Charles Schwab has begun offering direct bitcoin and ethereum trading inside its brokerage accounts, charging 0.75% per trade and undercutting rival Fidelity by 25 basis points on every transaction. The phased rollout started in April 2026, making Schwab the largest traditional brokerage by total client assets to let retail investors buy and sell spot crypto alongside their stocks, bonds, and ETFs in a single account.
For a firm that sat out the first wave of brokerage crypto offerings, the launch is a decisive shift. CEO Rick Wurster telegraphed the move during a November 2024 analyst call, telling investors, “We will look to offer spot crypto” once regulators provided clearer guidance. Eighteen months later, Schwab is not just entering the market. It is entering with a price designed to pull clients away from Fidelity Crypto, which currently charges a 1% spread on each trade.
What the 0.75% fee actually means
On a $10,000 bitcoin purchase, Schwab’s 75-basis-point fee costs $75, compared with $100 at Fidelity. That $25 gap per trade adds up for investors who dollar-cost average into positions over months. For someone making two $5,000 buys per month, the annual savings would approach $300.
The pricing mirrors the playbook Schwab used to reshape stock trading over the past decade, when it helped drive equity commissions to zero and pulled trillions in assets from higher-cost competitors. Applying that same pressure to crypto suggests the firm sees digital assets as a permanent line of business, not a side experiment.
Still, 0.75% is not cheap by crypto-native standards. Coinbase Advanced and Kraken Pro charge active traders well below 0.10% per transaction. The tradeoff is that those platforms require separate accounts, separate logins, and separate tax documentation. Schwab is wagering that mainstream investors will pay a premium to keep everything in one place with a brand they already trust.
How the platform is built
Schwab Crypto lives inside existing brokerage accounts. Bitcoin and ethereum holdings appear on the same dashboard as equities and fixed income, reinforcing the firm’s pitch that digital assets belong in a diversified portfolio rather than on a standalone app.
The back-end infrastructure relies on Paxos, a regulated blockchain firm that already powers crypto services for PayPal and other major financial brands. According to reporting from FXStreet, Paxos handles trade execution and sub-custody, while Schwab Premier Bank serves as the custodian of record. That structure lets Schwab offer the product under its own brand without directly holding crypto on behalf of clients, reducing both regulatory complexity and operational risk.
The platform also includes educational materials and access to human support representatives. For a client base that skews older and more conservative than the typical Coinbase user, that hand-holding could matter as much as the fee structure.
Key questions Schwab has not answered
The phased rollout means many clients still cannot access the feature, and Schwab has not published a timeline for full availability. Several other gaps stand out:
- Account eligibility: The company has not confirmed which account types qualify (individual taxable, IRAs, trusts) or whether minimum balances apply.
- State availability: Crypto regulations vary by jurisdiction. Some platforms have historically excluded residents of New York, Hawaii, and other states with stricter licensing requirements. Schwab has not disclosed its state-by-state coverage.
- Insurance and protection: Traditional brokerage assets at Schwab are covered by SIPC. Crypto holdings almost certainly are not, since SIPC does not cover digital assets. Schwab has not detailed what protections, if any, apply to bitcoin and ethereum held on the platform.
- Wallet transfers: It remains unclear whether clients can move purchased crypto to external wallets or whether assets must stay on-platform, a meaningful distinction for investors who want self-custody.
- Tax reporting: One of the biggest potential advantages of buying crypto through a traditional brokerage is consolidated tax reporting. Schwab has not confirmed whether crypto transactions will appear on the same 1099 as stock and ETF trades.
The asset menu is also narrow. Schwab Crypto currently supports only bitcoin and ethereum. Fidelity lists a handful of additional tokens, while Robinhood and Coinbase provide access to dozens. Starting with just two assets likely reflects regulatory caution, since bitcoin and ethereum are the most widely treated as commodities rather than securities, but the company has not said whether expansion is planned.
A brokerage price war with real stakes
Schwab manages roughly $10 trillion in total client assets. Fidelity oversees a comparable sum. When firms of that scale compete on crypto pricing, the downstream effects reach well beyond their own platforms. Smaller brokerages will face pressure to match or beat the 0.75% rate, and crypto-native exchanges may need to emphasize their broader token selection and lower fees for active traders to hold onto market share.
The timing reinforces the trend. The approval of spot bitcoin ETFs in early 2024 opened the door for traditional firms to engage with crypto more directly, and Schwab already offers those ETF products. Adding spot trading gives clients a choice: hold crypto through a fund wrapper, with its own expense ratio, or own the underlying asset at 0.75% per trade. For long-term holders who want direct exposure without an ongoing fund fee, spot ownership through a brokerage account is a compelling option.
Whether two assets and a 0.75% fee are enough to pull meaningful volume from crypto-native platforms will depend on how fast Schwab expands the product, whether it integrates crypto into its portfolio planning and tax tools, and whether the convenience of a single account outweighs the cost gap with exchanges built for traders. For now, the largest traditional brokerage in the country has made its bet: crypto belongs on the same screen as everything else you own.
