E*Trade Futures Trading Overview
Although some brokers specialize in futures, many investors prefer to keep their trading in both securities and futures under one roof. E*Trade offers this convenience. While it’s better known for stocks, ETFs, and mutual funds, E*Trade also allows customers to trade futures contracts. Let’s take a closer look at what the broker offers in this area and see how it compares to the competition.
Futures Contracts Available at E*Trade
E*Trade offers more than 200 futures products, including contracts on agricultural products, energy, precious and industrial metals, equities, currencies, and interest rates. You can trade regular contracts, mini contracts with smaller values, and even smaller micro contracts on certain products.
Examples of available contracts include corn, soybeans, natural gas, the E-mini on all three major U.S. stock indexes, GBP/USD, the E-micro on JPY/USD, the 10-year U.S. Treasury note, silver, and the E-micro gold.
Charting
E*Trade’s platform can generate charts for all of these futures contracts. Multiple graph styles are available, including OHLC bars, candlestick, line, and area charts. Volume is displayed below the chart, and the time scale can be adjusted. You can download a chart as a png, jpg, pdf, or svg file, or print it directly from the platform.
The maximum time scale for a contract is 5 years, and sometimes longer for certain contracts. The charting software also shows intraday price movements. For intraday charts, the time interval can be set from 30 minutes down to 1 minute per candlestick or OHLC bar. A sliding time scale below the volume allows for quick adjustments to the chart's time period, similar to Google Finance.
At the top of the chart, key information is displayed, including high and low prices, the day’s volume, and the opening price. Hovering over a point on the graph will show the same data for that specific moment in the contract's history. For example, hovering over today's candlestick for light sweet crude might show a high of $49.26, a low of $46.25, and a volume of 22,000.
At the bottom of the charting page, E*Trade provides important details about the futures product being viewed, including the contract's ticker symbol, dollar value, minimum tick, the dollar value of one tick, and whether options are available on the contract.
E*Trade Futures Trading Platform
E*Trade offers a dedicated platform for futures trading. It’s a desktop program that must be downloaded. The software features one-click ordering, customization, and several order types. It also provides access to all major exchanges. E*Trade customers can request a free trial of the software with a virtual account.
E*Trade Futures Trading Pricing
At E*Trade, futures contracts cost $1.50 per contract, per side. Exchange fees are passed onto the customer, including charges from the futures exchanges and the National Futures Association (NFA). There may be additional fees for options on futures or for executing futures that aren't traded electronically. These fees vary, as they are not set by E*Trade.
E*Trade Futures Margin Requirements
If a futures position is held overnight, customers must maintain 100% of the exchange's minimum margin requirements. E*Trade's intraday margining for all products except Bitcoin is 50% of the initial margin requirements. These requirements can be increased at any time.
Eligible futures IRAs require 200% of the initial margin requirements, and a minimum equity of $25k must be maintained at all times.
Futures Education and Research
E*Trade’s website has a good selection of educational resources, including content on commodities and futures. Videos cover topics that futures traders will find helpful, such as the relationship between interest rates and the price of gold. E*Trade also has a dedicated futures trading desk, which can be reached by calling 1-877-553-8887.
E*Trade Futures Trading Summary
E*Trade offers a solid futures trading service with a wide range of products and good educational
resources. However, for traders looking for lower rates, Webull (read review) might be a better option.
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Updated on 8/14/2024.
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