are provided free of charge. Some of these innovative instruments available here involve E*TRADE stock screening, strategic scanners, and a plethora of specific studies.
They are all highly customizable, plus there are demo accounts for e-commerce that allow you to test and practice trades on each platform (Voigt, 2021). E*TRADE also maintains the broadest list of traded financial instruments. E*TRADE analysts also regularly monitor the markets for the mutual funds, as well as ETFs, to produce their reports. The mentioned aspects highlight all the leading no-load funds that can be accessed via the platform.
Then, E*TRADE offers an extensive number of educational and training materials. The corporation can be seen as a developing hybrid discount broker. Elite analysts regularly host online webinars and face-to-face events at their offices. Additionally, the platform demonstrates significant and reliable customer support services (Voigt, 2021). E*TRADE is also very versatile because it is available not only on the web trader’s platform. The cooperation can be achieved via the mobile application. It has two specialized applications that can be used by both Android and iOS operational systems.
However, several flaws do not contribute to the competitiveness of E*TRADE. At $ 6.95 per trade plus $ 0.75, 1.50 percent, and $ 1.0 for options, futures, and bonds, respectively, E*TRADE fees are rather uncompetitive (Voigt, 2021). Such an assumption is based on the downward trend in trade prices in the industry. It is quite common for discount brokers such as Robinhood to offer relatively low and even free deals.
Then, the design of the official website etrade.com looks a bit outdated. Plus, a large number of advertising slogans immediately “falls out” on the visitor, which is not particularly characteristic of serious, large financial organizations. In particular, attention was drawn to the proposal, according to which a client, who deposited the amount of $ 5,000 to $ 24,999, receives a bonus of as much as $ 100 (Houston, 2021). And the trader who deposits $ 1 million will receive a bonus of $ 2500 (0.25% of the deposit amount). It should be emphasized that this is a very strange action from E*TRADE and on the most noticeable and large banner.
Recommendations for Improving the System
One of the most notable characteristics of E*TRADE is that it supports limited orders. This allows one to start trading at significant and reasonable rates. Nevertheless, this type of trading has one huge limitation. E*TRADE does not give forecasting tools to its users that would assist them in assessing the direction of the market. This results in the fact that E*TRADE has to appeal to third-party analytics tools. Hence, the first recommendation is to develop its forecasting tool.
Then, there is the necessity to use different platforms to have access to all of the platform’s tools. It should be stressed that no platform has combined E* TRADE’s innovative trading and analysis instruments. Therefore, one needs to utilize all trading platforms if one wants to use all these tools. To improve such a negative aspect, it is recommended to achieve a greater extent of flexibility in the framework of E*TRADE platforms’ interactions. This can be attained by developing a more versatile set of options available on each of these platforms. The third recommendation is to “internationalize” the website and add more languages – such as French, German, or Spanish.
Conclusion
E*TRADE is among the most competitive and notable discount brokers. And this claim is based on its innovative trading / analytical resources and complex trading platforms. It is particularly appreciated that it considers the needs of various customers. All of them have almost equal chances of gaining success here. If one is planning to start cooperating with E*TRADE, it is rational to begin by comparing the strengths of E*TRADE versus the disadvantages of considerable trading fees. Recommendations that were given are to develop E* TRADE’s forecasting tools, make the utilization of all its platforms in conjunction more flexible, and add more languages to the website.
References
Brock, M. (2021). E*TRADE review. Benzinga. Web.
E*TRADE. (n.d.). Mission, vision, and who we serve. Web.
Friedberg, B., & Curry, B. (2021). E*TRADE review 2021. Forbes. Web.
Houston, R. (2021). E*TRADE review: Commission-free trading and automated investing — plus a sign-up bonus for new accounts. Insider. Web.
Voigt, K. (2021). E*TRADE review 2021: Pros, cons, and how it compares. Nerdwallet. Web.