Trading Bitcoin at Merrill Edge
Key takeaways:
• Direct trading in Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies is not available at Merrill Edge.
• Merrill Edge does offer Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.
• Merrill clients who want direct trading should consider Robinhood as a substitute.
Do you want to invest in cryptocurrencies? If so, you need the right broker. Merrill Edge succeeds in some areas and fails in others. Here’s the full scoop:
Cryptocurrencies at Merrill Edge
Merrill Edge does not offer trading in cryptocurrencies themselves. That’s the first disappointment we will see with Merrill. It does offer trading in exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and some of these securities hold cryptocurrencies. Thus, they are a way to invest indirectly in digital currencies.
Finding Crypto ETFs at Merrill Edge
It’s really easy to find funds at Merrill Edge that invest in Bitcoin and Ethereum. Simply click on the Research tab in the main menu and select the link for ETFs under the section for Investments & Screeners.
On the ETFs hub, look for the second row of tabs beneath the main row; here, you will see a tab for ETF Screener. Click on this.
With the search wizard launched, you want to specify Digital Assets as the Morningstar category. When we did just this, we received 74 results. Some of these hold futures contracts on Bitcoin and Ethereum, while others hold Bitcoin and Ethereum themselves. Some of the ETFs are also leveraged products. Be sure to read a fund’s prospectus carefully before making an investment.
Researching Crypto ETFs at Merrill Edge
To pull up information on a specific fund, look for the drop-down arrow next to the ticker symbol in the search results. You’ll get a small window of five choices:
- Add to watchlist
- Compare tool
- Set alert
- View prospectus
- Trade
To access the fund’s profile, simply click on the hyperlinked ticker symbol. Now you’ll get a brief profile with various data points such as 52-week range, gross expense ratio, and the day’s volume. There is a link to perform more research; click on this button to get the full profile. On the complete profile, there is more information, including option chains and technical analysis from Technical Insight©.
One fund we discovered in Merrill’s search results was BITB. This is the Bitwise Bitcoin Trust. It has $4.27 billion in assets and holds just one financial vehicle: Bitcoin. Because the ETF has just one asset, the fund is not diversified.
Merrill’s profile for BITB shows a beta of 1.73, which reflects a lot of volatility. With average volume of more than 2 million shares every market day, the Bitwise fund is very popular. It pays no dividend for obvious reasons.
How to Buy Bitcoin ETF of Merrill Edge
Submitting an order for a Bitcoin fund follows the same basic procedure as any other ETF or stock trade. An order can be submitted through Merrill’s website, browser platform MarketPro, or mobile app.
On the website, you can select the trade link mentioned above that appears in the drop-down window from the list of results. A blue trade button also appears on an ETF’s profile. On MarketPro, a trade link can be pulled up from a watchlist (right click on the entry).
All three trading platforms at Merrill Edge have the same order ticket. Trailing, market, stop, and limit orders are accepted; shorting is also permitted.
Fees and Minimums
Merrill Edge charges no commissions on trades of crypto ETFs (or any other ETFs). There is no account minimum for a brokerage account, although an IRA, which can be used to trade Bitcoin ETFs, does have a $49.95 closeout fee.
Robinhood as an Alternative
The Bitwise Bitcoin ETF we saw above has an expense ratio of 0.20%; this amount comes out of the
fund every year. If this management fee is too rich for your blood, you could skip the fund
universe and trade cryptocurrencies directly. Although this strategy is not possible at Merrill Edge, it is available at Robinhood.
Robinhood offers direct crypto trading in 22 currencies. Besides the majors like Bitcoin and
Ethereum, there are some exotics:
- Aave (AAVE)
- Avalanche (AVAX)
- Bitcoin (BTC)
- Bitcoin Cash (BCH)
- BONK (BONK)
- Cardano (ADA)
- Chainlink (LINK)
- Compound (COMP)
- Dogecoin (DOGE)
- Dogwifhat (WIF)
- Ethereum (ETH)
- Ethereum Classic (ETC)
- Litecoin (LTC)
- Pepe (PEPE)
- Shiba Inu (SHIB)
- Solana (SOL)
- Steller Lumens (XLM)
- Tezos (XTZ)
- Trump (TRUMP)
- Uniswap (UNI)
- USDC (USDC)
- XRP (XRP)
To find the list of available digital coins at Robinhood, simply type “Tradable Crypto” in the search field on the website or mobile app. You’ll get the list of coins; just click or tap on an entry to pull up the asset’s profile. To enter a trade, tap on the Trade button at the bottom of the app; on the website, the order ticket is already installed. Available choices for cryptocurrencies include market, limit, and recurring.
Robinhood charges no commissions on crypto trades, although there is a spread that is roughly 0.65%. Of this amount, 0.60% goes to Robinhood, and the remaining amount goes to the trading venue. A roundtrip trade will cost approximately 1.30%. Keep in mind that ETFs also have spreads that increase the cost of their trading.
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Merrill Lynch Crypto Summary
Merrill Edge offers indirect trading in cryptocurrencies, while Robinhood offers both indirect and direct.
Updated on 2/24/2025.
Chad Morris is a financial writer with more than 20 years experience
as both an English teacher and an avid trader. When he isn’t writing
expert content for Brokerage-Review.com, Chad can usually be found
managing his portfolio or building a new home computer.
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