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

Merrill Edge and Charles Schwab 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 Charles Schwab (2025)
Feature Merrill Edge Charles Schwab
Website https://www.merrilledge.com/ https://www.schwab.com/
Broker Type Full-Service Full-Service
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 65 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? No Yes; thinkorswim and StreetSmart Edge
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 $74.95
Early Redemption Fee? Yes Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) 90 days 90 days
Early Redemption Fee $39.95 $49.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No Yes, through other providers
Money Market Sweep? Yes No
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor Service Merrill Guided Investing Schwab Intelligent Portfolios
Robo-Advisor Fes 0.30% to 0.45% 0.00% to 0.30%
Basics: Headquarters Charlotte, NC San Francisco, CA
Year Founded 2010 1971
Clearing Firm Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.
Local Branches? Yes, about 2,800 locations Yes, about 400 locations
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