Merrill Edge IRA and Brokerage Account Bonuses: Up To $600 In Cash

The Offer

Merrill Edge is offering three tiered deposit bonuses in the form of cash and trades for new self-directed IRA or Cash Management Accounts opened and funded with qualifying assets from outside of Merrill Lynch and Bank of America.

Merrill Edge is a full-service broker that spawned following the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America. Merrill Edge is on par with Capital One ShareBuilder in its online trading fee structure and capability to link to an established partner bank account.

• At $6.95 per trade, Merrill Edge matches the online trading fee of Capital One ShareBuilder.
• Merrill Edge competes with Capital One in its $0 minimum deposit.
• Merrill Edge poses an additional advantage for existing Bank of America customers, who can easily link their Merrill Edge investment account with their Bank of America account for cross-account monitoring and transfer of assets.
• Merrill Edge’s offer of thirty $0 online trades per month while qualifying assets are held sets it apart from its competitor brokers.

Master List of Bonuses

Individual Bonuses

Deposit Bonus Up to $600 Plus 300 Free Online Trades

Direct link

To receive this bonus you must do the following:

• Click the ENROLL AND OPEN button at the direct link above, or request enrollment from a Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisor at 1.888.637.3343 or certain Bank of America banking centers.
• Open and fund a new Merrill Edge self-directed IRA or CMA account within 45 days with funds originating from outside Merrill Lynch and Bank of America. Maintain the minimum qualifying balance for an additional 90 days.

Rules:

• No offer expiration date cited.
• Offer is limited to one per account type (CMA or IRA), two total per account holder (or per all account holders for a joint account).
• Eligible IRAs are limited to Rollover, Traditional, Roth, or SEP IRAs only. The following accounts are not eligible: Business/Corporate Accounts, Investment Club Accounts, Partnership Accounts and certain fiduciary accounts held with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated.
• Bonus is deposited within two weeks into your IRA or CMA account after meeting the qualifying criteria.
• Free trades begin within 5 business days of account opening and must be used within 90 calendar days; up to 300 trades per account. Free trades are only applicable in the new account and are limited to online equity and ETF trades.
• You are responsible for any taxes that may result from this cash bonus.

Thirty $0 Online Trades Per Month

Direct link

To receive this bonus you must do the following:

• Click the ENROLL AND OPEN button at the direct link above, or request enrollment from a Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisor at 1.888.637.3343 or certain Bank of America banking centers.
• Commissions are waived for 30 online equity trades per month when customers meet any one of the following criteria:
  • Combined total of $25,000 or more in your deposit accounts at Bank of America.
  • Combined balance of $25,000 or more in cash balances in one or more of the following sweep options in your Merrill Edge self-directed accounts as of the prior business day.
    • Bank Deposit Accounts sweep option with CMA
    • Retirement Assets Savings Program II sweep with IRA
  • You are a Platinum Privileges client.
  • You are a Preferred Rewards Platinum client.

Rules:

• No offer expiration date cited.
• Offer is limited to one per account type (CMA or IRA), two total per accountholder (or per all account holders for a joint account).
• Eligible IRAs are limited to Rollover, Traditional, Roth, or SEP IRAs only. Business/Corporate Accounts, Investment Club Accounts, Partnership Accounts and certain fiduciary accounts held with Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated are not eligible.
• $0 trades are only available with an individual or joint Merrill Edge self-directed brokerage account.
• Brokerage fees associated with margin transactions, option trading, special stock registration/gifting, account transfer and processing, research request and termination apply.

$50 Deposit Bonus for 529 College Investment Plans

Direct link

To receive this bonus you must do the following:

• Click the ENROLL AND OPEN button at the direct link above, or request enrollment from a Merrill Edge Financial Solutions Advisor at 1.888.637.3343 or certain Bank of America banking centers.
• Open a NextGen College Investing Plan Account and fund the account with at least $5,000 in cash within 45 calendar days of account opening. The balance must be held in the account for at least 90 consecutive days after the funding date.

Rules:

• No offer expiration date cited.
• The $50 bonus is a one-time credit that will be paid during the calendar month after which the 90-day funding criteria are met.
• The $50 bonus will be applied to NextGen College Investing Plan Account and invested in the various securities offered by the Plan based on your new-investment allocation in effect on the date that the bonus is provided.
• Offer is limited to one $50 bonus per account.
• You are responsible for any taxes that may result from this cash bonus.

The Verdict

Merrill Edge is certainly making a strong appeal to customers to open new investment accounts with them by throwing in a generous 300 free trades in addition to the traditional cash bonus that can be met with a qualifying balance of $20,000 or more.

On top of this, the offer of an additional thirty free trades per month is attractive, sufficient for the needs of many investors, and is made more achievable by the fact that deposit balances in your other Bank of America accounts count toward to the combined deposit balance required to meet the monthly trade bonus. For this reason, Merrill Edge investment accounts are likely to gain most traction among existing Bank of America customers who can best maximize their bonus potential across their accounts and benefit from the investment account and banking account linkage and monitoring features.

While the Capital One ShareBuilder and Merrill Edge brokerage accounts are similar in online trading fee structure, investors who seek more robust research data from their broker may be more comforted by Merrill Edge in this regard as it utilizes Merrill Lynch’s Global Research for its insights. Merrill Lynch Global Research was named Institutional Investor magazine’s Top Global Research Firm for 2011, 2012, and 2013.

Another advantage to Merril Edge is that if you have a credit card open with Bank of America you can get up to 75% bonus on the rewards you earn, this means you could earn up to 5.25% cash back on gas, 3.75% travel & 2.625% all purchases.