Fills and Fees
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Merrill vs WF FiNet

Prices, payments, fees and registration, side by side.

Market orders fill at once; marketable limit orders add a price cap.

The short answer

S&P 500 · Market orders · all sizes under $200,000

Per $10,000 of market orders in S&P 500 stocks, WF FiNet customers pay about $0.39 less than Merrill customers: $0.12 above the fair price against $0.51 above the fair price. That holds on identical trades too.

Merrill pays its trading firm about $0.02 per $10,000 order; WF FiNet files no payment report of its own (another firm routes its orders). WF FiNet's stock commission is not confirmed yet.

Not a verdict on which broker is better overall; for your own habits, use the yearly cost calculator.

Side by side

Tap a name for its report

Merrill and WF FiNet side by side
MeasureMerrillWF FiNet
Prices you getSeptember 2026 · S&P 500 · Market orders
Extra cost per $10,000 traded Dollars paid above the fair price (midpoint of the best buy and sell quotes) per $10,000 of market orders, all sizes under $200,000 averaged (largest orders weigh most); lower is better.$0.51better: $0.12
Customer pays, as a share of the spread 0% = you got the fair price, 100% = you paid the full gap between buy and sell quotes; lower is better.16.2%better: 4.1%
Same-trade gap vs other brokers Points of the spread on identical stocks and order sizes; below zero = better than other brokers.+6.7 ptbetter: −5.7 pt
Average execution speed Average time from receiving a market order to completing it; faster is not better here, as brokers whose orders took longer got better prices.8.6 s121 ms
Broker is paid, per $10,000 order What trading firms pay the broker for a $10,000 order (payment for order flow).−$0.02not reported
Orders that beat the quoted price Share of orders filled at least slightly better than quoted; it says little about how much you save, so it is context, not a score.84%99%
Typical order size Average dollars per order; brokers whose customers place bigger orders tend to get better prices.$12,544$7,623
Feeschecked Nov 2, 2026 and Nov 1, 2026
Commission per stock trade Dollars per online stock or ETF trade; nearly every broker charges $0, so the real cost is in the price you get.$0.00not confirmed
Options fee per contract Dollars per options contract to open a trade, on top of any per-trade commission.$0.65not confirmed
Margin interest rate Yearly interest on a $25,000 margin loan.variesnot confirmed
Interest on idle cash Yearly interest (APY) on uninvested cash in a standard account.0.01%not confirmed
Transfer-out fee For moving your whole account to another broker. Lower is better.$49.95not confirmed
Is it registered?regulator records, not an endorsement
FINRA record BrokerCheck: the broker's licences, history and any disciplinary actions.BrokerCheckBrokerCheck
SIPC member Returns your securities and cash (up to $500,000) if the broker fails; not investment losses.YesYes
Reports what it is paid for orders Rule 606: where a broker sends orders and what it is paid. A broker whose orders go through another firm files none.YesNo
Tick = the better value; unticked rows are context, not a score. Prices: September 2026 (SEC Rule 605), orders under $200,000. Payment: Apr–Jun 2026 (SEC Rule 606). How we measure

Cost by order size

S&P 500 · Market orders

Show as a table
Order sizeMerrillWF FiNet
<$250$0.41$0.04
$250$0.50$0.06
$1k$0.51$0.06
$5k$0.50$0.07
$10k$0.49$0.08
$20k$0.48$0.11
$50k$0.53$0.19
$200k+$1.29$1.50
Every broker gets far worse prices on orders of $200,000 and over.

What does this add up to in a year?

See your yearly cost

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