Bank of America to Offer Commission Free Stock Trading (BAC, ETFC, AMTD, TRAD, JPM, C)

Bank of America/Merrill Lynch (

) recently announced that the company will offer 30 commission free equity trades per month starting June 21st. The discount brokerage operations will be run through Merrill Lynch’s trading desks. Customers will be required to have a combined balance of at $25,000 in their High Yield CDs, Checking, and Savings Accounts to qualify. The discount brokers are selling off on this news with E*Trade Financial Corporation

off 5%, TD Ameritrade

off 4.77%, and Tradestation Group

off 2.53%. Interesting to note is that Citigroup

and Chase Bank

tried this same equity trading plan four to five years ago, but the idea never really took off.