E*Trade -- I've used them for two years...
They have two sites... The old "classic" site and the new site.
Classic site is quite fast. Was extremely reliable during August and
October market panics. Site is relatively "bare bones", but works well
for me. It does have "stock watch" lists with price and news alerts which
I like. Trade Executions, real time quotes, excellent 1 minute intraday
and other charts, and news links are all fast. Confirmations can be slow
during heavy market activity (at market open, market close, and very
heavy trading days). I was always able to get through to broker via
phone to get confirmations when needed. Not much available in the way for
technical analysis tools. Every now and then news and charts will crap
out during the day.
New site is slow, even in "text mode" but speed is supposed to improve
in future. I find the pages cluttered, geared more toward attracting
"soccer mom" investers. Much more technical analysis info available is
a plus but doesn't make up for slow speed and clutter. New charts
suck from my point of view. I go elsewhere for technical analysis info.
I STILL USE THE "CLASSIC" SITE EXCLUSIVELY.
Overall, I've found E*Trade's customer service to have improved
considerably over the last year. I get the impression that since the
old site is dead, it is a low priority when if it has problems and when
people quit complaining about new site, old site will be gone, but no
definite funeral date yet.
I've considered going elsewhere just to get Nasdaq Level II access, news
feeds, and other trading tools free as a frequent trader on some place
like AB Watley or MB Trading. But I haven't moved yet.
Just one man's opinion,
Yo Yo |
