Etrade Offering Up to $500 Cash To Open Account

Online brokers are stepping up in a bid to grab customers amid a volatile market. TD Ameritrade recently came out with an offer of 30 days of free trades and $100 cash top open a brokerage account. Now, Etrade is offering up to $500 cash for users who join its Power ETrade program.

To be eligible, you must first become a member of Power Etrade. To qualify, you must execut at least 30 stock or options trades per quarter. If you deposit $50,000+ at Etrade and do at least 30 trades per quarter, the price per trade is $9.99. So, to become a Power Etrade customer you have to plan on spending a minimum of $300. If you planned on doing a lot of trading anyway, this is no big deal. If you're a one stock a year kind of investor, this deal may not be for you.

So, assuming you become a Power Etrade customer, you then will receive the cash credit based on how much you deposit. The schedule is below:

Deposit Cash Credit

$250,000+ $500

$100,000 - $249,999 $250

$25,000 - $99,999 $100

$1,000 - $24,999 $1

I'm not even sure why they bothered with the lowest tier unless there was some regulatory requirement.

I have a regular, non-Power Etrade account and have been generally pleased with it. In addiiton, to their brokerage account, Etrade also offers a competitive savings rate with a $1 minimum balance.

• See how Etrade compares to other online brokers