Since its launch in 2010, Merrill Edge has primarily focused on providing a link for Bank of America customers to gain access to a reliable and trustworthy online brokerage.
In the past 24 months they have made significant updates to both their mobile and online platforms. They made these changes to meet the needs of their clients, which further highlights their commitment to providing the best service possible to their investors.
Whether you’re an existing Bank of America customer or you looking for a new bank, it’s worth considering the premium rewards offered by Merrill Edge that include high interest rates on your uninvested cash, free ATM transactions, attractive auto loan rates, and mortgage orientation discounts.
When you compare the popularity and progress of Merrill Edge to some of its more established competitors, you’ll quickly see that it is the perfect fit for your investment needs. Merrill Edge has consistently ranked among the premier brokerages for beginners, because of its exceptionally high customer service standards.
Customers also like their library of stock ranking proprietary research you can access in order to increase your knowledge base regarding Investments. Merrill Edge’s primary focus is to provide a trustworthy link between the exceptional banking services provide by Bank of America and the benefits of online investment. Enjoying unlimited free ETF and stock trades and free access to the latest and highest quality research,
The reason we have written a more extensive review about marriage is down to their dedication to provide a platform that allows for thoughtful integration between your bank account the ability to use free trades and access a library of information that provides you a robust tool with which to research your investment needs
Who can benefit from Merrill Edge
Intermediate level or new investors who are interested in the benefits of long-term investing can benefit from the wide variety of services and advanced technology provided by Merrill Edge.
If you view Merrill Edge as just a standalone online brokerage, it provides investors and traders a comprehensive and robust platform that competes with the best available on the market. When partnered with the extensive financial services provided by the Bank of America universe, Merrill Edge offers a much broader level of convenience.
For example, you can simply walk into any branch of Bank of America and ask for a face-to-face consultation with one of their many qualified financial consultants. By tying yourself to a large financial institution, you get a depth of knowledge that would be otherwise unavailable to you on similar platforms. Another key benefit to using Merrill Edge is that as your portfolio grows, it will cost you far less to get the benefit from this platform. However, if you’re operating with limited capital Merrill edge may not be the ideal starting point for you.
Pros of using Merrill Edge
- Merrill Edge continue to invest heavily in a portfolio of analytical tools that ensure their customers can comprehensively examine all your assets.
- By linking with your Bank of America account, you’ll receive additional benefits from both Maryland and Bank of America.
- They will provide you with access to extensive third party and proprietary research.
Cons of using Merrill Edge
- Merrill Edge interest is one of the option fees charged maybe higher than other platforms.
- They limit option trading to only two legs on different spreads.
- It doesn’t provide any facility for cryptocurrency, futures options, or futures trading.
A deeper look at the pros and cons of Merrill Edge
If you want the opportunity to take a deeper and more analytical look at how your asset portfolio is working. The analysis tools provided by Merrill Edge such as their “portfolio story” provide you with a unique insight and a more comprehensive picture of how your assets are operating.
If you hold more than $20,000 in your Merrill Edge and Bank of America accounts, you instantly qualify for benefits that can help you realize greater returns on your investment and save significantly on different fees.
One of the major reasons that Merrill Edge is popular with new and intermediate level investors is that they provide them access to research from both third party and proprietary resources. One of the latest is their “Idea builder”, which was added in late 2020. This provides customers with different trading ideas investing themes should use of personalized and visual experiences.
Some investors may find the margin interest rates and the contract option fees are slightly higher
my limiting the option spreads you can trade online to just two legs more complex spreads need to be phoned in using one of the live brokers.
Merrill Edge does not provide any facility to trade cryptocurrencies futures options are futures as a result some clients may feel restricted by this limitation.
Who is Merrill Edge best for
Bank of America customers with accounts over $20,00. Anyone who’s focused on governance social or environmental investment.
Key features of Merrill Edge
- No Minimum account balance required.
- No charges on Stock trading.
- Option trades cost anything from $0 to $.65 depending on the contract.
- They charge no closing or transfer fees.
- There are no inactivity or annual account fees.
- If you are cashing out a retirement fund, there is a one of fee of $49.95.
- They provide their customers with several ETFs commission free.
- You can trade all Mutual funds with zero transaction fees over 3000 in total.
- You can trade ETFs, Stocks, Mutual Funds, Options and Bonds.
- Merrill Edge provide their customers with access to three different trading platforms.
- Fully integrated HTML based trading platform.
- A mobile application (Available on both IOS and Android).
- A Merrill Edge MarketPro program.
- Access to an advanced desktop based platform.
- Extensive data and research available to customers.
