E-Trade Fees: All Costs Explained

E-Trade is a platform that facilitates the online trade of financial assets, including bonds, futures, mutual funds, stocks, and options. It is a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley and has been operating since 1982.

In this article, you’ll see all E-Trade’s fees, pricing structures, and other payment information, getting some insights into the company’s operations and costs.

We'll also introduce the Wise account, which allows you to send, spend, and receive your money across the globe in over 40 currencies – all at the fair mid-market rate.

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E-Trade Fees: An Overview

E-Trade fees vary depending on how much and how often you trade. They also differ from product to product, and you’ll pay more trading bonds than you’ll with stocks and options. Take a look at the table below for a quick rundown of E-Trade fees1.

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E-Trade Fees in detail

Stocks and Options

There are no fees associated with US-listed stock trades, and this is true even if you’re making your very first trades. However, you’ll be hit with a $25 fee if you’re going through a broker¹.

A charge of $6.95 (for customers with 0 to 29 trades per quarter) or $4.95 (for customers with 30+ trades per quarter) applies to trades of OTC stocks2. This refers to trades that occur through a dealer network, including small companies and those listed on international exchanges.

Option contracts cost $0.65 if you have made between 0 and 29 trades and $0.50 if you have made 30 or more trades¹.

Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) and Mutual Funds

There are no fees for ETFs and the same applies for no-load and no-transaction fee mutual funds. This fee is applied to discourage short-term trading and it covers the first 90 days that the fund is held¹.

E-Trade has over 6,000 mutual funds to choose from. If you visit the Mutual Funds section, you can read through the prospectuses of these investments, including charges, risks, objectives, and more³.

Bonds

A $1 fee is charged per bond for online secondary trades and there is a minimum charge of $10 and a maximum charge of $250. If you go through a broker, you’ll pay these fees in addition to a fixed fee of $20. There is no charge for bonds purchased through US Treasury auctions¹.

Futures

Futures cost $1.50 per contract per side, and there may be additional fees associated with the trade. However, as these are not charged by E-Trade directly, they can vary and there is no fixed rate.

Bitcoin futures carry a higher initial charge of $2.50 per contract per side, and these can also accumulate additional fees from the futures market¹.

Margin Rates

Margin trading can be risky, but E-Trade has tools and information to help traders with this aspect of trading, including an analyzer tool, a calculator, and risk-assessment tools. It also notes that it can force the sale of your equities if they fall below the levels required¹.

The margin rate will depend on your debit balance:

E-Trade Fees: other costs

As you can see, E-Trade funds are fairly straightforward, but it goes a little deeper than that and there are other things to consider.

E-Trade’s fees can change and - depending on the user and the trade - it can still get a little confusing. Let’s take a closer look at E-Trade fees and see if we can clear up some of the issues:

Account activity Fees

In addition to the trade-specific fees outlined above (and clarified below), E-Trade also has a number of account fees¹.

Other requests

E-Trade Personalized Investments

E-Trade Personalized Investments are portfolios that are managed by professionals. They’re available for traders of all budgets and they charge an annual fee based on the type of portfolio and the amount of money invested in it¹.

Core Portfolios:

• Investment Value of $500 or More: 0.30%

Blend Portfolios:

• First $100k: 0.90%
• Next $150k: 0.80%
• Next $250k: 0.75%
• Next $500k: 0.70%
• Next $1M and More: 0.65%

Dedicated Portfolios:

• First $1M: 1.25%
• Next $1M: 1.15%
• Next $3M: 1.10%
• Next $5M and up: 0.95%

Fixed Income Portfolios:

• First $1M: 0.75%
• Next $2M: 0.70%
• Next $1M and More: 0.65%

These fees are automatically taken out of your portfolio at the beginning of the quarter.

Retirement Accounts

There are three times when you’ll be hit with a fee if you have a retirement account. The fee is fixed at $25 each time¹:

• You withdraw money early (before you reach 59 and a half years old)
• You have deposited too much cash into the account and withdraw the excess amount.
• You change a contribution from Roth IRA to Traditional IRA.

Summary

As is the case with all trading programs, the less you trade, the higher the charges will be. Not only are many of the prices fixed, which means you’ll pay a larger percentage of your balance as a low-stakes trader, but higher rates are levied on those accounts with a small balance and few trades.

The more you trade, the less these fees become. As noted above, many fees are bracketed into one of two groups: 0 to 29 trades and 30+ trades. It’s worth noting that this applies only to that specific quarter and not for the lifetime of the account.

In any case, even if you’re only making a few trades per quarter and don’t have a lot to spend, E-Trade is still a viable option. E-Trade fees are very reasonable when compared to the rest of the industry and the platform is also very open and honest about these fees.

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Sources checked 06/30/2026