Merrill Edge vs. Vanguard 2019

Vanguard built its position on mutual funds, and it is the world’s top provider of index funds. Merrill Edge started operations in 2010 following Bank of America’s purchase of Merrill Lynch, so it has a shorter history. Both brokerages focus on marketing to higher net worth individuals. Their somewhat high transaction fees deter young investors, frequent traders, and smaller account holders.

Vanguard stopped to its roots for years, offering mutual funds and ETFs for long-term investors without providing a platform for frequent sellers. It now provides a rudimentary trading platform that lacks the horsepower of competitors, such as Schwab and Ameritrade. Despite Merrill’s right-wing reputation, its MarketPro active-trading platform offers robust features. However, Merrill also has a more straightforward web interface for low-frequency buyers and investors.

In our 2019 Best Online Brokers Awards, Merrill Edge received awards for Best for Beginners, Richest Stock Trading Apps, Best for Roth IRAs, Best for IRAs, and Best Web Trading Platforms.

Vanguard made an award for Best for ETFs.

Merrill Edge gifts step-by-step trading and investment guidance for self-directed customers through easy to navigate online and mobile interfaces. The Java-based MarketPro plank provides active traders with more sophisticated features. MarketPro includes market analysis, global examination, interactive charting, pattern recognition, and a fully customizable dashboard. Traders can build watch lists, access uncountable than 70 studies, set alerts, and monitor their portfolios in real-time.

Vanguard actively discourages short-term patron, and a generally poor trading experience reflects that philosophy. The site is challenging to navigate and is obviously not a priority for the proprietorship. They don’t even have streaming quotes. Their trading technology is also limited. Vanguard’s order router demands out price improvement rather than speed, and their statistics put them in the middle of the pack. They do not accept payment for needed so that flow for equity orders.

• MarketPro platform offers powerful tools for traders
• Integrate with your other Merrill or Bank of America accounts
• Area is easy to navigate

• No streaming quotes
• Limited trading and charting tools
• Order router seeks out cost improvement rather than speed

You can add a Merrill Edge widget to the iOS notification center, and log into the app with a fingerprint. Excerpts stream across all mobile platforms. Both iOS and Android devices can access Bank of America / Merrill Lynch examination reports. You can initiate a trade on your smartwatch, though you have to finish the process on the mobile app or website.

Vanguard bids mobile apps for iOS, Android, and Kindle Fire devices. The layout is actually much nicer and easier to use than the website. They added flexible check deposit in the last year. Quotes, however, are delayed.

• Log in to the mobile app with fingerprint
• Terrific overall mobile experience
• Mobile access to research reports

• Mobile apps are much easier to use than the website
• Unfixed check deposit available

Merrill Edge offers impressive resources, which include customer base data, news, and independent research. Merrill Edge has a searchable database of reports for approximately 1,500 equities comprising the past six months. You can also read the quarterly Fixed Income Digest if you are a bond investor. You can dive into quantitative inquiry and data on emerging markets. Information on individual equities can be viewed in the Stock Story feature, which pulls in text from dozens of sources and highlights impact investing.

Vanguard’s News & Perspective section highlights macroeconomic and retirement planning but be deficient ins comprehensive market commentary. There is also a Vanguard Blog that discusses general interest themes. Elections research is limited to looking at options chains, which are significantly less informative than chains on other stockbroker sites. Charting is extremely basic and includes no customization or technical studies.

• Massive library of proprietary investigation and stock rankings
• Excellent research resources for individual stocks, bonds, and emerging markets

• News and examine are very basic
• Focused on general interest and index investing

Merrill offers a variety of on-demand webinars travel over key financial topics. A dedicated educational section is arranged by experience level, with beginner, intermediate, and advanced echelons covering topics in personal finance, stocks, and options. Educational materials also include more detailed coverage of annuities, rigid income, and mutual funds. Merrill Edge uses industry-standard encryption for all accounts and offers SafePass for enhanced safe keeping.

Education offerings at Vanguard are fairly basic, and they are aimed at very long-term investing. They also crowd occasional webinars that focus on the long term. In the security department, Vanguard supports YubiKey for hardware-based two-factor authentication.

• Investor education through articles and an online classroom setting
• Skill-level specific resources ranging from beginner to get ahead

• Focused on mutual funds and ETFs
• In-depth index investing
• YubiKey for hardware-based two-factor authentication

Merrill stock and ETF trades cost $6.95, while options cost $6.95 plus $0.75 per contract. These salaries are somewhat higher than most brokerages. They also offer between 10 and 100 free callings per month for enrollees in the Preferred Rewards program. Preferred Rewards membership requires a combined balance at Bank of America and Merrill Crabbed of $20,000 or more.

Vanguard charges nearly identical commissions, $7.00 for stocks and $7.00 + $1.00 per options contract for accounts up to $499,999. Commissions cease to $2.00 for accounts above $500,000 and to zero for limited trades between $1,000,000 and $5,000,000. Neither broker proffers futures, commodities, or currencies.

Merrill Edge gives clients access to many no-load mutual funds, but it does not put on the market any commission-free ETFs. On the other hand, Vanguard boasts an impressive 1,800 commission-free ETFs. Vanguard clients can also venture in the firm’s excellent low-fee mutual funds without paying load fees.

• Stock line of work fees: $6.95
• Account minimum: $0

• Stock trade fees: $7
• Account minimum: $0