E*Trade Routing Number: Brokerage Cash, Bank Accounts, and Morgan Stanley

The E*Trade routing number, and which account it applies to

E*Trade's bank routing number is 056073573. This number applies specifically to E*Trade Bank accounts - the Max-Rate Checking and savings products - not to E*Trade brokerage accounts. This distinction trips up a lot of E*Trade customers: your brokerage account where you trade stocks does not have a routing number in the traditional sense. Only the bank side of E*Trade uses standard ACH routing.

E*Trade Bank is a federally chartered savings bank headquartered in Arlington, Virginia. The 056 prefix in its routing number corresponds to the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, reflecting its Virginia charter. The bank has operated since 2000 as a subsidiary of the E*Trade platform, providing FDIC-insured deposit products alongside the brokerage.

Brokerage accounts vs. bank accounts at E*Trade

When you open an E*Trade brokerage account, uninvested cash in that account is automatically swept into FDIC-insured deposit accounts through E*Trade's cash sweep program. This sweep happens behind the scenes - your cash moves from the brokerage (regulated by the SEC and SIPC) into bank deposits (regulated by the OCC and FDIC) each night. The sweep uses internal transfers, not ACH, so you never see a routing number for this process.

If you want to send money to or from your E*Trade brokerage account via direct deposit or ACH, you link an external bank account and initiate the transfer through E*Trade's platform. The routing number 056073573 only comes into play if you have an E*Trade Bank checking or savings account and want to give that account's details to an employer or biller.

The Morgan Stanley acquisition and what changed

Morgan Stanley completed its $13 billion acquisition of E*Trade in October 2020, creating one of the largest wealth management platforms in the world. For E*Trade Bank customers, the routing number 056073573 has remained unchanged post-acquisition. Morgan Stanley has gradually integrated E*Trade's brokerage into its own wealth management ecosystem, but the bank operations continue under the E*Trade Bank charter.

Morgan Stanley has its own banking subsidiary - Morgan Stanley Bank, N.A. - with a different routing number. These remain separate entities despite shared ownership. If you are a Morgan Stanley Private Bank client, you use a different routing number entirely. The two banks have not been merged.

How to find and use your E*Trade routing number

Log into etrade.com, navigate to your bank account (not brokerage), and select "Account Details." The routing number 056073573 and your account number are displayed there. In the E*Trade mobile app, tap on your bank account and look under account information.

For direct deposit setup, E*Trade provides a pre-filled direct deposit form that includes the routing number, your account number, and the account type. This form is available under "Transfer" then "Direct Deposit" in both the app and website.

How Slash simplifies business cash management

E*Trade showed that a platform could successfully combine investing and banking under one roof, even if the underlying accounts are technically separate entities. Slash takes a similar unified approach for business finances - bringing deposits, cards, and expense management into a single platform so companies do not have to reconcile across multiple institutions. Real-time spend controls and automated categorization replace the manual work of tracking where your money moves.