Alpaca Trading vs E*TRADE compared

Alpaca Trading
E*TRADE
Key differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Customer service score
    3.7
    /5
  • Fees score
    4.8
    /5
  • Account opening score
    4.8
    /5
  • Customer service score
    1.7
    /5
  • Fees score
    4.1
    /5
  • Account opening score
    4.2
    /5
Recommended for
  • Beginners
    4.4
    /5
  • Equity
    4.3
    /5
  • Beginners
    3.7
    /5
  • Equity
    4.3
    /5
You can open an account in United States
You can open an account in United States

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Basic data of broker

Overall Score
4.7

Recommended for Traders interested in algorithmic stock trading

Overall Score
4.7

Recommended for Investors and traders looking for solid research and a great mobile trading platform

Best IRA broker

Country of origin

USA

Country of origin

USA

Fees

Fees score
4.8
Fees score
4.1
Fees summary

Free stock and ETF trading, low non-trading fees

Fees summary

Low trading and non-trading fees, high fund fees

Stock and ETF fees

Forex fees

Fund fees

Bond fees

Options fees

Futures fees

Crypto fees

CFD fees

Non-trading fees

Deposit and withdrawal

Deposit and withdrawal score
1.8
Deposit and withdrawal score
2.2
Number of base currencies

1

Number of base currencies

1

Deposit type

Withdrawal type

Account opening

Account opening score
4.8
Account opening score
4.2
Account opening fully online
Account opening fully online
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Time to open account

1 day

Time to open account

1-3 days

Required documents

Social security number, other proof of residence

Required documents

Proof of identity: SSN and national ID / passport / driver's license

Trading platform

Web platform score
3.7
Web platform score
4.5
Mobile platform score
4.2
Mobile platform score
4.5
Desktop platform score
-
Desktop platform score
-

Markets and products

Markets and products score
2.6
Markets and products score
2.9
Stocks
*
*
Stocks
Fractional shares
*
*
Fractional shares
ETFs
*
*
ETFs
Forex
Forex
Funds
Funds
Bonds
Bonds
Options
Options
Futures
Futures
Crypto
Crypto
*
*
CFDs
CFDs

Research, education

Research score
5.0
Research score
4.8
Charting quality

Great

Charting quality

Great

Education score
5.0
Education score
2.4
Demo account
Demo account

Customer service

Customer service score
3.7
Customer service score
1.7
Phone
Phone
Live chat
Live chat
Email
Email
24/7 availability
24/7 availability

Security

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Banking background
Banking background
Listed on stock exchange
Listed on stock exchange
Foundation date

2015

Foundation date

1982

Country of regulation

USA

Country of regulation

USA

Alpaca Trading

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

E*TRADE

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

Alpaca Trading's service is on par with E*TRADE's and a comparison of their fees shows that Alpaca Trading's fees are slightly lower than E*TRADE's.

Account opening takes somewhat less effort at Alpaca Trading compared to E*TRADE, deposit and withdrawal processes are somewhat more complicated at Alpaca Trading, while customer service quality is better than E*TRADE's.

Our experts rated the trading platform of Alpaca Trading as somewhat worse than the platform of E*TRADE, found that clients have access to about the same number of markets and products with Alpaca Trading, while E*TRADE provides just about the same quality of research and education.

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