By - Charles Schwab began its phased rollout of spot bitcoin and ethereum trading for retail clients on May 13, 2026, starting with a select group of eligible U.S. customers.
- Schwab Crypto charges 75 basis points per trade, among the lowest fees in the industry, powered by Paxos as the OCC-regulated sub-custodian.
- The firm manages roughly $12 trillion in client assets and serves over 35 million active brokerage accounts across the country.
- The launch puts Schwab in direct competition with Robinhood, Coinbase, and Kraken for the retail crypto trading market.
Schwab spot crypto trading is now live. The $12 trillion brokerage giant opened direct bitcoin and ethereum access to select retail clients starting May 13, 2026, in what may be the most consequential mainstream finance event in crypto’s short history.
For years, traditional brokerage giants watched from the sidelines as Coinbase, Robinhood, and a wave of crypto-native platforms captured the retail trading market. Schwab’s entry changes that equation permanently. When a firm with 35 million clients and $12 trillion in assets decides to offer direct spot crypto trading, the entire market structure shifts.
What Schwab Crypto Actually Offers
At launch, clients can trade bitcoin and ethereum through a separate Schwab Crypto account linked to their existing brokerage account. The account is held through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, which acts as the primary custodian of clients’ digital assets.
Paxos, the OCC-regulated blockchain infrastructure firm that also powers PayPal’s crypto rails, handles sub-custody and trade execution. Pricing comes in at 75 basis points on the dollar value of each trade, according to the official Schwab press release. The platform is available across Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and the thinkorswim trading platform.
📊 $12 Trillion in client assets sits under Schwab’s roof.
For perspective, that’s more than the entire global crypto market cap. Even 1% of that moving into BTC and ETH would reshape price discovery in ways most analysts haven’t fully modeled yet.
Why This Matters More Than Any ETF Launch
Jonathan Craig, Schwab’s Head of Retail Investing, was direct: “We know our clients want to conduct more of their financial lives at Schwab.” The key word is “lives” — not just investment accounts, but a holistic financial hub.
Schwab already controlled roughly 20% of all spot crypto exchange-traded products before this launch. Adding direct spot trading flips the firm from passive ETF-wrapper provider to active trading venue overnight. The difference is significant: ETFs have expense ratios and intraday spreads; direct spot trading gives clients actual ownership of the underlying asset.
Joe Vietri, Schwab’s Head of Digital Assets, framed the goal clearly: the firm wants to be “the destination of choice for retail investors who want to incorporate digital assets into their portfolios with confidence.” That’s a direct shot across the bow at Coinbase, which has long positioned itself as the trusted entry point for mainstream Americans wanting crypto exposure.
📊 75 basis points per trade: how it compares
Coinbase’s retail spread can hit 1.5% or higher. Robinhood shows “0% fees” but earns on payment for order flow. Schwab’s flat 0.75% is straightforward and competitive for the buy-and-hold crowd.
How Schwab Crypto Works Under the Hood
Clients open a separate Schwab Crypto account that links directly to their existing Schwab brokerage accounts. This means portfolios now display stocks, ETFs, bonds, and crypto in a single unified view, a feature Schwab is explicitly marketing as its competitive moat.
The Paxos partnership is worth understanding. Paxos operates under OCC bank charter oversight, making it one of the most regulated crypto infrastructure providers in the U.S. This gives Schwab a credible answer to the safety question that has historically deterred cautious investors from buying crypto on native exchanges.
Schwab also surveyed nearly 500 crypto investors and prospective investors before building the platform. The top three factors respondents wanted: low transparent pricing, brand familiarity, and asset security. Schwab engineered Schwab Crypto to check all three boxes specifically — a product built from customer research, not just competitive pressure.
The Catch: Not Available Everywhere Yet
Schwab Crypto is not available in New York or Louisiana due to state-level regulatory requirements. The rollout is phased, meaning eligible clients will be onboarded in waves rather than all at once.
Plans are already in motion to add more cryptocurrencies over time, along with transfer-in capabilities so clients can consolidate existing holdings from other wallets or exchanges to Schwab. For context on how direct spot crypto compares to the ETF wrapper approach that Schwab previously offered, TechToken’s Bitcoin ETF explainer lays out the key differences clearly.
TechToken Take
Schwab entering spot crypto is the clearest signal yet that direct digital asset trading has moved from fintech experiment to table stakes for every major brokerage. The real question isn’t whether Schwab takes share from Coinbase or Robinhood — it will. The question is whether the 75 bps fee holds once competitors respond, or whether this kicks off a fee war that compresses margins across the entire retail crypto sector. Either way, the consumer wins.
What to Watch Next
Schwab has signaled plans to add more tokens and enable transfer-in from external wallets, which would make it a more complete platform and a direct threat to exchanges that rely heavily on new-user onboarding fees.
If adoption among Schwab’s 35 million clients reaches even 5%, that’s 1.75 million new direct crypto buyers entering the market through a single platform. Expect Fidelity, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley to accelerate their own spot crypto timelines in response before the end of 2026.
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