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

Merrill Edge and Axos Invest 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: Merrill Edge vs Axos Invest (2025)
Feature Merrill Edge Axos Invest
Website https://www.merrilledge.com/ https://www.axos.com/invest
Broker Type Full-Service Discount
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No No
Percent Allocations? No No
Crypto Trading? No No
Crypto Fees not applicable not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 65 cents not published
Bond Trading Available? Yes No
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Unknown
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? No No
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? Yes Yes
Total Mutual Funds Over 2,300 Over 10,000
NTF Mutual Funds Over 800 Over 4,000
Non-NTF Fund Fee $19.95 $4.95
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 90 days 30 days
Early Redemption Fee $39.95 $4.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? Yes No
CDs Offered? Yes No
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Merrill Guided Investing Axos Managed Portfolios
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.30% to 0.45% 0.24%
Basics: Headquarters Charlotte, NC San Diego, CA
Year Founded 2010 2000
Clearing Firm Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Axos Clearing
Local Branches? Yes, about 2,800 locations No
New Account Minimum $0 $0

Once you’ve chosen a broker, find high-performing, investable model portfolios at RecipeInvesting.com


Compare Merrill Edge to All Brokers