Morgan Stanley Targets Active Traders with New E*Trade Platform

ETrade, the brokerage firm owned by Morgan Stanley, is launching a new platform aimed at the most active traders. Dubbed “Power ETrade Pro”, the platform is currently in its pilot phase and is set for a full launch in June, Bloomberg reported.

Adding Tools for Active Traders

With this new platform, the brokerage will directly compete with Charles Schwab’s Thinkorswim and Robinhood Markets’ Legend.

The new E*Trade platform will allow traders to customise as many as 120 tools across six screens. It will also include a separate desktop client, in addition to the existing web and mobile products.

“Our sophisticated trader population is a hugely important group of folks for us,” said Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s Head of Wealth Management, to Bloomberg. “We took the most sophisticated active traders in the industry and we said, what do you need to take your game to the next level?”

In October 2020, Morgan Stanley completed its $13 billion all-stock acquisition of E*Trade, marking the largest takeover by a major US bank since the 2008 financial crisis. This move significantly expanded Morgan Stanley's wealth management capabilities, adding over 5 million retail client accounts and approximately $360 billion in assets.

Trading Volumes Hitting Records

The launch of “Power E*Trade Pro” also coincided with US President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs globally, which made financial markets highly volatile and boosted trading volumes on brokerage platforms. Polish brokerage platform XTB recently revealed that trading volumes surged to three times the levels seen during the pandemic.

XTB is not alone in experiencing increased activity. “Following President Trump's 2 April announcement of new tariffs, referred to as 'Liberation Day', GCEX has recorded some of its strongest trading days to date,” said Lars Holst, Founder and CEO of GCEX. Gold-i’s CEO, Tom Higgins, also stated that his platform “saw a tenfold increase in FX and Equity Index price updates and about five times as much trading activity.”

Interestingly, on E*Trade, 4 April and 7 April were the two highest-volume days in more than three years, according to Finn.