Banking » Reviews » Merrill Edge Review 2023: One Of The Best Options In The Market
Advertiser Disclosure This website is an independent, advertising-supported comparison service. The product offers that appear on this site are from companies from which this website receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site (including, for example, the order in which they appear). This website does not include all card companies or all card offers available in the marketplace. This website may use other proprietary factors to impact card offer listings on the website such as consumer selection or the likelihood of the applicant’s credit approval. This allows us to maintain a full-time, editorial staff and work with finance experts you know and trust. The compensation we receive from advertisers does not influence the recommendations or advice our editorial team provides in our articles or otherwise impacts any of the editorial content on The Smart Investor. While we work hard to provide accurate and up to date information that we think you will find relevant, The Smart Investor does not and cannot guarantee that any information provided is complete and makes no representations or warranties in connection thereto, nor to the accuracy or applicability thereof. Learn more about how we review products and read our advertiser disclosure for how we make money. All products are presented without warranty.

Merrill Edge Review 2024: One Of The Best Options In The Market

Rated as one of the best brokerage houses in terms of user experience, Merrill Edge offers its clients various ways to invest in the financial markets.
Author: Baruch Mann (Silvermann)
Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Writer, Contributor

Experience

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
Interest Rates Last Update: March 1, 2024
The banking product interest rates, including savings, CDs, and money market, are accurate as of this date.
Author: Baruch Mann (Silvermann)
Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Writer, Contributor

Experience

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
Interest Rates Last Update: March 1, 2024

The banking product interest rates, including savings, CDs, and money market, are accurate as of this date.

We earn a commission from our partner links on this page. It doesn't affect the integrity of our unbiased, independent editorial staff. Transparency is a core value for us, read our advertiser disclosure and how we make money.

Merrill Edge Review

A Bank of America Company, Merrill is the investing arm of one of the largest corporations in the United States.

Merill Edge offers self-directed trading services that are specifically designed for individual investors. This offers access to unlimited free trading with research and insights, seamless integration, and personalized online investments. There is even no minimum investment level.

Merill Edge also offers its Guiding Investing, a portfolio account designed to suit individual clients' needs while being balanced and managed by a pro. This guided investment account has a minimum investment of $5,000.

Account Options

– Stocks / Options / Margin
– Fixed Income – Bonds, CDs
– Merrill Edge Select® Funds / ETFs

Our Rating

4.5
4.5/5

PROS

CONS

There is also an advisor program to assist those with complex wealth management requirements. For a minimum investment of $20,000 and a larger annual fee, Merrill can build a tailored investment strategy for individual clients.

Finally, there are other options, including Private Wealth Advisor, Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisor, and access to a team of Bank of America wealth specialists.

Merrill has a network of physical offices across the USA, so it is well suited to those who prefer to put a face to a company. The customer service team also goes the extra mile, doing whatever it takes to ensure you’re satisfied.

Merill Edge Pros And Cons

Pros
Cons
Extended Range of Investment Possibilities
No International Clients Accepted
Bonus For Opening a New Trading Account
Demo Trading Unavailable
Impressive Customer Service
Fees and Services
Impressive Trading Education Services
Limited Cryptocurrency Support
Easy to Open a New Account

Merrill Edge has one of the most sophisticated investment product offerings.

Other brokers offer, one way or another, the same products, but Merrill has the merit of bundling them in such a way that it makes it easier for the beginner, intermediate and experienced trader to choose the best path to invest.

From time to time, Merrill offers an incentive to attract new customers.

Usually, it takes the form of a small bonus deposited in your account based on the funds directed to trade with Merrill.

One of the best customer services in the industry.

Merrill's representatives are available 24/7, and there's always an answer at the other end of a phone call. The live chat comes to complement the readiness of Merrill to take care of any inquiries a client might have.

It strikes you for the first time when looking at the Merrill’s services, the attention it pays to trade and investment education.

Moreover, the investment education part is combined with award-winning research, resulting in a difficult-to-find-somewhere-else combination

A very simple process to open an online trading account – it takes on average only ten minutes to do it.

Upon documents’ verification, which is the most time consuming, and funding the account, the investor can access the trading platform fairly easy and fast.