- Promotions include up to $600 for any new customer whose minimum balance is $20,000, you can even receive a bonus of $900 by joining BOAS preferred programs of rewards.
- You also have access to a wide variety of customer service solutions. These are available 24/7.
Why choose Merrill Edge over other platforms?
Linked with BOA
If you are a Bank of America customer Merrill edge should excite you as it’s a buying a product of your Banks and position of Merrill lynch, they have worked hard to seamlessly provide you what access to the services provided by its parent company. If you’re right but functionality like many others, you can seamlessly transfer funds in proper time between your Merrill Edge account and your Bank of America account as they can control both with a single login. Another tool they offer BOA customers is the opportunity to access your account balances at any of Bank of America ATMs.
Rewards offered
By holding both a Bank of America and a Merrill edge account you become a more valued customer and you can instantly qualify for a rewards program this offers you access to different promotions and discounts and savings on your auto loan rates further discounts and mo more favorable interest rates on any of your savings accounts. The only catch being you need to have an average of $20,000 in your Bank of America account for at least 3 months.
Access to a knowledge base
Bank of America employed their own local investment research team which provides excessive research to its customers they also provide you access to recognize Morningstar and other third Party experts. For example, it’s mutual fund reviews are provided by liver and Morningstar. They also provide their customers with a list of select ETFs and other funds by compiling an advisory list for Merrill edge customers’ Bank of America insurers that they test any investment proposal fully been provided before providing any research data on it.
By simply accessing their website you also gain access to articles, webinars courses and videos and other educational materials. You can also take advantage of the fact that this database is fully searchable while if you’re pursuing more knowledge on investments, Morningstar has a classroom feature that they also provide you access to.
To make the research process as straightforward as possible, marriages have added once known as a fund story to their features. For example, if you want more in-depth information on a specific mutual fund and they’re Holdings, you can use this research tool to see exactly what sectors they’re invested in if you any third party ratings and study the historical performances. You also have access to a stock story and a portfolio story feature which operates a fashion these are all designed in a simple to follow format they’re all illustrated pros and cons of each form of investment and costs attached to each.
You’re overall user experience
Bank of America and Merrill Edge combined to pioneer a customer service revolution and continue to develop annually to ensure the customer experience on their platforms are as perfect as possible. By constantly providing more customizable and analytical tools for their customers portfolios access to research and news and tools like idea builder and dynamic insights leaving your Holdings with Merrill edge might provide you with much needed insight into future performances in the market.
Merrill Edge strive to provide their customers with a variety of tools in order to find the best investment opportunities. A recent and innovative tool they’ve added as known as an “Idea builder”. instead of searching for companies, you can search by concepts or ideas looking in sectors for individually performing companies under a specific criteria.
Everyone has their own area of interest, whether it’s climate change, big data, aging, or following Warren Buffett you can do all this through the idea builder. The ability to quickly find the shares you need with just a few simple clicks, is one of the principal reasons that this has become very popular with their users, especially those who are looking for additional information for more responsible Investments opportunities.
Access to fully integrated platforms.
As is expected of any online broker today, Merrill Edge provides you with an active trading platform called Market Pro. They also have an excellent website, that’s both intuitive and easy to navigate, allowing you to swiftly look through any bonds, ETFs, mutual funds, or stocks. You can also use their quick trade feature, which helps you make a ETF or stock in trade from wherever you are on the website.
Excellent customer service record
Whenever you search for information on the customer service provided by Merrill Edge, you notice that their ratings regularly get 5 out of 5 for both their online and 24/7 phone service. You can either chat or talk to a broker.
Unfortunately, this brokerage is only available to US residents, but they provide both a trading help and tax support line that’s open 24/7. In our experience, expect your call to be answered much faster than you may think. You can help your customer service agent by starting with the automated menu and providing them with the information they ask for. We particularly like the fact that you can get access to experience financial consultants and virtually every Bank of America branch in the US I only have to do is walk in in person and ask for help.
As you would expect, both Bank of America and Merrill Edge now provide customer support over Twitter. Most of their Twitter account feeds seem to be dedicated to investment information.
The only negative we can see about Merrill Edge
There is one negative is that they only the offer limited access to securities. While they’re selection of mutual funds, ETFs options, bonds and stocks are more than adequate, if you’re interested in investing in cryptocurrencies or futures this is not the platform for you.
Conclusion
Our team of experts firmly believe that regardless of your experience, Merrill Edge can provide you with a service that will be both innovative and of the highest quality. They will undoubtedly provide you with exceptional customer service and excellent investment opportunities. In the world of online brokerages, this company deserves this place towards the top of the field.
