Merrill Edge Review

Overall, Merrill Edge can be summarized as a credible and trustworthy broker and is considered low-risk with competitive trading fees and spreads. Merrill Edge has an overall trust score of 91 out of 99. Grand Capital offers a world-class social trading platform with immediate order execution with good leverage and a low spread that is considered average risk.

Merrill Edge At a Glance

Overall Rating

• 4.5/5

Read Review

OPEN AN ACCOUNT

Min Deposit

USD 0

Regulators

SEC, FINRA

Trading Platform

Web Platform, Mobile Platform, MarketPro

Crypto

No

Total Pairs

0

Islamic Account

No

Trading Fees

Low

Account Activation

24 Hours

Merrill Edge Review – 20 key point quick overview:

1. Merrill Edge At a Glance
2. Merrill Edge Overview
3. Merrill Edge Safety and Security
4. Merrill Edge Sign-Up Bonus
5. Merrill Edge Minimum Deposit
6. Merrill Edge Demo Account
7. Merrill Edge Accounts
8. How to open a Merrill Edge account
9. Merrill Edge Market instruments
10. Merrill Edge Fees, Spreads and Commissions
11. Merrill Edge Deposit and withdrawal
12. Merrill Edge Trading platforms
13. Merrill Edge Best Countries by Traders
14. Merrill Edge vs Exness vs XM – a Comparison
15. Merrill Edge Current Popularity Trend
16. Merrill Edge Customer Reviews
17. Merill Egde Pros and cons
18. Merrill Edge Conclusion
19. Merrill Edge Disclaimer
20. Frequently Asked Questions

Merrill Edge Overview

According to research in South Africa Merrill Edge is a discount broker headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina in the United States of America.

Merrill Edge was originally created by Merrill Lynch which was acquired by the Bank of America during the financial crisis, by launching Merrill Edge, Bank of America found a way to combine its online investing arm and the investment knowledge of Merrill Lynch.

Merrill Edge Safety and Security

One of the best benchmarks to measure the safety of a broker like Merrill Lynch is to establish which regulating authorities are watchdogs over its actions.

Merrill Lynch is compliant with the following two important regulatory bodies:

• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
• Financial Industry Regulatory Authority

Merrill Edge Sign-Up Bonus

Merrill Edge does not provide a Sign-Up Bonus, which is known as a welcome bonus to new traders.

Merrill Edge Minimum Deposit

The minimum deposit amount required to register a Merrill Edge trading account is $0. This minimum deposit is equivalent to R0 ZAR at the current exchange rate between the  South African Rand & United States Dollar.

Merrill Edge Demo Account

Merrill Edge does not provide traders the opportunity of a demo account to use as a practice platform.

Merrill Edge Accounts

A forex account at Merrill Edge is a trading account that you will hold and that will work similarly to your bank account, but with the difference that it is primarily issued with the purpose of trading on currencies.

Forex Islamic accounts are also known as swap-free accounts as they imply no swap or rollover interest on overnight positions, which is against the Islamic faith.

Often, the number and type of accounts that a trader can open with a broker company differ depending on the country in which it operates and the regulatory authorities under whose jurisdiction it falls.

Merrill Edge has most investment scenarios covered, you can open an individual, joint or custodial account, and it does support traditional, rollover, Roth IRAs, inherited IRAs, and four types of retirement account for small businesses.

Collage savers are able to open a 529, plus a custodial UGMA/UTMA account.

In each of these account types, you can choose whether you would like a fully self-directed account, a guided account that works like a robot advisor, or a fully managed account with a Merrill Financial Solutions Advisor.

Managed accounts do have minimum fees, whereas self-managed accounts do not.

How to open a Merrill Edge account

1.  Step 1 – Register an account

Similar to a bank, with Merrill Edge, the process entails going through a 5-step registration process that takes roughly 20 minutes. Select the option to “open an account”

2.  Step 2 –Select the Account you are interested in

Once the option to “open an account”  has been selected traders will be redirected to a page where they can select “Help me Get Started” option that will take them through a varied amount of questions

3.  Step 3 –Select the Account you are interested in and register

Once traders have completed all the questions, traders can select an account option and complete registration.  Once all is completed, there will be a confirmation email sent and the trader can start registering.