Merrill is one of the few online brokerage houses that offers Level II quotes for Nasdaq.

Stock trading highly appreciates market depth, and investors value such info accordingly. The fact that it is included in the flagship platform can only be a plus for Merrill.

Merrill only accepts U.S. residents and doesn’t do business with international clients.

In a way, it makes sense to focus on the domestic market due to its large size and Merrill’s strong presence in each state.

However, leaving aside international clients means ignoring a big chunk of the potential investors willing to pay a bit more than the average to get access to the U.S. markets by using Merrill.

It may look like a small thing, but demo trading gives investors the possibility to compare trading platforms, commissions, and the overall offering of two or more brokers.

Merrill doesn’t offer this possibility, meaning a new investor must blindly open an account before testing the offer.

There's a huge list of additional fees and services coming on top of the regular commissioning structure.

It seems to be a fee or a commission for pretty much everything you can imagine, which is not necessarily bad, if it were not hidden somewhere on the website.

To Merrill's defense, such practice seems to be the norm in the industry, so probably they just got inspired from the competition.

Merrill Edge had limited support for cryptocurrencies. If you're interested in trading or investing in cryptocurrencies, you might need to look for alternative platforms

How Merrill Edge Self-Directing Trading Works?

Rated as one of the best brokerage houses in terms of client and user experience and famous for giving its clients access to the renowned BofA Global Research, Merrill offers its clients various ways to invest in financial markets. 

One would be via self-directing trading.

Designed for the individual investors, Merrill Edge Self-Directed trading services give access to unlimited free trades plus other benefits designed to bring a plus to the customer’s experience – research and insights, personalized online investing, seamless integration between the Merrill investment account and Bank of America bank account, etc.

There’s no minimum investment needed for self-direct trading with Merrill.

Another way to invest with Merrill is via Merrill Guiding Investing arm, which is a portfolio designed to suit each individual client’s needs and balanced and managed by Merrill professionals. Against an annual fee and a minimum investment of $5000, anyone can benefit from guided investing by Merrill.

Furthermore, the Merrill Guided investing with an advisor program addresses those with more complex wealth management needs.

For a larger annual fee and a minimum investment of $20,000, Merrill builds a tailor-made investment strategy suited to each client.

Finally, if any of the above is not enough for the sophisticated investor, other options exist, like investing with a Merrill Lynch Wealth Management Advisor, a Merrill Private Wealth Advisor, or a team of Bank of America Private Wealth specialists.

Merrill Edge Trading Products

It is no surprise that its product offering covers the entire investment range for such diversified possibilities to trade with Merrill.
Product Description
Stocks Invest in publicly-trading companies across various market sectors
ETFs Benefit from the ETFs diversification advantages for an increased tax-efficiency
Mutual funds Funds for every type of investor – new and experienced
Fixed income and bonds Trade CDs, Treasuries, corporate bonds, agency bonds, and municipal bonds at competitive rates
Options Better manage risk with options trading
Margin trading Take advantage of market opportunities with competitive margin rates
BofAML US 1 List Stock investment choices recommended by BofA Merrill Lynch Global Research analysts
Merrill Edge Select® Funds Funds screening for self-directed investors
Merrill Edge Select® ETFs Diversified equity exposure that helps investors simplify the process of choosing suitable ETFs

Merrill Edge Commissions and Fees

Stocks trading with Merrill costs $0; the same applies to trading ETFs. However, other fees may apply because sales are subject to a transaction fee between 1-3 cents on $1,000 of principal.

From this point of view, Merrill is no different than other brokerage houses, hiding additional fees at the bottom of the pricing page for the products it advertises as free to trade. Also, there's a $29.95 charge for representative-assisted trades if someone needs assistance placing an order.

In 2020, JPMorgan recorded the highest revenues from investment banking in the world at $8.5 billion . The new record made JPMorgan the largest bank in the world, with a market share of 9.3%. In the same period, Goldman Sachs recorded approximately $7.1 billion, making it the second-largest bank. BofA Securities and Morgan Stanley ranked third and fourth, with a difference of $111 million between them. UBS secured the 10th spot with $1.8 billion in revenue, $6.9 billion behind JPMorgan.

