E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade brokerages have followed similar paths in the last three decades, building track records of trustworthiness and efficient order execution dating back to the advent of online trading in the early 1990s. These financial powerhouses have grown exponentially in customer base and service offerings over the years, providing comprehensive trading, investment and research facilities for individual investors. TD Ameritrade is best-known for its powerful thinkorswim platform while E*TRADE's OptionsHouse software has been rebranded as Power E*TRADE.
In our 2019 Best Online Brokers Awards, E*TRADE received awards for Best for Beginners, Best Stock Trading Apps, Best for ETFs, Best for Options Trading, Best for Roth IRAs, Best for IRAs, and Best Web Trading Platforms.
TD Ameritrade received awards for Best Overall Online Brokers, Best for Beginners, Best Stock Trading Apps, Best for ETFs, Best for Options Trading, Best for Roth IRAs, Best for IRAs, Best for Day Trading and, Best Web Trading Platforms.
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- Account Minimum: $500
- Fees: $6.95 stock and ETF trading
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- Account Minimum: $0
- Fees: $6.95 for stock and ETF trades, $6.95 per leg plus $0.75 for options
Trade Experience
E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade offer clean, intuitive desktop and mobile experiences. Web and platform-based portals overflow with actionable information, analytics and resources that are presented without clutter or confusion. Account holders at both brokerages can also upgrade to professional or advanced platforms that expand trading and investment opportunities.
E*TRADE
- Powerful mobile and desktop experience
- Intuitive portfolio management
- Easily navigate between investment options
TD Ameritrade
- Advanced thinkorswim platform
- Comprehensive options chains and strategies
- Timely data and technical analysis
Mobile and Emerging Tech
Both brokers offer robust mobile applications for iOS and Android. E*TRADE customers seeking investment advice can build a Core Portfolio, which automates passive indexed strategies utilizing modern portfolio theory. Minimum account size is $5,000 and fees are 0.30% per year of assets managed. TD Ameritrade's Essential Portfolios robo-advisor follows similar strategies as Core Portfolios, also requiring a $5,000 minimum balance and charging 0.30% per year.
E*TRADE
- Feature rich mobile apps
- Low fee robo-advisor
- Mobile support for advanced platforms
TD Ameritrade
- Access thinkorswim through mobile app
- Low fee robo-advisor
News and Research
E*TRADE and TD Ameritrade provide complimentary tool sets that feature streaming news, asset screening, fundamental analysis and ratios, advanced technical charting and detailed analyst reports. TD Ameritrade's thinkorswim platform aggregates social media cues and technical signals to augment decision-making while the Power E*TRADE platform reduces the learning curve for complex options strategies. While each software package contains unique features, they are comparable in terms of research, charting and ease of use.
E*TRADE
- Planning tools and calculators
- Technical analysis charting tools
- TipRanks recommendations
TD Ameritrade
- Feature rich technical analysis reports
- Extensive webinar schedule
Education and Security
E*TRADE offers a library of articles and videos suitable for beginners but the educational section is limited to core principles. On the other hand, TD Ameritrade has done an excellent job assembling tutorials under a well-organized Education menu. Clients can sort and filter content by topic, media type and skill level while tracking progress that opens new materials based on growing interests and current knowledge.
Both companies are regulated by FINRA and SIPC and carry federal deposit insurance plus additional third-party insurance coverage in case anything goes awry.
E*TRADE
- Webinars and in-person events
- Diverse selection of videos
- Additional third party insurance coverage
TD Ameritrade
- Broad range of educational materials
- Social Signals portal that scans Twitter
- Additional third party insurance coverage
Costs
E*TRADE charges $6.95 to buy and sell stocks or exchange-traded funds (ETFs), dropping to $4.95 for clients making 30 or more trades per quarter. TD Ameritrade commissions match its rival at $6.95 for stocks and ETFs but there are no active trader discounts. The list of commission-free ETFs has grown to more than 300 at TD Ameritrade while E*TRADE boasts a list of more than 250. Trading futures costs a little more at TD Ameritrade, at $2.25 per contract compared with E*TRADE's $1.50 per contract.
E*TRADE
- Stock trade fees: $6.95
- Options trade fees $6.95 + $0.75 per contract
- Futures trade fees: $1.50 per contract
TD Ameritrade
- Stock trade fees: $6.95
- Options trade fees $6.95 + $0.75 per contract
- Futures trade fees: $2.25 per contract
Methodology
Investopedia’s mission is to provide investors with unbiased, comprehensive reviews and ratings of online brokers. Our reviews are the result of six months of evaluating all aspects of an online broker’s platform, including the user experience, the quality of trade executions, the products available on their platforms, costs and fees, security, the mobile experience and customer service. We established a rating scale based on our criteria, collecting over 3,000 data points that we weighed into our star scoring system.
In addition, every broker we surveyed was required to fill out a 320-point survey about all aspects of their platform that we used in our testing. Many of the online brokers we evaluated provided us with in-person demonstrations of their platforms at our offices.
Our team of industry experts, led by Theresa W. Carey, conducted our reviews and developed this best-in-industry methodology for ranking online investing platforms for users at all levels. Click here to read our full methodology.