Merrill Edge Review: Start Investing with Bank of America’s Financial Platform

Bank of America’s division for managing and investing money is called Merrill Edge, and Bank of America Securities is its sister investment firm. If you don’t know the name Merrill Edge, you probably know the name Merrill Lynch, which is what this broker was called before its rebranding. Merrill Edge has great tools for research, and for some products, you can trade for free. This broker works with less serious investors. It also aims at customers of Bank of America, who would like to have their bank account and Merrill Edge account merged together. You can used the information we are going to provide to determine whether your portfolio aligns with your ideal asset allocation.

Minimum Balance: $0

Cost per stock trade: $0

Cost per options trade: $0.65 per contract

Promotion: Up to $600 cash

Commission-free: All

No-transaction-fee mutual funds: 800+ NTF mutual funds

Securities: Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds

Customer service: Phone 24/7, access to an advisor at more than 2,000 B of A locations

Account fees: $49.95 full transfer fee, $49.95 closeout fees on retirement accounts

Mobile applications: Merrill Edge offers the “Merrill Edge” mobile app on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store.

Customer Service

• 24/7 phone call support
• Online chat
• Provide trading-related information
• You can communicate with online brokers. (There is a fee for any trades made through a broker) and a financial advisor.
•  This is open for service only to US customers.

Merrill Edge’s phone line is available 24/7 for technical support and trading assistance. Bank of America Merrill Financial Solutions Advisors are available at Bank of America branches in most states for one-on-one assistance, or you can contact them by phone.

Products

Merrill Edge offers Lipper ratings and Morningstar ratings for mutual funds and ETFs. They provide Merrill Lynch research and third-party research on individual stocks and bonds. Additionally, their easy-to-use interface shows stock market fundamentals, fundamental charts and information from SEC filings. On the website and MarketPro, investors can trade the following securities with Merrill Edge:

• Long and short stock. For all short sale locates, Merrill Edge’s stock borrowing procedure is totally automated. It contains various securities, some of which have historically been on ETB lists, and when inventory is available, it can offer an instant location.
• OTCBB (penny stocks). A few limitations could set limits on OTCBB transactions based on market capitalization.
• Investment funds (about 3,100 no-load, no transaction fee).
• Offer bonds 
• Integration of robo-advisory into the website and mobile app.
• Trading internationally using a live broker.

Pricing

Merrill Edge is one of many brokers who have switched to commission-free stock and ETF trading.

• No commissions are charged for online equities, ETF, and OTCBB trades.
• There is no per-leg commission on option trading. Commissions are $0.65 for each deal.
• The cost of an order for 50 option contracts is $32.50.
• A covered call trade for 500 shares plus five contracts costs $3.25.
• Mutual fund trades for funds outside of the No Transaction Fee program cost $19.95.
• Secondary bond trades in fixed income are priced at $1 per bond.
• The rate of margin interest ranges from 8.5% for balances under $10,000 to 7.55% for balances above $100,000.
• There are no charges for inactivity, receiving wires, sending cheques, or obtaining paper statements and trade confirmations.
• Sending a wire costs $24.95 (domestic and international)
• The cost of completely transferring an account out is $49.95. There is no charge for partial transfers.
•  The account termination charge for retirement accounts is $49.95.
• Trades with a broker’s help cost $29.95 each.

Order Types

On all platforms, Merrill Edge provides common order types as market, limit, stop limit, and trailing stop. The sophisticated conditional orders that active traders need are not available. When you partially end the position after investing in stocks over time, you can choose the tax lot. As an alternative, you can establish defaults for tax lot variables as average cost, last-in-first-out, etc.

Usability

Merrill Edge is an easy-to-use platform. Especially if you are already a Bank of America customer. After logging into the Merrill Edge website, you can view your account balance. Portfolio Performance and market updates The platform has 5 functions: Account, Trade, Research, Advice and Retirement. It is easy to find tools and resources from the platform functions. You can open the MarketPro platform, which can be used by all clients, regardless of account size or activity.

MarketPro and the Merrill Edge mobile app are available for both Android and iOS. The platform offers real-time quotes and news. which you can view on multiple devices simultaneously. The app supports the same command type. and excluding debt instruments

You can review, manage and create special items on the app. They can then be shared between the web and mobile apps. However, MarketPro specials are saved to your local device instead of the cloud. Charts and research are available on both MarketPro and the app, and you can use technical and drawing tools on any platform.

Trade Experience

All of Merrill Edge’s trading platforms include a straightforward and user-friendly trading process. MarketPro offers a lot of customization options, such as those for color schemes, text size, layouts, notifications, trade defaults, and hotkeys. By right-clicking the chart in MarketPro, users can choose to “buy” or “sell” at the current price. By tapping the “Trade” icon in the chart header, users of the web and mobile devices can prefill the order ticket with the symbol information. Overall, it was thought that the MarketPro chart trading interface was less attractive than some other trading platforms. Even so, it accomplishes its goal, especially for small-time retail sellers with fewer stringent standards.

On many devices, you can simultaneously view streaming real-time quotes from MarketPro and mobile phones. You can stage orders for later entry and input several orders at once.

