The LSE Directory / Retail brokers
Merrill Edge is the online brokerage and investment advisory arm of Bank of America, offering self directed trading in US stocks, ETFs, mutual funds, fixed income and options through Merrill Edge Self-Directed, alongside automated and human-advised portfolio management under the Merrill Guided Investing brand. Standard online stock, ETF and options trades carry no commission, though options carry a $0.65 per-contract fee, and self-directed accounts have no annual fees or minimum balance requirements. Its core differentiator is direct integration with Bank of America retail banking: clients see checking, savings, credit card and Merrill investment balances under one login, can move money instantly between accounts, and can count combined banking and investment balances toward Bank of America's tiered loyalty program. The platform targets the mass affluent segment, investors with meaningful but not ultra high balances who want some professional guidance without full private wealth management, and it deliberately excludes cryptocurrency, forex, futures, fractional shares and penny stocks from its self-directed offering, unlike some commission-free rivals built around those products. Merrill Edge states it does not accept payment for order flow, earning revenue instead from interest on cash and margin balances, trading commissions and advisory management fees; Merrill Guided Investing charges an annual advisory fee of 0.45% to 0.85% depending on whether the service includes access to a human advisor. The platform traces to June 21, 2010, when Bank of America merged its existing Quick and Reilly self-directed brokerage with Merrill Lynch's research and advisory capabilities, following Bank of America's acquisition of Merrill Lynch. As of January 2025, Merrill Edge reported roughly $500 billion in client assets across more than 4 million accounts, supported by about 4,000 financial advisors working out of Bank of America branches and call centers. Merrill Guided Investing, its robo advisory product, launched in February 2017, and the firm added ESG focused model portfolios in May 2018. In 2026, Bank of America restructured the Preferred Rewards loyalty program that ties fee waivers and credit card bonus levels to combined Merrill and banking balances, renaming it BofA Rewards and automatically enrolling existing Preferred Rewards members; the current tiers, Member, Preferred Plus, Preferred Honors and Premier, are set at $0, $30,000, $100,000 and $1,000,000 in combined qualifying balances respectively.
