ETRADE warning. I have touted Etrade many times on this board because I have used them for over 20 years and I have used many other brokers during that time span. While I still like their tools very much, a specific issue has come to my attention regarding their fees. I know I am a bit late in noticing this - apparently it started mid November.
They are now passing along FINRA trading activity fees to their customers on the sell side. They lowered their commissions a little less than a year ago when Fidelity started the price wars and now they apparently are looking for a way to make it up. And the best part is that they didn't alert everyone. There are some out there who aren't even aware of it. Now, if you don't trade often or if you don't buy very large amounts of shares it may not have much of an effect on you. But if you do trade large amounts you will be charged an extra 5.95 (max cap) when you sell or .000119 per share on the smaller sells.
Don't let them get away with this without voicing your opinion. Contact them and tell them how unfair this new practice is! Here is the deal:
1. FINRA levies a Trading Activity Fee (TAF) for sales of covered securities that we pass through to you. The FINRA TAF for sales of equity securities is currently $0.000119 per share with a per-transaction cap of $5.95. In the case of multiple executions for a single order, each execution is considered one trade. For example, if you sell 1,000 equity securities the fee would be the number of shares 1,000 multiplied by $0.000119 which equals $0.119. The FINRA TAF for option sales is currently $0.002 per contract. For example, if you sell 100 options contracts, the fee would be the number of contracts 100 multiplied by $0.002, which equals $0.20. The FINRA TAF for a covered TRACE-eligible security (other than an asset-backed security) and/or municipal security is $0.00075 multiplied by the number of bonds, with a maximum charge of $0.75 per trade. For example, if you sell 100 bonds, then the fee would be $0.075. Please note FINRA TAF Fees are subject to change.
