TD Ameritrade vs. Merrill Lynch brokerage comparison 2012
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Merrill Lynch brokerage does not exist anymore. Bank of America purchased Merrill Lynch and together they created
new online broker called Merrill Edge (Merrill Edge Review).
To compare TD Ameritrade and Merrill Edge, read
TD Ameritrade vs Merrill Edge review.
TD Ameritrade vs Merrill Lynch: Trading Fees and Investments Offered
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- Stocks and ETFs: $9.99
- Stocks and ETFs broker assisted: $49.99
- Stocks and ETFs Interactive Voice Response (IVR) Telephone System: $34.99
- Options: $9.99 plus $0.75 per contract
- No-load mutual funds: $49.99
- Treasuries at auction: $25 flat fee
- All other bonds and CMOs, CDs: on a net yield basis
- Futures: $3.50 per contract (inclusive of exchange fees)
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, ETFs, bonds, CDs, UITs, futures and forex
- Minimum to open TD Ameritrade account: $0 for cash account, $2,000 for margin account
- All TD Ameritrade fees
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- Stocks and ETFs: $29.95 for limit orders; $14 market orders
- Options: expensive with complicated structure
click here to see it
- Investment products: stocks, bonds, mutual funds, options, bills, notes, munis, CDs, corporate bonds, ETFs,
annuities
- Minimum to open Merrill Lynch account: $2,000
- All Merrill Lynch fees
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- No surcharges on penny stocks, large orders and after-hours trading
- Large and well known company with many local branches
- Very good trading platform
- Free IRA accounts
- No maintenance and inactivity fees
- Free streaming quotes
- Large selection of independent, third-party research (S&P, Morningstar Associates, and ResearchTeamTM)
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- Many investment products
- Participation in IPOs, if you have 100K account balance (not guaranteed)
- Free checking account
- Free Visa debit card
- 600 offices nationwide
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- $9.99 commission for stocks/ETFs and $49 commission for mutual funds are high
- Occasional poor order execution
- The website is sometimes very slow or even down on the high volume days
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- Highest commissions of all stock brokers
- Additional $0.03 per share for orders of over 1,000 shares
- Account maintenance fee: $25/quarter (waived if 25K balance or make 2 trades in 6 months)
- Annual custodial fee of $50 for IRA and ROTH IRA accounts (waived if $20,000 in assets at Merrill Lynch)
- Mutual fund Short-Term redemption fee if held less than 180 days: $50-$250
- Optional Exchange Fee: $30. Mandatory Exchange Fee: $50
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TD Ameritrade vs Merrill Lynch: Comparison Summary
When comparing stock and ETF commissions, Merrill Lynch (Merrill Lynch Review)
is clearly much more expensive than TD Ameritrade (Ameritrade Review):
$30 versus $10. In fact, Merrill Lynch, is the most expensive brokerage company in US. The firm also has a
surcharge of $0.03 per share for orders of over 1,000 shares.
Ameritrade has no account maintenance and inactivity fees. It also does not charge IRA setup and annual IRA
fees, though it did not made it into our
Best IRA Companies list.
Merrill Lynch does have maintenance fee as well as annual IRA fees. It does not, however, suffer from website
lagging and order execution problems that happen at TD Ameritrade on high-volume days.
The firm offers a lot of products to invest, free checking account and a lot of local offices.
If you are new to investing, there are online brokerage houses that offer vibrant online communities where members
could ask questions, learn from more experienced traders and even get investment ideas. Check out
our Best Brokerages for New Investor recommendations.
We recommend TD Ameritrade for IRA accounts and "buy-and-hold" investors.
Trading costs at TD Ameritrade and Merrill Lynch are just too high: customers could save thousands over the years
by choosing lower priced company. We suggest five companies in
Best Online Trading Brokers list,
which offer much lower stock and ETF commissions and excellent client services.
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