Security and Reliability

• Mobile device biometric verification (fingerprint scanning or face recognition).
• Text, phone, and email-based soft tokens for high-risk transaction authorization are offered.
• The SafePass card provides a device token for high-risk trading authorization.
• Lloyd’s of London offers excess Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) insurance. The maximum appeared to be due is $1 billion.
• For 2021, no significant breaches were announced.
• According to Merrill Edge, their platform saw no substantial outages in 2021. Additionally, it states that Bank of America has not endured any major losses or other negative effects as a result of technological malfunction, cyberattacks, or other data or security breaches over the last four years.
• Customers who are interested in learning more about cyber risks should read the disclosure in the most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K that Bank of America Corporation filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
• Merrill Edge will cover you for “measurable monetary losses that occur in any of your Merrill Edge accounts due to illegal third-party activity” under the company’s Fraud Protection Guarantee.

Transparency

The price page for Merrill Edge provides a breakdown of self-directed trading commissions and fees for equities & ETFs, options, mutual funds, and fixed income & bonds. Current margin rates are also available, but for balance tiers of $100k and more, you must make a phone call. Additional charges and services are listed below, sorted by account type (investing, retirement, and education).

News & Education

The Associated Press, BBC Newsfile, Boston Globe, Briefing.com, Business Wire, Canada Newswire, Chicago Tribune, Dow Jones, The Economist, Globe Newswire, Information Week, The Guardian U.K., Investor’s Business Daily, Marketwired, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and the Xinhua News Agency are just a few of the more than 30 sources of news that Merrill Edge offers. Holdings, watchlists, and preferred news sources can all be used to filter the news stream.

The Investor Education Center at Merrill Edge begins by asking, “How do you like to learn?” You can select a topic (such as investing & markets, stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, margin, etc.) or an investing experience level (beginning, intermediate, or advanced). Then, whether it’s articles, videos & webinars, courses, or calculators, you can choose your favorite learning medium.

There is also the Morningstar-powered Merrill Edge Investing Classroom. Through a series of lessons that go from simple to complex tactics, you can learn about a variety of investment-related topics. Examples of courses are “Using Morningstar’s Ratings for Stocks,” “20 Stock-Investing Tips,” and “Modern Portfolio Theory.”

Pros Clarified

• When it comes to funding, Merrill combines research from Morningstar and Lipper when it comes to funding, and a team within the company also creates a report. for each share market reviews and other economic news Each page for a stock or fund is fully functional. for many investors, along with financial data, graphs, prospectus details for funds, and research reports. Analyst reports can offer data that is not available elsewhere. Offer proposals with links to SEC filings. It’s a really outstanding research team.
• Following the appointment, you’ll have access to more than 2,000 Bank of America locations for one-on-one assistance as well as 24/7 phone customer support throughout the entire week.
• Merrill provides a variety of unexpected account types in addition to individual, joint, and traditional and Roth IRAs. These include, among many others, trusts, SIMPLE IRAs, SEP IRAs, and solo 401(k)s. You can use 529 plans to save for your child’s education as well as prison accounts to make investments on their representative.

Cons Clarified

• Merrill significantly trimmed the distance between itself and competitors by providing commission-free trading for stocks and ETFs. However, if there is one area where it could be improved, it would be the trading interface and basic site navigation. Even if you only make a single trade, using the tabs to switch between screens can be too time-consuming, and entering orders is too difficult. To execute a trade, you may occasionally need to click in a small menu. This makes the process more cumbersome than it needs to be.
• You can roll over your whole dividend payout into extra equity with Merrill Edge by reinvesting it into fractional shares of stock. Even though it is a minor benefit, it is great. It’s unfortunate that the broker doesn’t allow you to invest a certain dollar amount in any stock you want when buying shares of stock.
• Although Merrill Edge does not charge an inactivity fee, a full transfer of your account to another broker would cost you $49.95. In addition, there will be a $49.95 closing cost for the retirement account, which is separate from the transfer fee. There are no closure costs other than for ordinary investing accounts.
• Merrill’s less than 900 no-cost mutual fund offerings are much fewer than those of other top brokers, who provide more than 3,000. Investors would be delighted to see a rise in the number of fee-free products accessible.

Is Merrill Edge A Worth Broker to Get?

Merrill Edge excels in a number of areas, including what might be referred to as customer support:

• Investors get access to a wide variety of research, including both internal studies from the broker on individual stocks and external research.

• Numerous educational resources assist novice investors, and extremely responsive phone and email customer service is available at practically any time.

• It is simple for people who need to speak with an advisor in person, wish to transfer money between accounts, or want additional credit card benefits thanks to the integration with Bank of America.

Conclusion

Investors searching for fantastic research deals and excellent customer service might consider Merrill Edge. New investors gain from educational materials with access to financial advisors at more than 2,000 Bank of America locations, commission-free stocks, and ETFs. While sophisticated traders will value MarketPro’s trading platform, Bank of America clients can easily transfer money between their bank savings or checking account and Merrill Edge and might receive more credit card benefits. Choosing this broker is a wise decision for both novice and seasoned investors.

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Source: Investopedia, Bankrate