Charles Schwab, the largest publicly traded brokerage in the United States, began offering direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading to its full client base on April 21. The move gives 38 million retail and institutional accounts the ability to buy, sell, and hold BTC and ETH alongside their stocks, bonds, and ETFs – all within a single brokerage account.
This isn’t an ETF wrapper. Schwab clients are buying actual cryptocurrency, custodied through a partnership with BitGo, and reflected directly in their portfolio holdings. The company had been running a limited pilot with 500,000 accounts since January, but Monday’s full rollout makes it available to everyone.
Why This Matters More Than ETFs
Spot Bitcoin ETFs were supposed to be the bridge that brought traditional investors into crypto. And they did – pulling in over $60 billion since launching in January 2024. But ETFs are still a financial product that tracks a price. You don’t own Bitcoin. You own shares in a trust that owns Bitcoin.
Schwab’s offering is different. When a client buys 0.5 BTC through their Schwab account, they own 0.5 BTC. They can transfer it to an external wallet if they want. They can see it sitting alongside their S&P 500 index fund and their municipal bonds.
“This is what mainstream adoption actually looks like,” said Matt Hougan, CIO at Bitwise Asset Management. “Not a new app, not a new exchange, not a new interface. The same place where Americans already keep their money.”
The Pricing Structure
Schwab is charging a flat 0.30% spread on crypto trades with no commission. For context, Coinbase charges up to 1.49% for retail trades, and most crypto exchanges charge 0.10-0.25% in maker-taker fees. The Schwab spread is competitive for retail investors who aren’t sophisticated enough to navigate exchange order books.
There’s a minimum trade of $25 and a maximum of $500,000 per day for individual accounts. Institutional and RIA accounts have higher limits that Schwab hasn’t disclosed publicly.
BitGo is handling custody, with assets held in segregated cold storage. Schwab’s SIPC insurance doesn’t cover crypto holdings – a distinction the company highlights prominently in its disclosure documents. But, BitGo carries its own $250 million insurance policy on custodied assets.
What Prompted the Move
Schwab had been telegraphing this for over a year. Former CEO Walt Bettinger said in 2024 that the company would “absolutely” offer direct crypto trading once regulatory clarity improved. His successor, Rick Wurster, accelerated the timeline after watching competitors gain ground.
Fidelity launched direct crypto trading for retail clients in late 2024. Interactive Brokers has offered it since 2021. Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch have been quietly allowing advisors to recommend Bitcoin ETFs since mid-2025. Schwab was becoming the odd one out among major brokerages.
The SEC’s evolving stance also played a role. Under the current administration, the agency has shifted from enforcement-first to rulemaking-first, providing the regulatory predictability that Schwab’s compliance team needed to greenlight the product.
Market Impact
Bitcoin rose 3.2% on the day of the announcement, briefly touching $95,800 before settling around $94,500. Ethereum jumped 4.7% to $1,850. Trading volumes across centralized exchanges spiked as traders front-ran anticipated inflows.
The bigger impact will be measured over quarters, not days. Schwab’s 38 million accounts collectively hold over $9 trillion in assets. If even 2% of those assets rotate into crypto – a conservative estimate given survey data on client interest – that’s $180 billion in new demand.
For comparison, the entire spot Bitcoin ETF market holds roughly $110 billion. Schwab’s direct trading could dwarf the ETF channel within a year.
The Competition Responds
Vanguard, the other giant of low-cost investing, has remained firm in its refusal to offer crypto. CEO Salim Ramji has called Bitcoin “speculative” and says Vanguard’s fiduciary model doesn’t support it. That position is increasingly isolated.
Coinbase stock dropped 4.1% on the news, as investors processed the threat of a $9 trillion brokerage entering the retail crypto market. Robinhood fell 2.8%. Both companies derive significant revenue from crypto trading fees that Schwab is now undercutting on price and convenience.
“The crypto exchanges had a five-year head start, and they used it to build better products,” said Dan Dolev, an analyst at Mizuho. “But they can’t compete with Schwab on trust, distribution, and existing client relationships. This is a land grab.”
What’s Next
Schwab has indicated it will expand to additional cryptocurrencies “based on client demand and regulatory clarity.” Solana, XRP, and Avalanche are reportedly under review, though the company won’t confirm specific assets.
The company is also exploring staking services for Ethereum, which could launch later this year. If Schwab offers ETH staking through a standard brokerage account, it would bring yield-bearing crypto products to an audience that has never interacted with a DeFi protocol.
For the broader crypto market, Schwab’s entry signals something that has been building for years but never felt quite real until now: the wall between traditional finance and cryptocurrency is coming down. Not with a dramatic crash, but with a quiet integration that makes buying Bitcoin as unremarkable as buying an index fund.
