E*Trade's online application is OK, but if you think you are going to need more than that or want to learn options, go with THINK OR SWIM. The E*Trade Pro desktop application is not intuitive or explained. Also, if you have less than 25K, you can not sell and get your money until FOUR WORKING DAYS. They also charge you $99.00/3 months if you don't make THIRTY TRADES during that time. Also, I have found their customer service to be incompetent. With the THINK OR SWIM application, you can use "fake money" until you are ready for the real thing, and IT'S FREE. I think E*Trade uses lots of dirty little tricks to make some quick $$ before you QUIT and go somewhere else. Forewarned is forearmed.

If you keep $50K or more, ETrade is very good. Their checking account is free and better than most (free checks, free ATM usage at any ATM including refunding other bank's fees, email check image depositing). Their $9.99 transaction fee is a little high, but for investors (as opposed to traders) wbeepreally cares. Fast problem resolution and good clearing. I have been with them for about 7 years and they now have the bulk of my banking business.

Your company has, without a doubt, the best commercials I have ever seen on television. They are innovative, humorous, entertaining, and just plain fun. How refreshing to see a commercial in such good taste. I never ignore one of your commercials as I do all the others I see on television. Please don't ever change the format, or the stars of same.

Ginger Davey
11 Webb Circle
Reno, Nevada 89506

Your company has, without a doubt, the best commercials I have ever seen on television. They are innovative, humorous, entertaining, and just plain fun. How refreshing to see a commercial in such good taste. I never ignore one of your commercials as I do all the others I see on television. Please don't ever change the format, or the stars of same.

Ginger Davey
11 Webb Circle
Reno, Nevada 89506

Your company has, without a doubt, the best commercials I have ever seen on television. They are innovative, humorous, entertaining, and just plain fun. How refreshing to see a commercial in such good taste. I never ignore one of your commercials as I do all the others I see on television. Please don't ever change the format, or the stars of same.

Ginger Davey
11 Webb Circle
Reno, Nevada 89506

I have been an ETrade customer for about 60 days. The research they offer is good, including Reuters, S&P, and a couple of composites. Trades are executed nearly real time. Site is easy to use, and easy to comprehend without help files. The bad news with ETrade is the hidden fees, and quite frankly.... the deceptive advertising of 6.99 to 9.99 trades. Unless you have a $25k portfolio *and* trade continuously, the true rate is 12.99. If you happen to hit the 30 trades a month or so, then they will *refund* the difference after 90 days. Extremely deceptive practices with all of their fees. The least those guys could do is give their customers real time quotes. Real time quotes are $14.99 a month. To keep from paying for what I should be getting as a free service, I use Yahoo's free real time quotes and keep both windows open. Why is it Yahoo does it for free but ETrade charges $14.99 a MONTH for it? I highly recommend anyone to try one of the other services and avoid ETrade. I'll be switching over pretty shortly myself.

I have had etrade for 6 months and I think it is great. I like how you can tie in a high yield fdic insured saving account with your brokerage and IRA accounts allowing instant transfers. I think it is best though for people with atleast 25k though to avoid all the hidden fees and get the 9.99 trade price.

The reason I have not switched to zecco or something cheap, besides the integration of services, is the excellent research available on this site. Really, before going for the "cheapest" online broker, check out etrade. They have the best system for the astute investor to build wealhth. Tons of research, high yield accts and smooth, fast web intrerface. I also like the RSA security feature 0 they give u a device which generates a new password for you every 1 minute. I often log onto etrade from non-secure sites (public wifi, work computer)..it is nice to know my password changes every minute which guarantees security,

I have been with ETrade for a pretty long time, probably more than 5 years I would say. They used to be a great company to deal with, very customer service oriented and reasonably priced. But over the last few years, and especially since they became more popular and their ads drove many new customers to the site, the level of service has really declined. The web site is noticeably slower and it is almost impossible to get a live person on the phone during trading hours. I have been looking at other discount brokers and prices are pretty similar now, but the other sites have better research tools and better layouts for information. I do still have some investments with ETrade and their CD rates are a little better than others, but one of my goals for 2008 is to identify a better alternative and make the change to another broker. ETrade has been coasting and needs to find the enthusiasm and customer service they had back in the early days.