They have now raised the APY on the Savings account: it is now 4% for six months, then 3.25% afterward. If you deposit $20,000 within 30 days of account opening, you can also get an extra $400 bonus; if you deposit $100,000, you can get $800. Overall, this is pretty good. The offer expires on January 10, 2027.
The three-step requirements are as follows:
- Open a new Premium Savings Account on etrade.com by 1/10/2027 using promo code SAVE800.
- Add funds to earn a boosted 4.00% APY for 6 months. Plus, you'll earn a cash bonus when you deposit at least $20,000/$100,000 of qualifying new money within the first 30 days of account opening.
- Maintain your balance for 45 additional days after the 30-day funding period ends to earn your cash bonus.
This bonus is excellent, and I have added it to the bank bonus ranking.
[Brokerage account] They now offer a bonus of up to $10,000 for brokerage accounts. You need to deposit the required amount within 60 days of account opening to qualify. The offer ends on October 31, 2026. The terms say the bonus will be paid within 7 business days after the 60-day deposit period. It looks like, if you time it right, you only need to keep the funds there for 67 days, but it is probably better to wait until you receive the bonus before moving the money out.
The detailed bonus table is below. Although the ad says the bonus is up to $1,500, if you have more money, you can get up to $10,000. For a brokerage account, since you are transferring your money in anyway, you could buy a money market fund and earn a high yield, so it is not a bad deal. The direct return for each tier is 5%, 3%, 1.5%, 0.6%, and so on. Considering you actually do not need to keep the money there for that long, it is quite worthwhile. Calculating the annualized returns, the tiers are as follows:
- $1,000: 27.24%
- $5,000: 16.34%
- $20,000: 8.17%
- $100,000: 3.27%
- $200,000: 2.72%
- $500,000: 1.63%
- $1,000,000: 1.63% (actually the same as $500,000)
- $1,500,000: 1.82%
- $2,000,000: 1.63%
- $5,000,000: 1.09%
I have added this to the list of high-yield bonus accounts.
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About E*Trade
E*Trade is a leading U.S. online brokerage. It was acquired by Morgan Stanley in 2020, further strengthening its capital base and product breadth. The company offers comprehensive financial services. Its core products include $0 commission trading for stocks, ETFs, and options, while it also offers a wide variety of no-transaction-fee mutual funds and futures trading. In addition, E*Trade has a banking division that provides high-yield savings accounts, checking accounts, and other services. It also supports opening and managing various retirement and education savings accounts, creating an integrated financial platform that combines investing and banking functions.
Compared with Morgan Stanley, E*Trade’s products are more geared toward ordinary individual investors. There are no monthly fees or management fees, so it is quite suitable to open an account. You can also use this account to open the Morgan Stanley version of the AMEX Platinum card, which has some value.
Both their brokerage accounts and bank accounts offer decent bonuses, so I will cover them together here.
Brokerage Account
Sign-Up Bonus
Fees
This account has no monthly fee or management fee. The trading-related fees are as follows:
Checking Account
Sign-Up Bonus
None for now.
Besides payroll counting as a direct deposit, there are also some other ways that can mimic one. According to DOC data points, the following have counted. I would guess brokerage withdrawals should probably work as well.
Fees
There are two types of checking accounts, as follows:
Savings Account
Sign-Up Bonus
See the beginning of the article.
Fees
There are no fees, so it is easy to keep the account open.
