Merrill Edge Review

Merrill Edge charges no commission to buy and sell U.S. stocks and ETFs online, so its real price questions are about options, transfers and the managed program. Most discount brokers start from the same free trade, which means the add-on fees decide the ranking.

Toolradar data: of the 9 investment apps we rank on Toolradar, 3 have a free plan, or 33%, as of October 2026. See our investing apps ranking for the wider category.

Methodology: every fee on this page was checked on the vendor's own pricing page on October 10, 2026. We compare Merrill Edge's Self-Directed and Guided Investing schedules with Fidelity, Charles Schwab, Vanguard and Webull for a stock, ETF and options account. Returns are not measured, and fund expenses are left out because each fund sets its own.

Merrill Edge is Merrill's online investing platform, part of Bank of America. It offers two ways to invest. Self-Directed is a brokerage account where you choose stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, bonds and options yourself. Guided Investing is a managed program: Merrill's Chief Investment Office builds a portfolio of ETFs and mutual funds for a goal you set online.

Guided Investing comes with or without an advisor. The advisor version adds a Merrill Financial Solutions Advisor and costs 0.85% a year, against 0.45% without one. BofA Rewards, Bank of America's relationship program, can lower the Guided fee and opens equity research, which we cover below. If you want a free-trade app to compare, our Robinhood review covers its paid tier.

Self-Directed trading is free until you use an add-on. Online stock, ETF and option trades carry no commission, with no trade or balance minimums and no annual account fee. The costs sit at the edges: a per-contract fee on each options contract, the lower of $29.95 or 5% of principal for a broker-assisted stock trade, and a $39.95 short-term redemption fee on some no-transaction-fee mutual funds sold within 90 days.

BofA Rewards decides what research you get. Equity research from BofA Global Research opens at the Preferred Honors tier, which needs $100,000 to $1 million in combined Bank of America and Merrill balances. Preferred Plus starts at $30,000. The program FAQ also lists a fee discount on Guided accounts: 0.10% off at Preferred Plus and 0.15% off at Preferred Honors and Premier.

Guided Investing charges monthly on your balance. The program fee is taken each month on the prior month's balance. The advisor version comes to about $14.17 a month on $20,000.

Self-Directed cost depends on what you trade, not how much you hold. Twenty option contracts a year cost $13 at Merrill, the same as at Fidelity and Schwab, $20 at Vanguard, and $0.90 in regulatory and clearing fees at Webull, which charges no commission on standard U.S. listed options ($0.045 a contract on each side, our arithmetic for 20 contracts). Merrill's pricing page sets out the full commission schedule.

Guided Investing costs $90 a year on a $20,000 balance, or $170 with an advisor. The advisor version costs $80 more a year on the same balance. Schwab's Intelligent Portfolios charges no advisory fee, but its cash allocation and fund expenses still apply, so the Merrill fee buys the managed portfolio and its monitoring. For a robo-advisor fee comparison, see our Wealthfront review and the robo-advisor ranking.

Moving money costs a flat fee per event. A full account transfer out costs $49.95 at Merrill, or $75 with the advisor version. Webull charges $75 per outgoing stock transfer. Fidelity's schedule lists a transfer of assets at no charge, and Vanguard charges an annual service fee of $25 unless a waiver applies.

Merrill Edge Self-Directed fits an investor who already banks with Bank of America, trades stocks and ETFs online, and wants no commission and no minimum. It is a weaker choice for frequent options traders, because the per-contract fee matches Fidelity and Schwab and runs above Webull on standard listed options. Our options trading platforms ranking covers the active-trader side. On Toolradar, you can read the tool profiles for Fidelity and Webull alongside this page.

Guided Investing fits a saver who meets the growth minimum and would rather answer a few questions than pick funds. At 0.45% it costs less than the 0.85% advisor tier, and the monthly fee is the price of a managed portfolio. If your balance is smaller, the Acorns review covers a flat-fee alternative, and the robo-advisor ranking covers the wider field.

Skip the advisor tier unless you want a named person to call. It costs $80 a year more than the base Guided program on the same balance, so the advisor has to be worth that gap to you.