E*TRADE Financial Corporation (NASDAQ: ETFC) began the third quarter on a weaker note, recording lower volumes despite a steady growth in the number of accounts.
In July 2018, the New York-based firm revealed that Daily Average Revenue Trades (DARTs) were pointed lower, coming in at 250,787 a day, a decrease by 8 percent month-over-month from 273,190 in June 2018. Over a yearly timetable, E*TRADE’s July 2018 DARTs were higher by 20 percent year-over-year, compared to 208,156 in July 2017.
In terms of E*TRADE’s net new accounts growth, the group added 81,296 gross new brokerage accounts in July 2018, compared to 156,821 set back in June 2018, which reflects a drop by more than 48 percent. However, this figure was better when weighed against last year, as new brokerage accounts rose 30.0 percent from 62,333 in July 2017.
In total, this brings the company’s overall accounts to approximately 5.86 million in July 2018, which reflected a flat change compared to 5.84 million in the previous month, but it prints a 30 percent increase year-over-year.
Another area of strength for the month was E*TRADE’s brokerage customer assets which rose to $447.9 million last month, up 26 percent year-over-year from $355.3 million in 2017. Meanwhile, the month on month comparison also shows an increase of 2 percent from $440.7 million in December.
Earlier in June, the discount brokerage giant expanded the number of ETFs that customers can access without commissions. E*TRADE has significantly increased its commission-free Exchange -traded fund (ETF) lineup, all of which is non-proprietary, with the addition of 46 new funds from six providers.
E*TRADE isn’t the only discount brokerage to offer zero-commission ETFs as the company is tussling with rivals to expand low-cost investment products. Big rivals, including Charles Schwab and TD Ameritrade, also announced recently the expansion of its own similar offerings, increasing the total number of ETFs that don’t have a commission attached to them.
