Charles Schwab has begun rolling out spot trading of cryptocurrency to its retail brokerage clients.
The discount brokerage giant announced on X today that an initial group of clients can now trade bitcoin and ether alongside traditional stocks and exchange-traded products. Trading of additional crypto assets will be rolled out over time.
In an April preview of the launch, Schwab said that clients will maintain a separate crypto account through Schwab Crypto alongside and linked to their main trading accounts with its Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim platforms.
“With Schwab Crypto, investors can access familiar cryptocurrencies within an all‑in‑one investing and banking experience, backed by an ecosystem of education, tools, resources, and support so they can make informed decisions about how crypto might fit into their broader investing goals,” said Joe Vietri, head of digital assets at Charles Schwab, at the time.
Schwab already offers exposure to crypto through exchange traded funds and futures trading.
One of the largest brokerage firms in the world with 39.1 million clients, Schwab’s move will expand access to crypto trading to retail investors without requiring them to set up dedicated accounts at cryptocurrency exchanges.
Schwab will charge a 75-basis-point trading fee, slightly above Coinbase’s fees, which start at a flat fee of at least $0.99 and run to 60 basis points on Coinbase Advanced, dropping with volume.
Schwab Crypto will be available to customers excluding those in New York and Louisiana to begin with. The company reported $12.22 trillion in customer assets as of February 2026.
Custody will be handled by Schwab’s banking unit, Charles Schwab Premier Bank, with execution handled by blockchain infrastructure provider Paxos.
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