Merrill Edge Market instruments

The most popular market instruments available from most brokers for trading include:

Forex

Forex trading describes the currency exchange market which refers to the global, decentralized marketplace where individuals, companies and financial institutions exchange currencies for one another at floating rates.

Commodities

Commodity markets offer many investment opportunities for traders. Soft commodities have been traded for centuries and plays a major role in portfolio diversification and risk management.

Investing in contract-based tradable goods is a reliable way to mitigate risk during times of economic uncertainty.

Indices

Equity, or stock indices, are actual stock market indexes that measure the value of a specific section of a stock market. They can represent a specific stock market or a specific set of the largest companies of a nation.

Precious metals

The trading of gold and other precious metals, along with crude oil, copper or petroleum, are hard commodities that play a major role in the commodities market and are contract-based tradable goods.

Energy

The typical feature of energy prices is high volatility due to the influence of political and environmental factors, supply and demand, extreme weather conditions and global economic growth.

Merrill Edge offers the following of the above:

• Stocks
• ETFs
• Mutual Funds
• Bonds

Unfortunately, Merrill Edge’s product portfolio covers only the market in the United States and offers a lower diversity of products in general when compared to its competitors.

10 Best Forex Brokers in South Africa for 2025

Rank

Broker

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Regulators

Min Deposit

Official Site

#1

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ASIC, FSA, CBI, BVI, FSCA, FRSA, CySEC, ISA, JFSA

$100

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#2

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FSCA, CySEC, FCA, DFSA, FSA, CMA

$0

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#3

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CySEC, MWALI, FSCA

$25

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$100

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$10

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CySEC, ASIC, FSA, BVI, FSCA

$25

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#7

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ASIC, CySEC, FSA, SCB

$200

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ASIC, CySEC, FSCA, FSA, FSC, CMA

$100

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FCA, CySEC, FSCA, SCB

$100

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#10

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FSCA, FSC, ASIC, CySEC, DFSA

$5

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#1

4.8/5

User Score

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#2

4.7/5

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#3

4.7/5

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#4

4.4/5

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#5

4.7/5

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#6

4.0/5

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#7

4.7/5

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#8

4.8/5

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#9

4.5/5

User Score

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#10

4.9/5

User Score

Sign Up

Merrill Edge Fees, Spreads and Commissions

Cost depends on different factors, like spread and margins, and Merrill Edge clients may also experience different fee structures according to their country or place of residence.

The spread of a currency pair is the difference between the bid and the ask rate. A pip represents the smallest increment that an exchange rate can move.

Margin is the amount of money required in your account in order to open a position. Margin is calculated based on the current price of the base currency against USD, the size (volume) of the position and the leverage applied to your trading account.

Merrill Edge has a standard 6.95 USD fee and most trades are subject to this charge including stocks and ETFs.

Automated trades over the phone cost the same 6.95 USD which is great for those who don’t want to trade for themselves online of with their phone. The broker-assisted trades cost 29.95 USD

Option trades cost the same 6.95 USD plus an additional 0.75 cents per contract. Exercising options cost 6.95 USD.

There are may mutual funds available at Merrill Edge for no cost. The other, less common trades cost 19.95 USD, 20.95 USD or 30.95 USD depending on the fund and for how long you hold onto the investment.

Trading new bonds and treasuries are for free. Secondary market bonds will cost you 1 USD per bond traded with a 10 USD minimum and a 250 USD maximum per trade.

If you are a Preferred Rewards Platinum client, you get 30 free stock or ETF traders every month.

Having a 50,000.00 balance across linked accounts will award you this rate. If you have a combined 100,000.00 USD balance or more, you will be awarded the Preferred Rewards Platinum Honours tier with 100 free stock or ETF trades every month

Overall Rating

• 4.5/5

Read Review

OPEN AN ACCOUNT

Min Deposit

USD 0

Regulators

SEC, FINRA

Trading Platform

Web Platform, Mobile Platform, MarketPro

Crypto

No

Total Pairs

0

Islamic Account

No

Trading Fees

Low

Account Activation

24 Hours

Merrill Edge Deposit and withdrawal

Accounts usually require a certain minimum initial deposit, which can be paid in several ways. Withdrawals can usually be done with the same ways, but sometimes differ.

In the case of Merrill Edge there are no inactivity fees or minimum deposit requirements. However, there is only one way to make deposits and withdrawals and that is through bank transfer, also you will only be able to transfer from accounts that are in your name.

