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

Tastytrade 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: Tastytrade vs Merrill Edge (2025)
Feature Tastytrade Merrill Edge
Website https://tastytrade.com/ https://www.merrilledge.com/
Broker Type Discount Full-Service
Trading: Stock & ETF? Yes Yes
ETF & Stock commission No fee No fee
Fractional Shares? No No
Percent Allocations? No No
Crypto Trading? Yes No
Crypto Fees 0.35% not applicable
Options Trading? Yes Yes
Options Fee 0 to 250 cents 65 cents
Bond Trading Available? Yes Yes
Pays for Order Flow (PFOF)? Yes Yes
Interface: Web trading? Yes Yes
Desktop trading? Yes; Tastytrade Desktop Platform No
API Trading? No No
Mutual Funds: Offered? No Yes
Total Mutual Funds None Over 2,300
NTF Mutual Funds None Over 800
Non-NTF Fund Fee not applicable $19.95
Early Redemption Fee? not applicable Yes
Redemption Hold (Days) not applicable 90 days
Early Redemption Fee not applicable $39.95
Accounts: Margin Accounts? Yes Yes
IRAs Offered? Yes Yes
HSAs Offered? No No
Money Market Sweep? No Yes
CDs Offered? Yes Yes
Robo-Advisor: Offered No Yes
Robo-Advisor Service none Merrill Guided Investing
Robo-Advisor Fes not applicable 0.30% to 0.45%
Basics: Headquarters Chicago, IL Charlotte, NC
Year Founded 2017 2010
Clearing Firm Apex Clearing Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith
Local Branches? No Yes, about 2,800 locations
New Account Minimum $0 $0

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


Compare Tastytrade to All Brokers