Also see the Full Power E-Trade Pro Review.

Some Great New Features

Shortly after the Power E-Trade Pro review was written, E-Trade released a new update that included some great new features that are definitely worth mentioning. When I entered my E-Trade login and saw that there was a new version available, I didn't expect much at first. However, after digging in further to see what changes had been made, I was really impressed with the new functionality. Besides a minor overhaul to the layout of the core menus (which offers the user more screen real-estate to work with), there were 2 major additions.

Streaming CNBC Video Feed

The biggest and most noticeable new feature is the introduction of a live streaming CNBC video feed. The feed seems to work all the time and there is no stuttering or delay. In addition to a live feed, they offer a library of recent clips from other CNBC programs (Fast Money, Mad Money, The Kudlow Report, etc...). The clips are arranged in categories, including U.S., Europe, Asia, CEO's, and Analysts. This is a great feature if you like to watch CNBC on your computer and it will save you from subscribing directly to the CNBC Plus service which is offered directly from CNBC for $10 per month.

The live streaming CNBC feed is really impressive. It's so fast that the image actually appears about 2 seconds before the signal from my Cable TV which is plugged directly into the wall (not even a cable box to slow down the signal). In addition to a low latency feed, the CNBC video image on my computer actually looks better than it does on my TV.

Launching the CNBC video stream is fast too. When I click the "CNBC Live TV" icon in Power ETrade Pro, a small disclaimer pops up, and when I click that, the picture shows up immediately. When I turn on my TV, it takes about 3 seconds for the CNBC channel to display. On a side note, It looks like I need a new TV!

UI Improvements

Another great new feature is the ability to move individual windows outside of the boundaries of your application window. This means that if you have the window reduced to less than full-screen, you can move your sub-windows out of the program to an area above your visible desktop area (or above a web page or another visible program window you may have open). This is very useful if you utilize the desktop for commonly-used shortcuts and recently downloaded files and therefore don't want to run the program in full-screen mode. If you have multiple monitors, it's even better. You can run the Power E-Trade Pro application in full-screen mode on one monitor, and then drag your sub-windows onto the other monitor. You can even open the sub-window in full-screen mode on the second monitor, which is useful for large watchlists. Obviously if you have more than 2 monitors set up, you can spread out and organize your data even more. This functionality applies to all Power E-Trade Pro sub-windows, including watchlists, basic daily and intra-day stock charts, technical charts, options chains, level 2 quotes, time and sales, news, and more.

Investors Appreciate New Functionality

ThinkOrSwim has offered free CNBC streaming video for quite some time now, so it's great to see that the leading brokerage platforms are continually innovating and adding new functionality in order to provide better tools for the active investor and day trader communities. Impressive functionality like this is greatly appreciated by the customer.