Merrill Edge vs RBC Direct Investing compared

Merrill Edge
RBC Direct Investing
Key differences
We took 8 criteria of our comparison (fee, account opening, customer service, markets&product, research, trading platform, deposit&withdrawal) and listed the angles with the greatest difference here below.
  • Trading platform combined score
    4.5
    /5
  • Account opening score
    5.0
    /5
  • Customer service score
    4.0
    /5
  • Trading platform combined score
    1.3
    /5
  • Account opening score
    3.7
    /5
  • Customer service score
    5.0
    /5
Recommended for
  • Beginners
    4.2
    /5
  • Equity
    4.4
    /5
  • Beginners
    3
    /5
You can open an account in United States
You can't open an account in United States
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*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

Basic data of broker

Overall Score
4.8

Recommended for Investors and traders looking for low fees, quick account opening and simple platforms

Overall Score
4.1

Recommended for Investors, including beginners, focusing on the Canadian and US markets

Country of origin

USA

Country of origin

Canada

Fees

Fees score
4.4
Fees score
3.5
Fees summary

Low trading and non-trading fees, high fund fees

Fees summary

Average trading fees, low non-trading fees, free mutual fund investing

Stock and ETF fees

Forex fees

Fund fees

Bond fees

Options fees

Futures fees

Crypto fees

CFD fees

Non-trading fees

Deposit and withdrawal

Deposit and withdrawal score
2.2
Deposit and withdrawal score
2.4
Number of base currencies

1

Number of base currencies

2

Deposit type

Withdrawal type

Account opening

Account opening score
5.0
Account opening score
3.7
Account opening fully online
Account opening fully online
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Minimum deposit
*

$0

*
Time to open account

1 day

Time to open account

1-3 days

Required documents

None for those with an IP address in the US; for those that don't--2 utility bills, drivers license, passport

Required documents

Social Insurance Number, Government ID, Proof of Income

Trading platform

Web platform score
4.3
Web platform score
2.9
Mobile platform score
4.8
Mobile platform score
0.7
Desktop platform score
4.3
Desktop platform score
-

Markets and products

Markets and products score
2.5
Markets and products score
2.4
Stocks
Stocks
Fractional shares
Fractional shares
ETFs
ETFs
Forex
Forex
Funds
Funds
Bonds
Bonds
Options
Options
Futures
Futures
Crypto
Crypto
CFDs
CFDs

Research, education

Research score
4.0
Research score
4.0
Charting quality

Mid-range

Charting quality

Mid-range

Education score
3.5
Education score
4.0
Demo account
Demo account

Customer service

Customer service score
4.0
Customer service score
5.0
Phone
Phone
Live chat
Live chat
Email
Email
24/7 availability
24/7 availability

Security

Investor protection amount

$500,000 (securities up to $500,000, cash up to $250,000)

Investor protection amount

CAD 1 million

Banking background
Banking background
Listed on stock exchange
Listed on stock exchange
Foundation date

2010

Foundation date

1864

Country of regulation

USA

Country of regulation

Canada

Merrill Edge

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

RBC Direct Investing

For detailed information and hands-on experience, read our review of this broker.

*Data marked with an asterisk contain additional info, expand the relevant sections below to see details.

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.

Merrill Edge's service is slightly better than RBC Direct Investing's and a comparison of their fees shows that Merrill Edge's fees are slightly lower than RBC Direct Investing's.

Account opening takes less effort at Merrill Edge compared to RBC Direct Investing, deposit and withdrawal processes are about the same quality at Merrill Edge, while customer service quality is somewhat lower than RBC Direct Investing's.

Our experts rated the trading platform of Merrill Edge as much better than the platform of RBC Direct Investing, found that clients have access to about the same number of markets and products with Merrill Edge, while RBC Direct Investing provides just about the same quality of research and education.

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