Overview of Merrill Lynch and JP Morgan
With an online brokerage account, you can now invest in the stock market and more at very low cost. Merrill Edge and Chase’s J.P. Morgan Investing are two firms that offer securities trading with very competitive pricing. Let’s compare the two.
Cost
| Broker Fees |
Stock/ETF
Commission |
Mutual Fund
Commission |
Options
Commission |
Maintenance
Fee |
Annual IRA
Fee |
|
Merrill Edge
|
$0
|
$19.99
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Chase
|
$0
|
$0
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
|
Charles Schwab
|
$0
|
$49.95 ($0 to sell)
|
$0.65 per contract
|
$0
|
$0
|
Services
Promotions
Charles Schwab: $0 commissions + ACAT rebate + satisfaction guarantee at Charles Schwab.
J.P. Morgan:
Get $0 stock commissions at J.P. Morgan.
Merrill Edge: Get $0 stock commissions at Merrill Edge.
Investing Overview
Both firms offer self-directed brokerage accounts. Clients can trade stocks, options, mutual funds, closed-end funds, exchange-traded funds, and bonds. For options, J.P. Morgan Investing only offers calls and puts. Merrill Edge offers those plus spreads. For stocks, Merrill Edge allows short selling. J.P. Morgan Investing does not.
Unlike J.P. Morgan, Merrill Edge also offers managed accounts for 0.45% per year. The broker also has a hybrid program that includes help from a financial planner for a 0.85% annual fee.
A brokerage or managed account must be opened under some tax structure. Merrill Edge offers 529 plans, custodial accounts, IRAs, trusts, Health Savings Accounts, estate accounts, and solo 401k plans. J.P. Morgan Investing does not offer most of these account types.
Winner: Merrill Edge
Margin
Merrill Edge self-directed clients can choose either cash or margin accounts. An existing cash account can be converted to a margin account (see the Forms & Applications page under the Help & Settings menu).
Many brokerages set margin interest using an account’s debit balance and a base lending rate, which changes as the Fed adjusts rates. Merrill Edge adds another factor: total deposits held at Bank of America. Depending on these details, a client may pay anywhere from
12.18% to 8.18% for margin loans.
J.P. Morgan Investing offers margin accounts. Margin rates range from
11.5% to 9.25%.
Winner: J.P. Morgan
Bank Products
With J.P. Morgan Investing, you cannot add cash-management tools directly to the brokerage account (such as a checkbook or debit card). However, a Chase checking or savings account can be linked to a securities account, and this happens automatically on the website and mobile app.
At Merrill Edge, both a debit card and a checkbook can be added to an investing account at no cost. It is also possible to link a Bank of America savings or checking account to a securities account, and this is also done automatically.
In both cases, it is easy to transfer funds between investing and bank accounts using the company’s website or mobile app.
Winner: Merrill Edge
Websites
Merrill Edge customers get a user-friendly website plus a browser-based trading platform. Together, these tools provide many useful features, including:
- Full-screen charting with many features
- VWAP calculator
- Advanced options tools with built-in strategies
- Level II quotes
- Separate buttons for buy to cover and sell short
- Free technical analysis
- Economic calendar
Trading on the J.P. Morgan Investing website is much simpler. There are no real advanced trading tools, aside from a charting program with a few built-in features. Even then, charts cannot fill the full width of the screen, so the experience is still limited.
J.P. Morgan Investing’s dashboard does include useful tiles that show items like asset allocation, watchlists, market indexes, and top news stories.
Winner: Merrill Edge
Mobile Apps
In addition to website trading, both firms offer mobile trading. The Merrill Edge app includes horizontal charting, budgeting and spending tools, options chains, mobile check deposit, and a large amount of research content. For example, we found stock reports and news articles.
The J.P. Morgan Investing app is built into the Chase Bank app. The brokerage section includes vertical charting, check deposit, security screeners, research reports from JPMorgan, Morningstar ratings, and more.
Both apps use their web-based trade tickets. This means the Merrill app offers more trade types than the J.P. Morgan Investing app.
Winner: Merrill Edge
Supplementary Services
IRA Lineups: Merrill Edge and J.P. Morgan Investing both offer IRAs. Merrill has more IRA types. It charges a $49.95 IRA termination fee, which is lower than J.P. Morgan Investing’s IRA closeout fee of $75.
Automatic Mutual Fund Investing: Both brokers offer it.
Fractional Shares: Not available at either firm for stocks or ETFs.
IPO Access: Not available, either.
Extended Hours: Only available with a Merrill Edge self-directed account.
DRIP Service: Both firms offer automatic dividend reinvestment at no charge.
Fully-Paid Stock Lending: Not offered at either firm.
Winner: Merrill Edge
Promotions
Robinhood:
3% deposit match and FREE stock worth up to $200 at Robinhood.
J.P. Morgan:
Get $0 stock commissions at J.P. Morgan.
Merrill Edge: Get $0 stock commissions at Merrill Edge.
Finally, Our Recommendations
Mutual Fund Trading: Using Merrill Edge’s mutual-fund screener, we found slightly less than 2,700 funds. At JPM, we found slightly more than 7,000. But Charles Schwab
offers over 3,500 mutual funds with no transaction fees.
Beginning Investors: We recommend Merrill Edge Guided Investing with an Advisor, an advisory program that includes access to a dedicated financial planner.
Retirement Planning & Long-Term Investing: Charles Schwab,
with its large lineup of retirement services, would be a strong option.
Small Accounts: Neither firm requires a minimum balance or charges ongoing fees for self-directed accounts.
Stock and ETF Trading: Merrill Edge’s browser-based platform is much better than anything offered by J.P. Morgan Investing.
JP Morgan Chase vs Merrill Lynch: Results
This one is not close. Merrill Edge wins by a wide margin.
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Updated on 1/5/2026.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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