From http://www.sipc.org/how/covers.cfm
“The cash and securities – such as stocks and bonds – held by a customer at a financially troubled brokerage firm are protected by SIPC.

Among the investments that are ineligible for SIPC protection are commodity futures contracts and currency, as well as investment contracts (such as limited partnerships) and fixed annuity contracts that are not registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission under the Securities Act of 1933.

It is important to recognize that SIPC does not work the same way as the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation in terms of blanket protection of losses.”

Just make sure the institution is SIPC insured, which Etrade is. Does anyone know if this means you can have a savings account with $100k covered by FDIC and then have a brokerage account with another $100k that would then be covered by the SIPC?