Overview of Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch
Both Merrill Edge and Merrill Lynch are owned by Bank of America, and both offer investment services. Merrill Lynch started as its own company in the early 1900s. Bank of America bought Merrill Lynch in 2008. In 2010, Bank of America started Merrill Edge as a low-cost broker, while Merrill Lynch focused on wealthier clients. There are other differences too. Here’s a look at them.
Geographic Markets
Merrill Lynch is a global company with offices around the world. Besides the United States and Canada, it has offices in places like Hong Kong, Australia, the Cayman Islands, France, China, Germany, India, Japan, Israel, Malaysia, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and many other regions. If a country doesn’t have a Merrill Lynch office, clients are usually served by a nearby office. For example, Brazil is served by the Miami office.
Merrill Edge is only for U.S. clients. You must live in the United States to open an account. Even though Merrill Edge works mostly online, it has financial advisors in many Bank of America branches. Merrill Lynch has its own separate branch network.
Security Research
Merrill Lynch creates a lot of research reports, but Merrill Edge does not. Still, many reports from Merrill Lynch are available to Merrill Edge clients. The Merrill Edge website has PDF reports from Merrill Lynch about key economic topics. These reports can be downloaded for free. Merrill Lynch also provides stock reports for many popular companies. These reports include buy, hold, and sell ratings and can also be downloaded by Merrill Edge users.
Private Banking & Investment Group
Merrill Lynch has a Private Banking and Investment Group for wealthy individuals and their families. This group offers estate planning, advice on executive pay, insurance, charity planning, and global investments. It also helps businesses with financing, growth, IPOs, and mergers and acquisitions. Merrill Edge does not usually work with wealthy clients.
Merrill Edge vs Merrill Lynch: Pricing
Fees and commissions are very different between the two. Merrill Lynch does not have self-directed accounts, so its pricing is for managed accounts only. Merrill Edge offers both self-directed and low-cost managed accounts.
For self-directed accounts, Merrill Edge charges $0 for stock and ETF trades. The broker also offers some mutual funds with no fees. For mutual funds that do have a fee, it’s $19.95 to buy or sell. Fixed-income products are priced with a markup or markdown. There is no annual fee for a Merrill Edge brokerage account. There are no fees for maintenance, inactivity, or low balances.
For managed accounts, Merrill Edge offers a package called Guided Investing for 0.45% per year and a $5,000 minimum. This plan uses low-cost ETFs. A higher-cost option is Select Portfolios, which charges 0.85% per year and has a $20,000 minimum. This plan includes advice from a Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisor at a Bank of America branch. Select Portfolios can invest in more than just ETFs.
Merrill Lynch’s pricing is less clear than Merrill Edge’s, partly because the fees can be negotiated. All Merrill Lynch accounts are managed by professionals, and fees depend on things like account size. Clients with wrap fee accounts pay no commissions on ETF or stock trades, and there is no account fee. Bonds are priced with a markup or markdown, and interest is charged on margin. The rates may be different from those at Merrill Edge.
Merrill Lynch uses a tiered fee system, with larger accounts getting lower rates:
| Account Balance | Merrill Lynch Fee | Style Manager Fee |
|---|
| Under $1 million | 2.70% | 0.14% to 0.40% |
| $1 million – $2 million | 2.15% | 0.14% to 0.40% |
| $2 million – $5 million | 1.80% | 0.14% to 0.40% |
| $5 million – $25 million | 1.50% | 0.14% to 0.40% |
| Over $25 million | Negotiated | 0.14% to 0.40% |
The style manager fee is different because different investment strategies have different costs. Merrill Lynch is much more expensive than Merrill Edge. But keep in mind, if you trade a lot, you may save on zero commissions with Merrill Edge.
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Institutional Investors
Merrill Lynch clients are usually large institutions and wealthy people who can use the company’s tiered pricing system. The rates above can be negotiated and may be different in different places. Merrill Lynch will work with each client to decide on a final fee based on what they want to trade, the assets they bring, and the investment approach they want.
Trading Tools
Merrill Edge is mainly for people who want to make their own investment decisions, so it has good trading tools on its website. There is a trade bar at the bottom of the site that makes it easy to place orders for stocks, ETFs, and options. The website also has trading forms and advanced charting with technical indicators and comparisons. There is also a desktop platform for active traders.
Merrill Edge vs Merrill Lynch: Recommendation
Merrill Edge (learn more) is the better option for investors who do not need much advice.
Large organizations, like endowments or pension funds, should choose Merrill Lynch (learn more). Merrill Lynch has advisors with a lot of experience helping these clients with all kinds of financial matters.
Updated on 6/12/2025.
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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