Chart: Largest Banks Globally 2020, by Revenue From Investment Banking (in Million USD)

Options trading is also advertised as commission-free but doesn't include the per-contract fee 0f $0.65. On the bright side, there are no trade or balance minimums when trading options with Merrill. 

For fixed-income and bonds, there's no commission for online trading of treasuries (auction and secondary) or new issues, including brokered CDs. However, the representative-assisted trade charge of $29.95 applies to trading treasuries.

Other secondary trades, like corporate bonds, government agencies, or municipal bonds, can be traded at Merrill against a $1/bond fee, with minimum and maximum commissions of $10 and $250. This commission structure remains valid even if the trader decides to use the representative-assisted trade service, in which case the $29.95 charge adds up.

Account Types

Merrill offers multiple account options to its customers, but it simplifies the decision process extremely efficiently. There are three basic categories one must choose from:

  • General Investing
  • Retirement
  • College planning

The first category contains an online brokerage account, a joint brokerage account, or a custodial account.

In the second category, Merrill groups the accounts dedicated to retirement – rollover IRA, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, and SEP IRA.

When it comes to retirement savings plans, 55% of American adults save their money using a regular saving account, according to T. Rowe Price. 401(k) plan closely follows by a margin of 54% of the respondents.

 

Finally, the college planning category has two account types – the 529 college savings plan and the custodial account.

Any client interested in Merrill's services must choose one account from the abovementioned ones. Interestingly, the next decision to take is how the client wants to invest. At this stage, Merrill offers three options to each customer:

  • Online investing and trading – here, you'll get access to the trading platform but also to research insights and step-by-step guidance to help you all the way
  • Merrill guided investing – minimum $ 5,000 investment to have your portfolio professionally managed
  • Merrill guided investing with an advisor – $20,000 minimum investment for advice and guidance from an advisor

Trading Platforms

The Merrill Edge Market Pro is the flagship trading platform and comes with a bundle of features that makes it one of the most-wanted trading platforms in the industry. Merrill equipped its platform with real-time market analysis, award-winning research, as well as powerful trading and analysis tools.

It has a fully customizable dashboard offering a complete view of the accounts and drag-and-drop windows that make it easy to do that. Charting is easy with Merrill Edge Market Pro, and technical traders have access to over thirty technical analysis studies.

An important aspect to consider is that the Merrill Edge Market Pro is accessible from the company's website too, but there's a trick – you must enable pop-ups to allow the platform to launch, otherwise, it won't.

Finally, the Merrill Edge Market Pro is famous for its access to Level II quotes, a feature many traders look for, and few platforms offer.

Customer Service

Merrill has a strong network of local offices in virtually all states, giving it a strong physical presence on each local market.

On top of that, it offers 24/7 assistance over the phone and live chat to discuss any investing-related inquiry.

How to Open Merrill Edge Brokerage Account? 

Step 1:

Visit the Merrill Edge homepage and then click on “Get started”.

1_Merrill Edge_Homepage

Step 2:

Next, give your personal information. This takes you to the next page where you can give your employment and financial information.

3_Merrill Edge_Employment & Financial

Step 3:

This takes you to the section “Account details.” Fill in the necessary details and click “Continue.”

5_Merrill Edge_Account details 2

Step 4:

Next, review your application and then give your consent to the eCommunications Disclosure and then click “Continue.”

7_Merrill Edge_Review and sign 2

Step 5:

Finally, select the box and click “Submit application.”

Trading Education

Merrill offers more than trading education as it puts a lot of effort and energy into guiding its clients. Its advice goes beyond basic investment strategies and into research too.

It splits its investment education into different levels from beginner to advanced concepts, and its resource center is truly impressive – webinars, videos, articles library, tools, and calculators. It also offers guidance for each trading style and way to invest.

In other words, Merrill's education section is one of the most complete in the industry.

Merrill Edge is Best For..

A regulated broker in the United States, Merrill is best for U.S. residents looking for a complete, turn-key solution to financial markets.

It managed to put together a fabulous education and guidance service, a more-than-impressive trading platform, and great customer service. It's not that easy to find such combination at rival firms, and Merrill knows that – it justifies the higher-than-average fees it charges its customers.

