FILED BY E*TRADE GROUP, INC. PURSUANT TO RULE
                                            425 UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933
                                                                SUBJECT COMPANY:
                                              WEB STREET, INC., FILE NO. 0-27705


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


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

Web Street Contact
Beth Saunders
312-587-0780, Ext. 281




    E*TRADE AND WEB STREET ANNOUNCE COMMENCEMENT OF E*TRADE'S EXCHANGE OFFER


Menlo Park, CA and Chicago, IL, June 11, 2001 - E*TRADE Group, Inc. (NYSE: ET)
and Web Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: WEBS) announced today that E*TRADE, through a
wholly owned subsidiary, commenced its previously announced exchange offer for
shares of Web Street common stock.

     Web Street's board of directors has voted to recommend that Web Street's
stockholders accept the offer in which E*TRADE will exchange 0.1864 share of
E*TRADE common stock for each outstanding share of Web Street common stock that
is validly tendered and not properly withdrawn. The offer and withdrawal rights
will expire at 12:00 midnight, New York City time, on June 29, 2001, unless
extended.

     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

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.

About Web Street

Web Street Securities serves the needs of individual investors, primarily in
the United States and Europe, by delivering streaming, real-time quotes, quick
trade confirmations and real-time portfolio updates, along with superior
24-hour customer service. Web Street Securities is headquartered in Chicago,
with Financial Services Centers in Boston, Beverly Hills, Denver, and coming
soon to San Francisco. For more information, visit www.webstreet.com or call
1-800-WEBTRADE (1-800-932-8723) or at 312-775-6700.

                                     # # #

Important Notice

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 to be
filed by E*TRADE with the SEC relating to this transaction. Further information
about these risks and uncertainties can be found in the companies' respective
Forms 10K and 10Q filed with the SEC. System response and account access time
may vary due to market conditions, trading volume, system performance and other
factors.