Charles Schwab Opens Bitcoin and Ether Trading to All Eligible Clients

Charles Schwab has finished the retail rollout of its direct cryptocurrency trading service, opening Schwab Crypto to every eligible client and starting to let customers move coins they already hold onto the brokerage’s platform. “All clients can now access Schwab Crypto,” Chief Executive Rick Wurster said during the firm’s October 15 Fall Business Update webcast. The brokerage is now rolling out inbound crypto transfers and plans to add three more coins by the end of the year, according to Schwab’s third-quarter earnings release.

Bitcoin and Ether are the two assets available today. Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink are scheduled to join before the end of 2026, firming up the “coming months” language Schwab used in its August announcement. The service carries a 0.75% fee per trade with no added spread, and Charles Schwab Premier Bank acts as custodian while Paxos Trust Company handles sub-custody and trade execution.

What the full rollout actually changes

The step from the May launch to full availability took five months. Schwab opened a waitlist in April, gave the first retail clients Bitcoin and Ether trading in May, and named the next three assets in August. What changed on October 15 is reach and direction: the product is now open to the full eligible client base rather than a pilot group, and clients can begin transferring existing crypto onto the platform instead of only buying inside Schwab.

The transfer feature is still phased. Schwab supports deposits on the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks, requires clients to pre-register withdrawal addresses, and applies a 24-hour waiting period to newly added addresses. Wurster framed the rollout as moving existing holdings onto Schwab, and the firm has not confirmed that every client can deposit yet or announced outbound transfers.

Why a brokerage this size matters

Schwab ended September with $13.33 trillion in client assets and 48.6 million client accounts, according to the earnings release. Opening a direct crypto product to that base puts a regulated brokerage’s custody and recordkeeping rails behind retail crypto trading, competing directly with the custody relationships and trading fees that native exchanges now collect. The earnings release lists plans to expand the digital assets available in Schwab Crypto among the quarter’s highlights.

The move fits a broader pattern of traditional finance building crypto infrastructure, from Mastercard’s stablecoin and fiat payment platform to bank-backed custody efforts. Schwab does not break out crypto revenue, so the $1.2 billion in third-quarter trading revenue, up 16% year over year, cannot be credited to digital assets.

What the terms leave out

The rollout is deliberately conservative. Crypto held at Schwab carries no FDIC or SIPC protection, and the service remains unavailable in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories and international markets. At 0.75% per trade, Schwab’s pricing sits well above the fee a typical retail crypto exchange charges for spot trades, which positions the product as a convenience layer for existing brokerage clients rather than a competitor to native venues.

Wurster described crypto as one of several newer transaction-revenue streams the firm is building, alongside prediction markets. The next observable signals are how widely existing clients adopt the product and whether Schwab expands the asset line beyond the five announced coins.