Merrill Edge Trading platforms

The forex trading platform provided by Merrill Edge to its clients is in essence the software to carry out their trades. Some brokers provide only one, others quite a few platforms.

A multi-asset trading platform is one that allows clients to trade forex as well as other asset classes. The decision about which platform to choose will usually depend on what a client would like to trade.

If you are an everyday investor you will find everything you need to manage an investment portfolio on the Merrill Edge website, it is a simple user-friendly trading platform with options for secure login and for setting price alerts.

For the more advanced traders, Merrill Edge offers MarketPro, which is available to customers that meet the minimum requirements.

It comes with a variety of bells and whistles, such as 285 optional columns for watch lists, easy-to-use charting, automated technical analysis through Recognia, and numerous options tools, including the idea generation tool OptionsPlay.

Merrill Edge Best Countries by Traders

Merrill Edge vs Exness vs XM – a Comparison

Merrill Edge Current Popularity Trend

According to Google Trends, here is an overview of how frequently the search term – “Merrill Edge” is entered into Google’s search engine over a given period of time

Merrill Edge Customer Reviews

Very reliable trading platform

Very reliable trading platform! After joining it, I have seen some improvement in my trading.

Good 2, bad 4

Good 1: Free trades for clients with accounts of 50k+.
Good 2: Clients with BoA accts can shift money between Merrill and BoA seamlessly.
Bad 1: Their website is poorly organized, non-intuitive, and difficult to find anything.
Bad 2: Their trading platform is not user-friendly. Was never able to get the software to shake hands with my computer. Have to maintain another brokerage to use their trading platform.
Bad 3: Their research data section is weak. Fidelity is a far better website for that.
Bad 4: Very difficult to arrange face time with any reps, because they are present at so few BoA branches, and where they are present, are rarely in.

Worst trading platform

Worst trading platform, especially for options traders. No service over the phone. Most of their people don’t know the functions. Many times I have lost the trade and they don’t bother about it.

Merill Egde Pros and cons

Merrill Edge Conclusion

Overall, Merrill Edge is known as a financial platform owned by Bank of America. Offering access to advised investing, trading, brokerage, and banking services. Customers can self-assist or choose to work with an advisor or access portfolio management.

Merrill Edge is a legit forex trading company and is a fully regulated and transparent broker with high operational standards, low trading fees, superior service delivery, helping investors reach their objectives. It caters for all types of traders with different levels of experience.

Its clients will appreciate the free trades, robust research, excellent educational tools and reliable customer service. Merrill Edge is an exceptional extension of the Bank of America brand.

Merrill Edge Disclaimer

Merrill Edge warns potential customers that Forex and CFDs trading always carries a high risk and may not be suitable for all investors.

Before deciding to trade with Merrill Edge, potential traders are advised to carefully consider their investment objectives, financial situation, needs and level of experience before investing money they cannot afford to lose.

Merrill Edge warns that margin trading involves the potential for profit as well as the risk of loss and that movements in the price of foreign exchange and commodities are very unpredictable.

Merrill Edge cannot guarantee a maximum loss that a trader may suffer, according to research in South Africa.

Overall Rating

• 4.5/5

Read Review

OPEN AN ACCOUNT

Min Deposit

USD 0

Regulators

SEC, FINRA

Trading Platform

Web Platform, Mobile Platform, MarketPro

Crypto

No

Total Pairs

0

Islamic Account

No

Trading Fees

Low

Account Activation

24 Hours

You might also like: Merill Edge Account Types

You might also like: Merill Edge Demo Account

You might also like: Merill Edge Fees and Spreads

You might also like: Merill Edge Minimum Deposit

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the overall rating out of 10 for Merill Edge?

The overall rating for Merill Edge is 9/10

Is Merrill Edge a fake or scam?

No, Merill Edge is highly reputable and have won numerous awards for their performance. Furthermore, it adheres to the regulation by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

Which live trading accounts does Merrill Edge offer?

An individual, joint or custodial account, traditional, rollover, Roth IRAs, inherited IRAs, and four types of retirement accounts for small businesses. Collage savers are able to open a 529, plus a custodial UGMA/UTMA account

Does Merrill Edge charge withdrawal fees?

No, but fees from a financial institution may apply depending on the account selected.

When was Merrill Edge founded?

Merill Edge was founded in 2010