E*Trade Finds Itself in Precarious Position

E*Trade’s more than 5 million brokerage accounts suddenly feels small when comparing itself to Fidelity who has 30 million brokerage accounts and Schwab/TD Ameritrade combo who has 25 million accounts; the recent drive to zero fees on trading and the merger of Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade has put E*Trade in a strange position; the company has tried to sell itself for years and TD Ameritrade even acknowledged running more than 4,000 scenarios on an E*Trade acquisition; Brennan Hawken, an analyst with UBS Group AG, tells the Wall Street Journal, When others were pivoting, E*Trade had to turn inward and fix its own problems,” he said. “While it isn’t the current management team’s fault, there has been a history of mismanagement at E*Trade. And as a result, they are in a difficult spot.” Source