Etrade safe?

[accountingsucks]

I see again that Etrade posted a big loss this quarter. Part of my funds are with Etrade (Canada) and from what I understand if Etrade ever went bankrupt the stocks would of course be mine since Etrade is simply an intermediary. I'm sure the hassle would be significant and very time consuming to transfer the funds to another institution though. Is anyone else worried about the security of their funds in Etrade? My bank has a discount broker, but the fees for a trade are nearly 3X that of Etrade.

[Grizz]

I am also an E-Trade Canada user. I'm going on faith here, but my hunch is that there would be a plan in place already for a relatively seamless transfer of the customer accounts to another broker.

You do indeed own the stocks and nobody can take 'em. If you are worried about the future of E-Trade then I would keep only stocks with E-Trade. Move your cash position somewhere else since there isn't a guarantee that you'd ever see more than a few % of that.

[ERD50]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grizz You do indeed own the stocks and nobody can take 'em. If you are worried about the future of E-Trade then I would keep only stocks with E-Trade. Move your cash position somewhere else since there isn't a guarantee that you'd ever see more than a few % of that.

This is my understanding also. Although I wouldn't try to predict what % (if any) of that cash might get hit, the cash is the part that is at some risk. You do have levels of insurance on it though. Only amounts above that insurance should be at any risk.

-ERD50

[RedHawk]

Quote:

Move your cash position somewhere else since there isn't a guarantee that you'd ever see more than a few % of that.

Thats not true of Etrade Bank is it if your savings account is below FDIC limits?

[accountingsucks]

My understanding is that 60K in cash is protected by FDIC in Canada. I have less than that amount with them. They pretty much always have the highest rate on cash at any given time (3.55% now).