Merrill Edge Review [2024]: $0 Trading Fees With a Rewards Program

Merrill Edge from Bank of America enables you to cut costs with low fees and commission-free assets. However, you won’t find every asset class with this brokerage, and the trading platform leaves something to be desired for opportunistic and speculative investors and market timers.

Who is Merrill Edge best for?

Beginner and DIY investors

First-time investors and people who want to customize their portfolios could be a good fit for Merrill Edge Self-Directed investing, a brokerage account you manage yourself that provides a decent balance of research and trade insights without high fees or balance minimums. Beginners may have a little more information than they need, but the interface is fairly easy to learn (although clunkier than some others I’ve seen). And with the ability to make unlimited stock, ETF, and option trades, DIY investors shouldn’t feel held back.

Two noteworthy research tools from Merill Edge are MarketPro and Stock Story. With MarketPro, you can access streaming charts, catch up on news, and choose from 25 different trading windows to configure the platform how you want it. For example, you can toggle quote displays to show changes over different time frames and set up stock watchlists and price alerts.

Stock Story tells you how stocks have performed and how your portfolio compares to the larger market. This tool isn’t unique, though, and you’ll find something similar with most brokers.

Socially responsible investors

Merrill Edge offers a research platform called Idea Builder, which helps you find investment opportunities based on themes.

Topics within the theme “Sustainable Development Goals,” for example, include No Poverty, Affordable and Clean Energy, Responsible Consumption and Production, Climate Action, and Gender Equality. Topics within the Transforming World theme include Energy Efficiency, Future Food, and Millenials + Gen Z. Plus, you can evaluate companies based on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) ratings.

If you like the idea of investing with your values and supporting causes you care about, this could be a useful resource for you, and I don’t see options that offer this much depth and information with every brokerage.

Set-it-and-forget-it investors

If you're more of a set-it-and-forget-it type of investor rather than one who times all of your trades with the market, Merrill Edge's Guided Investing program might be a good fit. It works similarly to a robo-advisor, which would use a computer algorithm to automatically rebalance your portfolio, except that it’s managed by human investment experts.

Guided Investing asks you to answer questions about your investing goals and risk tolerance during the sign-up process. Then, Merrill creates a portfolio that fits your investment needs without you needing to do the legwork. It’s well-suited to a dollar-cost averaging approach where you trickle funds in on a regular basis.

Keep in mind that you need at least $1,000 to get started, and there is a 0.45% annual fee for managed portfolios.

Bank of America account holders

Merrill Edge was built with Bank of America members in mind, which makes sense since the bank owns Merrill Edge.

Seamless integration between Bank of America banking accounts and investment accounts means that money will flow quickly between accounts. And your investing balance will count toward your status in the Preferred Rewards program.

Status in this program could help you reduce the annual fees of a Merrill Edge Guided Investing account, earn more rewards on eligible Bank of America credit cards, and even earn discounts on your mortgage fees or rates. You would need at least a combined $20,000 average daily balance in your Merrill Edge and Bank of America accounts to qualify.

Who should avoid Merrill Edge?

• Active traders
• Crypto traders
• Advanced investors

Merrill Edge isn’t the best fit if you want to invest in cryptocurrency, as it doesn’t offer this asset class. And if you’re not a Bank of America customer, you won’t be able to participate in the Preferred Rewards program. I also wouldn’t recommend this brokerage for day trading, as the platform doesn’t update as often as others and isn’t optimized for quick moves. Other online brokerages, like Interactive Brokers and Fidelity, would be better for this.

Additionally, keep it moving if you need fully automated investing, lots of penny stocks, and/or fractional shares.

What does Merrill Edge offer?

Merrill Edge offers a few ways to invest with these account management options:

• Self-directed investing
• Guided investing
• Advisor-led investing

The platform is accessible through desktop as well as Android and iOS mobile apps. All brokerage accounts offered by Merrill Edge are insured by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC).

Self-directed trading

Merrill Edge’s self-directed brokerage account has $0 trading fees on stocks, ETFs, and options trades (though you’ll pay contract fees for options). This management tier is probably better for more experienced investors who feel comfortable placing trades, but it’s not bad for newbies, either. There are no account minimums, stock trading fees, or account management fees.

While charging no fees for stocks and ETF trades is becoming more common among investing platforms, $0 fees on options trades is a nice perk. You also won’t have an annual fee to worry about, and Merrill Edge doesn’t charge you fees to begin using your account and start investing. The fees you could pay include:

• $0.65 contract fee per options trade
• $1 per bond for corporate and municipal bonds
• $19.95 transaction fee for each mutual fund trade
• $29.95 for each broker-assisted trade on options, stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, and bonds

Guided investing

With this option, the platform creates a portfolio for you based on your risk tolerance and investing goals. Through your personalized dashboard, you can update and change your goals and asset allocations anytime you like. You’ll need at least $1,000 to get started, and you’ll pay an annual fee of 0.45% to Merrill Edge to manage your investments.

This account is fine if you don’t want to customize your investments and don’t mind paying someone else to do it, but you’d likely save more while getting a similar outcome with a robo-advisor like Betterment or Wealthfront.

Advisor-led investing

Merrill Edge offers this option if you want to work directly with an advisor. You can schedule a call or meeting with a financial advisor to get advice on investing goals, but you’ll need a minimum investment of $20,000 to start and will pay an annual program fee of 0.85%. This fee and minimum are pretty average for investing with an advisor. This may be worth it if you value professional advice and ongoing reviews of your portfolio.

Merrill Edge’s investment options

Asset classes

With Merrill Edge, you can invest in the following assets:

• Stocks
• Bonds
• Exchange-traded funds (ETFs)
• Mutual funds
• Options
• Margin trading
• Certificates of deposits (CDs)

Note that this brokerage doesn't offer forex, crypto, or fractional shares (often available for stocks and ETFs).

Retirement account types

• Individual, joint, and custodial investment accounts
• Traditional IRAs
• Roth IRA
• Inherited IRAs
• SEP IRAs
• Simple IRAs
• Rollover IRAs

Merrill Edge alternatives

Charles Schwab

Charles Schwab provides a brokerage account similar to Merrill Edge’s Self-Directed option at a high level — low fees, no minimum — but offers the cryptocurrency investing and futures that Merrill Edge lacks. It also provides far more investment options overall, including fractional shares and a more comprehensive selection of funds.

Its platform also wins out over Merrill Edge’s. Many traders prefer Charles Schwab because it features the thinkorswim platform, which has been widely praised for its customizability and responsiveness, especially for advanced trades like options and planning buys. The only real reason to consider Merrill Edge over Schwab is if you’re a devoted Bank of America customer.

Read our full Charles Schwab review.

Fidelity

Fidelity is another great investing platform that’s similar to Merrill Edge but superior in many ways. Like Schwab, it features cryptocurrencies and fractional shares. It even includes precious metals among its offerings. You’ll probably prefer this brokerage if you’re into stock trading, as the platform offers penny stocks, and the trading interface is more reliable and responsive for active investing.

This will also be a better choice if you’re looking for more retirement account options — the broker offers 403(b), 457(b), Roth 401(k)s, and HSAs, while Merrill Edge does not.

Read our full Fidelity review.

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