Fidelity vs Merrill Edge Comparison: Fees, Features, and More (2025)

Fidelity and Merrill Edge are two leading discount brokerages offering commission-free stock and ETF trading. Use this head-to-head comparison table to evaluate fees, features, trading tools, and account options to help you decide which broker is right for you in 2025.

Head-to-Head Comparison: Fidelity vs Merrill Edge (2025)
Feature Fidelity Merrill Edge
Website https://www.fidelity.com/ https://www.merrilledge.com/
Broker Type Full-Service Full-Service
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? Yes, "Stocks by the Slice" No
Percent Allocations? Yes; Fidelity Basket Portfolios No
Crypto Trading? Yes No
Crypto Fees 1.00% not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 65 cents 65 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? No Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? Yes; Active Trader Pro No
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 10,000 Over 2,300
NTF Mutual Funds Over 3,300 Over 800
Non-NTF Fund Fee $49.95 $19.95
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 60 days 90 days
Early Redemption Fee $49.95 $39.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? Yes No
Money Market Sweep? Yes Yes
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Fidelity Go Merrill Guided Investing
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.00% to 0.35% 0.30% to 0.45%
Basics: Headquarters Boston, MA Charlotte, NC
Year Founded 1946 2010
Clearing Firm National Financial Services LLC Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Local Branches? Yes, about 215 locations Yes, about 2,800 locations
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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