Good morning everyone.
So as I explained last night, I am a beta tester for the new E-Trade Mobile Pro application for iPhone. I also use TDAmeritrade’s iStockManager, and thus have an account with both brokerages. Here is the summary and comparison of the two iPhone applications:
Both apps are free to download.
Both apps offer real time price quotes including AH/Pre-Market quotes.
The quotes offered include Last, Change, PE, Volume, Bid/Ask, and Daily Hi/Lo. E-Trade also displays 52W Hi/Lo, Market Cap, E/S, and Quote Trend. TDA displays Div. Yield
Level-II Quotes are only offered by the TDA app.
Both apps offer a chart of the days activity. TDA chart begins in PM trading and continues into AH. E-trade chart is only during normal trading hours, but it does auto rotate when you turn the iPhone for landscape view.
Both apps offer recent news article for the general markets and individual stocks. It appears that TDA offers new from more sources than E-Trade.
Both apps allow you to view a watchlist in real-time displaying info on Symbol, Last, and Change ($/%). Etrade also shows Volume in their watchlist.
Both apps allow you to trade Stocks and Options. Both allow AH/PM trading. I know that TDA allows you to trade to 0.0000. I’ve not traded yet on the E-Trade app, but I know the website does not allow trading past 0.00
Both apps allow you to view your portfolio and account holdings and balances.
E-Trade app has a tab to transfer money between etrade acct and associated bank accounts.
E-Trade app has a section for Account Alerts.
Both apps have market overviews for DOW, S&P 500, and NASDAQ. E-Trade also displays NYSE, AMEX, Russell 2000, S&P 100, DJ Trans, DJ Utilities, and 10-Year Note. All market overviews are in real time for both apps.
Both apps have Remember Acct ID so you don’t have to type it every time. TDA also has Auto-Password Log-In that you can turn on/off so that you don’t have to type your passcode either. (This can be dangerous if you lose your phone. Or you can just choose not to use the auto log-in.) Etrade forces you to type your passcode each time you open the app (can get annoying.) Etrade has an Auto-Time Out feature that logs you out of your acct; you can set for 5/15/30 minutes. TDA has a Vibrate on Transaction Execution feature.
Etrade has a Help section to walk you thru the basic functions of the app.
So there you have it. Please keep in mind that the E-Trade app is only in Beta form right now and is not available to the public via the AppStore yet. Thus when the official version is released there may be some changes to the functionality.
IMHO, I personally prefer the TDA app. It offers Level-II and trading to 0.0000. I feel that these two options are vital. There is also more news articles offered. And the charting into AH and PM is kinda cool. Although, being able to transfer money from bank acct to trading acct with the Etrade app is pretty cool too. Maybe TDA will add that in their next update. Let’s hope.