Public vs E*TRADE

Public and E*TRADE overlap on stocks, options, bonds and crypto, but their platforms are built around different priorities. E*TRADE, part of Morgan Stanley Smith Barney LLC, combines sophisticated active trading with a traditional brokerage product set. Public combines mainstream brokerage functionality with newer products centred on fixed income, cash, AI research, advisory strategies and alternatives.

Every fact below is drawn from the two canonical ROIStreet review records. Where a fact is absent from a record, it is stated as not established rather than borrowed from the other platform.

Power E*TRADE is the largest trading-platform distinction

E*TRADE's active-trading environment runs across E*TRADE Web, the E*TRADE mobile app, Power E*TRADE Web, the Power E*TRADE App and the Power E*TRADE Pro desktop platform, with advanced charting, advanced order types, Level II quotes, a futures ladder, options risk analysis, probability tools and strategy scanning.

Public offers web and mobile trading with multi-leg options, an options strategy builder, profit and loss tools, a bond screener and analyst and institutional research. An equivalent derivatives workstation is not established.

Options pricing differs in structure

E*TRADE charges a $0 base commission plus $0.65 per contract, dropping to $0.50 per contract for active traders placing 30 or more stock, ETF or options trades per quarter, with no contract fee to buy to close qualifying short equity options priced at $0.10 or less. Regulatory and exchange fees are additional.

Public charges $0 commission and $0 contract fee on stock and ETF options with disclosed rebates of $0.06 to $0.18 per contract, and prices index options at $0.50 standard or $0.35 with Premium. E*TRADE's record establishes index options as available but does not state a separate index-option contract rate, so no separate index figure is claimed on that side.

Futures are an E*TRADE-only category here

E*TRADE offers listed futures through E*TRADE Futures LLC at $1.50 per contract per side, futures options, and crypto futures at $2.50 per contract per side where applicable, traded on Power E*TRADE, with exchange and NFA fees additional. Public's record establishes no futures product.

Both take fixed income seriously, in different packaging

E*TRADE provides conventional fixed-income brokerage access: bonds, brokered CDs and Treasury securities, with $1 per bond on online secondary bonds subject to a $10 minimum and $250 maximum transaction fee.

Public builds dedicated products: individual corporate and municipal bonds, Treasuries, fractional bonds, a Bond Account and a Treasury Account with marginal tiers from 0.29% down to 0.09%. Both support bonds; the difference is packaging.

Mutual funds sit only on E*TRADE's side

E*TRADE supports mutual funds with $0 online mutual-fund trade commissions where covered by current standard pricing, with fund-level loads or expenses separate. Public's record states that mutual funds are not offered.

Direct crypto shares a provider but not a fee schedule

E*TRADE offers direct crypto through Zero Hash LLC in a separate non-brokerage Zero Hash account linked to an eligible E*TRADE brokerage account, at 0.50% of notional trade value with no additional spread fee, covering Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana, with market and limit orders, 24/7 trading, a $10 minimum and $500,000 maximum trade.

Public also uses Zero Hash LLC, with Public providing the interface and funding facilitation only, priced in fixed tiers from $0.49 up to $6.29 by order size and 1.25% of the order amount above $500, plus 1.25% on crypto investment plans, crypto IRAs at a 0.05% monthly custody fee, no staking and no transfers in New York.

The shared provider does not make the pricing, asset coverage or account rules identical, and crypto at neither platform is SIPC protected or FDIC insured.

Automated and advisory products are structurally different

E*TRADE Core Portfolios is a conventional managed-portfolio service: 0.30% annually, a $500 minimum, ETF portfolios, automatic rebalancing, tax-loss harvesting and a socially responsible option, with underlying fund expenses separate.

Public Advisors LLC offers Generated Assets at 0.49% annually, Direct Indexing at 0.19% annually and the Treasury Account. These are not the same structure and should not be labelled identically.

Cash products are prominent at Public

Public's High-Yield Cash Account is stated at 3.30% APY as of 2026-08, variable, with a headline $5 million FDIC pass-through subject to program rules. E*TRADE's record notes only that banking products are offered through Morgan Stanley Private Bank, National Association and are structurally distinct from securities accounts; no E*TRADE cash yield or sweep rate is established, and Morgan Stanley bank products are not treated here as E*TRADE features.

Research identities differ

Public integrates AI into its research experience through Alpha AI research and AI Agents, with the record stating that Agents do not provide investment advice, alongside analyst insights and institutional research. E*TRADE's record establishes options risk analysis, probability tools, strategy scanning, portfolio risk analysis and advanced charting, with no AI research product claimed.

Alternatives sit only on Public's side

Public's record includes royalties and Reg A securities through Dalmore Group, LLC, with offering-specific fees, an initial true-up range of 0% to 10%, a possible 2% annual management fee on non-cash-flowing assets, possible 10% profit carry and a 2.5% secondary-market fee each side, with limited liquidity. E*TRADE's record does not establish an alternative or private-market product set.

How to read the difference

For active derivatives trading, E*TRADE has the clearer fit through Power E*TRADE, futures and the active-trader options rate. For packaged bond and Treasury products, Public has the more distinctive consumer-facing lineup. For mutual funds, E*TRADE has the documented marketplace. For automated investing, the choice depends on whether a conventional allocation such as Core Portfolios or a specialised Public Advisors product is what the account needs.