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Is Merrill Edge good for beginners?

Your expert
Nicole C.
Fact checked by
Gyula L.
Updated
Jan 2024
Personally tested Personally tested
Data-driven Data-driven
Independent Independent

Things to consider

There are many aspects to assessing a broker’s services in general, maybe even too many to list. Below, we’ll focus on the most important criteria that should be taken into account when determining whether a broker is good for beginners.

A beginner-friendly broker should have:

  • an excellent web and mobile trading platform
  • low fees
  • great educational tools
  • good customer service
  • an easy account opening process
  • low minimum deposit

Legitimacy is also very important, but since we recommend only legit brokers regulated by top-tier financial authorities, this is one thing you don’t have to worry about.

More and more people are looking to become a player on financial markets either as traders or investors. However, when researching the basics, it can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the sheer amount of information available online.

This is where BrokerChooser offers a helping hand. The reason is simple: choosing the right service, especially when you are taking your first steps in trading, is highly important.

In this article we’ll check whether Merrill Edge is the right choice for a starting trader.

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BrokerChooser score
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Is Merrill Edge good for beginners?

Based on our scoring methodology, Merrill Edge is a broker that we can recommend for beginners.

Let's take a look at its services one by one, following the criteria we set above, to get the whole picture.

  • 💻 When it comes to its web platform, Merrill Edge might suit the needs of beginners: User-friendly. Clear fee report. Two-step (safer) login. Overall, this platform may be an optimal choice for beginners.
  • 📱 The mobile platform of Merrill Edge is reasonably well-designed: User-friendly. Two-step (safer) login. Touch/Face ID login. This may be helpful for the first steps in your trading journey.
  • 🕖 An account opening process is great when it is seamless from the get-go. Merrill Edge does an excellent job in this area: Fast. Fully digital. No minimum deposit.
  • 📚 Trading platform tutorial. Educational videos. However, Merrill Edge's education materials could be improved.Areas of improvement: No demo account.
  • 📞 Phone support. Live chat. However, there is some room for improvement in Merrill Edge's customer service: No email support.
  • 💰 Low minimum deposits and low-cost transactions are attractive for new traders. Merrill Edge's deposit and withdrawal processes have some good things to offer: Free withdrawal. No deposit fee. User-friendly. Nevertheless, its services could be improved in other areas: Bank card not available. Slow withdrawal.

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Overview of Merrill Edge's services

Let’s take an overall look at how Merrill Edge compares to its peers when it comes to platforms, fees, account opening and education tools. Our scores are on a scale of 1.0 to 5.0, from worst to best.

Merrill Edge services vs. similar brokers
Web platform score
4.3 stars 4.5 stars 3.4 stars
Mobile platform score
4.8 stars 5.0 stars 4.4 stars
Fees
Low Low Low
Account opening score
5.0 stars 4.4 stars 4.4 stars
Education score
3.5 stars 5.0 stars 3.5 stars
Customer service score
3.8 stars 2.7 stars 2.5 stars
Deposit and withdrawal score
1.6 stars 3.8 stars 1.8 stars

If you wish to read more about Merrill Edge, click 'Visit Broker' to go to the broker's website. We also have a detailed review of the broker that you can read by clicking on the 'More' button.

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Is Merrill Edge legit?

We hear more and more stories each day about clients who lost their money to scammers from Telegram or through unregulated services. BrokerChooser only features brokers that have top-tier financial regulators. As such, Merrill Edge is a legit and trusted broker.

If you’d like to know more, check out our deeper dive into Merrill Edge's legitimacy.

Where can I find more information?

If Merrill Edge is not the right broker for you, go ahead and check out our picks for Best Brokers for Beginners in 2024 for some alternatives.

Also, if you feel that some things weren’t clear when it comes to the brokerage world, no worries. We have lots of content to cover your questions. You can find our articles in the Education section of our site.

For example, if you want to know how to buy shares online and how the whole process works, there’s an article about that. If you’d like to learn more about investing in stocks or what short selling is, we have articles about these topics too.

We have also written a few materials that focus on recent events in the news, like what a short squeeze is.

We hope you found all of the information above useful. If you have any questions, we’d love to hear from you, just write to us at [email protected]. See you there!

Check out this short video for a behind-the-scenes peek into how our experts personally test and evaluate brokers.

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Author of this article

Nicole Conrad
Nicole Conrad

Nicole is a former intern content contributor for BrokerChooser. She came with experience and certification in Accounting, and pursued graduate studies in Economic Policy. Nicole wrote broker reviews to provide transparency for customers: highlighting brokers’ exceptional services and holding them accountable for questionable practices.

Everything you find on BrokerChooser is based on reliable data and unbiased information. We combine our 10+ years finance experience with readers feedback. Read more about our methodology.

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