FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


E*TRADE Media Contact
Heather Fondo
E*TRADE Group, Inc.
650-331-5774
hfondo@etrade.com


             E*TRADE'S INITIAL EXCHANGE OFFER PERIOD FOR WEB STREET
              SHARES CLOSES WITH MORE THAN 80 PERCENT ACCEPTANCE;
                  E*TRADE ANNOUNCES SUBSEQUENT OFFERING PERIOD

Menlo Park, CA, July 2, 2001 - E*TRADE Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET) announced today
the expiration of the initial period of the exchange offer by its wholly-owned
subsidiary, Opus Acquisition Corp., for all of the outstanding shares of Web
Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBS) common stock at an exchange ratio of 0.1864 share
of E*TRADE common stock for each share of common stock of Web Street. The
initial period of the offer expired at midnight, New York City time, on Friday,
June 29, 2001. All shares validly tendered and not properly withdrawn prior to
the expiration have been accepted for exchange and will be exchanged promptly
for E*TRADE shares and for cash for fractional shares.

E*TRADE believes that approximately 23,184,640 Web Street shares, or 88% of the
total issued and outstanding Web Street shares, were validly tendered and not
withdrawn (including shares pursuant to guarantee of delivery) in the initial
exchange offer period.

E*TRADE also announced that it has elected to provide a subsequent offering
period of 4 business days, effective immediately, during which stockholders of
Web Street will continue to have the opportunity to tender their Web Street
shares at the exchange ratio of 0.1864 share of E*TRADE common stock for each
share of common stock of Web Street. The subsequent offering period will expire
at midnight, New York City time, on Friday July 6, 2001. As a consequence
of the subsequent offering period, holders of Web Street common stock may
tender shares until midnight, New York City time, on Friday, July 6, 2001. Web
Street shares tendered in the subsequent offering period will be immediately
accepted and will be exchanged promptly for E*TRADE shares and for cash for
fractional shares. Web Street stockholders that tender their shares in the
subsequent offering period will not have the right to withdraw tendered shares.

Web Street stockholders are urged to read the prospectus and the solicitation/
recommendation statement relating to the offer and the merger. These documents
contain important information. Web Street stockholders can obtain these
documents, as well as the E*TRADE documents that are incorporated by reference
in the prospectus, for free at the Securities and Exchange Commission's web
site at http://sec.gov. These documents are also available from E*TRADE without
charge upon request to its information agent, Innisfree M&A Incorporated, 501
Madison Avenue, 20th Floor, New York, NY 10022, banks and brokers call collect:
(212) 750-5833, all others call toll free: (888) 750-5834.




About E*TRADE
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E*TRADE is a global leader in online personal financial services, offering
value-added investing, banking and research features, premium customer service
and a redundant, proprietary Stateless Architecture(R) infrastructure. In
addition to the U.S., E*TRADE presently serves customers in Australia, Canada,
Denmark, Hong Kong, Israel, Korea, Japan, Norway, South Africa, Sweden, and the
U.K. through branded web sites. E*TRADE Securities, Incorporated (Member
NASD/SIPC), and its parent company, E*TRADE Group, Inc., have offices in
Northern California, New York City and in other major business centers in the
U.S. and worldwide.


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Important Notice
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E*TRADE, the E*TRADE logo and Stateless Architecture are registered trademarks
of E*TRADE Securities, Inc. The statements contained in this news release that
are forward-looking are based on current expectations that are subject to a
number of uncertainties and risks, and actual results may differ materially.
The uncertainties and risks include, but are not limited to, failure of the
transaction to close due to the failure to obtain regulatory or other
approvals, failure of the Web Street stockholders to approve the merger, if
that approval is necessary, the risk that the Web Street business will not be
integrated successfully and unanticipated costs of such integration, changes in
market activity, anticipated increases in the rate of new customer acquisition,
seasonality, the development of new products and services, the enhancement of
existing products and services, competitive pressures (including price
competition), system failures, economic and political conditions, changes in
consumer behavior and the introduction of competing products having
technological and/or other advantages. For a detailed discussion of these and
other cautionary statements, please refer to the registration statement filed
by E*TRADE with the SEC relating to this transaction. Further information about
these risks and uncertainties can be found in E*TRADE's Form 10K and Forms 10Q
filed with the SEC. System response and account access time may vary due to
market conditions, trading volume, system performance and other factors.