With its vast network of physical offices throughout the United States, Merrill suits those that need to put a face behind a company. Customer service at Merrill goes the extra mile, and the representatives in the territory do whatever it takes for customer satisfaction.

This is a broker that caters to all types of investors (beginner, intermediate, experienced) and develops a product for each. Combined with the trading education offering, itis handy for investors to learn more about the markets and to appreciate the help Merrill provides.

Savings Accounts Reviews

Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Baruch Mann (Silvermann)

Baruch Silvermann is a financial expert, experienced analyst, and founder of The Smart Investor.  Silvermann has contributed to Yahoo Finance and cited as an authoritative source in financial outlets like Forbes, Business Insider, CNBC Select, CNET, Bankrate, Fox Business, The Street, and more.
Search
Best Savings Accounts
Top Offers From Our Partners

UpgradeLogo

Savings Rate: 5.21% APY
Minimum Deposit:
$0
 
CIT-Bank-Logo
Savings Rate: 5.05% APY
Minimum Deposit:
$5,000
Quontic bank logo
Savings Rate: 4.50% APY
Minimum Deposit:
$100
 
Advertiser Disclosure
The product offers that appear on this site are from companies from which this website receives compensation.
Top Offers From Our Partners

Chase_logo

Promotion:
$300 New Chase checking customers enjoy a $300 bonus when you open a Chase Total Checking® account and make direct deposits totaling $500 or more within 90 days of coupon enrollment.. Expired on 4/17/2024
Chase Overdraft Assist
With Chase Overdraft AssistSM, you won’t be charged an Overdraft Fee if you’re overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the business day OR if you’re overdrawn by more than $50 and you bring your account balance to overdrawn by $50 or less at the end of the next business day

UpgradeLogo

Fees:
No monthly fees No monthly fees and no overdraft fees. Plus get reimbursed for ATM fees with an active account 
Rewards:
Up to 2% cash back Up to 2% cash back on common everyday expenses for active accounts with monthly $1,000 direct deposit, and up to 1% cash back for other purchases 
Promotion:
$300 Use Promo Code “AXOS300” for a $300 bonus when you apply for a Rewards Checking account
Up to 3.30% APY
to get the maximum rate (up to $50,000) you’ll need monthly direct deposits of $1,500 (0.40% APY), 10 transaction on your debit card (+0.30% APY), average daily balance of $2,500 on Axos Invest Managed Portfolio (+1.00% APY), average daily balance of $2,500 on Axos Invest Self Directed Trading Account(+1.00% APY) and make full monthly payment on loans (mortgage, personal and auto) with Axos account (+0.60% APY).

PNC bank logo

Promotion:
Up to $400 Open a new, select Virtual Wallet product and receive $500/$2,000/$5,000 or more in qualifying monthly direct deposits within 60 days to earn a $100/$200/$400 bonus.
Subject to state availability
PNC Virtual Wallet ® is available in AL, AZ, CA, CO, DC, DE, FL, GA, IL, IN, KY, MD, MI, NC, NJ, NY, NM, OH, PA, SC, TX, VA, WI, and WV. Virtual Wallet ® is offered in the state of MO with the exception of the Greater Kansas City area. Product availability may vary based on where you open your account and the Zip code of your primary

Promotion:
Up to $4,000 New customers may earn up to $4,000 when they open an eligible HSBC Premier checking account from January 8, 2024 through March 27, 2024 and complete qualifying activities:

• Receive a cash bonus of $1,500 when you deposit or invest $100,000 – $199,999.99

• Receive a cash bonus of $2,000 when you deposit or invest $200,000 – $299,999.99

• Receive a cash bonus of $2,500 when you deposit or invest $300,000 – 499,999.99

• Receive a cash bonus of $3,500 when you deposit or invest $500,000+

• Earn an extra $500 when you set up recurring monthly Direct Deposits totaling at least $5,000 for 3 months
Wealth Products & Advice
Get access to wealth products, insights and advice from an HSBC Financial Professional through HSBC Securities (USA) Inc
Advertiser Disclosure
The product offers that appear on this site are from companies from which this website receives compensation.

Table of Contents