How to withdraw money from Merrill Edge: methods and costs

One of the most common fears about trading online is, can I get my money back? And even if that's a given, will I face any extra costs, delays or difficulties as I try to withdraw my uninvested funds?

Merrill Edge is a trustworthy broker that honors all withdrawal requests, but the process is not the most convenient. Read on to learn about potential costs, waiting time or restrictions.

Withdrawal at Merrill Edge is slow and options are limited

Withdrawal at [Broker name] is slow and options are limited

Adam Nasli

Trading • Safety • Market Analysis

I bring extensive financial expertise as one of BrokerChooser's earliest team members. Personally, I tested nearly all 100+ brokers on our site, opening real-money accounts, executing trades, assessing customer services, and providing firsthand assessment. My professional background includes roles in the banking sector and a degree from Central European University, where I teach finance. My passions lies in in-depth research of the financial industry, building trading algorithms, and managing long-term investments.

Learn about our methodology

Adam Nasli

Trading • Safety • Market Analysis

Merrill Edge is one of many brokers I have tested throughout the years. I used my own money for trading - and then tried to get it back. Here's how it went:

• No worries - Merrill Edge is a reliable broker that lets you access your funds any time.
• You can use only bank transfers to withdraw funds.
• Withdrawal can be a bit slow, often taking 3 or more days.
• Merrill Edge charges $0 for basic withdrawals, but some methods may cost more.
• Read our full review of Merrill Edge for detailed funding and trading conditions.

First, let's see if Merrill Edge is available in your country?

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Let me start with the good news: Merrill Edge is considered a legit and trustworthy broker, where your money is in good hands, and you can withdraw it whenever you want to.

How to tell if a broker is trustworthy? In our view, a broker is considered legit if its operations are overseen by at least one top-tier regulator. At BrokerChooser, we only recommend such regulated brokers.

Unfortunately, the online trading industry is plagued by a large number of unregulated or scam brokers. Many of these simply refuse to return your money, or require outrageous percentage commissions before doing so. If you've heard about any broker that you're unsure about, check it against our scam broker list or discuss it in our Forum.

So how to actually withdraw funds from Merrill Edge? At Merrill Edge, you can only withdraw your money using a bank transfer. This puts Merrill Edge at a slight disadvantage over brokers that also offer withdrawal to credit/debit cards or electronic wallets such as PayPal.

Remember, you can only withdraw funds to bank accounts that are in your name.

Withdrawing money from Merrill Edge - a step-by-step guide

How do you withdraw money from Merrill Edge?

• Log in to the account
• Go to 'Accounts', then select 'Transfer Money & Securities'
• Decide whether you would like to withdraw cash or securities (securities can take longer than 8 days to transfer)
• Select the withdrawal method you want to use. For the cash banking connection withdrawal:
• Select your Merrill Edge account as 'Transfer from'
• Select the account you want to withdraw the money to as 'Transfer to'
• Enter the amount you wish to withdraw, set the frequency
• Initiate the withdrawal

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Whatever method you use, withdrawals from a brokerage account are rarely instant. When withdrawing money from Merrill Edge, it can often take three or more business days for the money to reach your bank account or card. This is a bit on the slow side compared with most other brokers, where withdrawal times can be as short as just one business day.

Strict withdrawal times are not the only factor to keep in mind when you need to retrieve money from your broker account. The most important thing is that you can only withdraw uninvested cash from your brokerage account. If all of your funds are invested, you need to close some or all of your positions first to make the necessary amount of cash available in your broker account.

Converting your assets to cash often takes additional time. For example, if you sell a stock, it will take another day (or most likely two) for the transaction to settle and for the cash proceeds to appear in your brokerage account.

So what I would normally do is think ahead depending on how urgently I needed the money. For example, if I needed $1,000 cash on Monday and it was still all tied down in stocks or some other assets at Merrill Edge, I would probably

• log in to my Merrill Edge account at least a week earlier, to sell stocks or other assets worth $1,000 (or maybe a bit more to cover any withdrawal fees; see next chapter).
• Then I would check back a day or two later (probably around Monday or Tuesday the week before I needed the money) to see if the asset sale has been completed and if the cash has appeared in my broker account.
• If yes, I would then initiate the withdrawal, so that the money arrives in my personal bank account or on my card (whichever applicable) by next Monday at the latest.

While depositing money to a brokerage account is free in most cases, this is not necessarily always true for withdrawals. But I have good news: basic withdrawal at Merrill Edge is free of charge. See the table below for details and possible exceptions, and also how Merrill Edge's fees compare to some of its immediate competitors.

Conversion fees

In addition to any withdrawal fees, you should also be aware of potential conversion fees. These usually apply if your bank account or card is denominated in a different currency than the funds you are withdrawing from your broker.

At Merrill Edge, the following account currencies are available: USD.

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