E*Trade vs Firstrade Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

E*Trade and Firstrade are two leading discount brokerages offering commission-free stock and ETF trading. Use this head-to-head comparison table to evaluate fees, features, trading tools, and account options to help you decide which broker is right for you in 2025.

Head-to-Head Comparison: E*Trade vs Firstrade (2025)
Feature E*Trade Firstrade
Website https://us.etrade.com/home https://www.firstrade.com/
Broker Type Full-Service Discount
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No No
Percent Allocations? No No
Crypto Trading? No No
Crypto Fees not applicable not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 50 to 65 No fee
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? Yes; E*TRADE Pro No
API Trading? Yes; E*TRADE Developer Platform No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 6,000 Over 4,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 4,300 Over 700
Non-NTF Fund Fee $50 $19.95
Early Redemption Fee? No Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 0 90 days
Early Redemption Fee $50 $19.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? No No
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes No
Robo-Advisor Service Core Portfolios none
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.30% not applicable
Basics: Headquarters New York, NY Flushing, NY
Year Founded 1996 1985
Clearing Firm Morgan Stanley Apex Clearing
Local Branches? Yes, about 30 locations No
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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