Charles Schwab Just Launched Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading. This Is What Changes.

Last updated: 4 May 2026

Charles Schwab began its phased rollout of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading on April 24, 2026, charging 0.75% per trade with no minimum investment. The service is live on Schwab.com, the mobile app, and thinkorswim, the brokerage’s trading platform. Schwab has roughly 35 million active brokerage accounts. Every one of those customers can now buy Bitcoin and Ethereum directly in the same interface they use to buy Apple stock, with no separate crypto exchange account required.

Key Highlights

• Schwab launched spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading on April 24, 2026, at 0.75% per trade, the same day it announced a phased retail rollout
• The service runs on Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim, meaning crypto and traditional investments are visible side by side
• Schwab has approximately 35 million active brokerage accounts, making this the largest distribution channel for spot crypto trading in US retail history
• The 0.75% fee is above Coinbase’s standard rate but below Robinhood’s effective spread on crypto, and notably below most bank brokerage crypto offerings
• Schwab plans to add more cryptocurrencies and transfer capabilities over time, allowing clients with existing crypto holdings to bring them to Schwab
• The Trump administration’s regulatory stance toward crypto is cited directly by Schwab as part of what made the launch possible now rather than two years ago

Why this launch is structurally different from a crypto exchange

Coinbase has 110 million verified accounts but most are crypto-native users who sought out a crypto platform. Schwab’s 35 million accounts are people who opened a brokerage to invest in stocks, bonds, and ETFs. When they log in Monday morning to check their portfolio, they will see a Bitcoin price next to their AAPL and SPY positions. They do not need to believe in crypto to notice that. They need to notice it once, click, and decide.

That distribution channel is the structural difference. Crypto exchanges built their user base by attracting people who wanted crypto. Schwab built its user base by being the default brokerage for tens of millions of Americans who keep their retirement and taxable investment accounts there. Bringing crypto to that audience does not require any of them to change their behavior. It requires them to do nothing differently until the day they decide to add some Bitcoin to a portfolio they are already managing.

The side-by-side visibility matters as much as the trading access. A Schwab client who holds a standard portfolio of index funds can now see Bitcoin’s performance in the same view as their traditional holdings. Portfolio allocation decisions get made with that data visible. That is behaviorally different from needing to open a second app to check the price.

The fee structure and what it signals

0.75% per trade is not the cheapest crypto fee in the market. Coinbase Advanced charges 0.6% at standard volume levels. Kraken Pro goes lower. But Schwab is not competing for crypto-native traders who comparison shop on fees. Schwab is competing for share of wallet among people who already have brokerage accounts and trust the Schwab brand more than any crypto exchange brand.

The 0.75% fee on a $10,000 Bitcoin purchase is $75. The same investor using a financial advisor to buy a Bitcoin ETF through an advisory account might pay 1% annual management plus the ETF expense ratio. Schwab’s direct trading fee is lower on a single transaction basis. The framing that will land with mainstream Schwab clients is not “cheaper than Coinbase.” It is “cheaper than the alternative your advisor was already charging you for.”

US spot Bitcoin ETFs crossed $96.5 billion in AUM on the back of institutional and advisor-driven buying. Schwab’s direct trading launch gives the same customer base a lower-cost option than most ETF-plus-advisory structures. Some of that ETF money will migrate to direct holding over time. Not all of it, because ETF wrappers are tax-advantaged in retirement accounts. But for taxable account investors, direct Bitcoin at 0.75% per trade beats most ETF alternatives on total cost.

What Robinhood does next

Robinhood launched crypto trading in 2018 and now processes significant crypto volume. Schwab’s entry is direct competition. Robinhood’s crypto revenue has historically benefited from payment for order flow economics that are separate from the stated fee. Schwab is entering with a clear stated fee, no payment for order flow on crypto, and a brand that carries more institutional credibility with the over-40 investor demographic Robinhood has struggled to attract.

Robinhood will respond. The likely response is a fee reduction or a promotional period. Neither changes the structural advantage Schwab has in the advisor-serviced and workplace retirement channel. Robinhood does not have meaningful penetration in those channels. BlackRock’s Bitcoin accumulation and Schwab’s trading launch are happening in the same week for the same reason: the regulatory environment under the current administration makes launching these products less risky legally than waiting two more years.

The transfer capability announcement and what it means

Schwab said it plans to add transfer capabilities allowing clients with existing crypto holdings to bring Bitcoin and Ethereum to Schwab from external wallets. That announcement is more significant than it initially sounds. If Schwab can serve as a consolidated view for both traditional investments and externally held crypto, it becomes a portfolio management hub for investors who have been splitting attention between a brokerage and a crypto wallet. Consolidated reporting for tax purposes alone is a strong incentive to move crypto custody to Schwab once transfers are live.

The custody implication is also worth noting. Schwab will hold the crypto on clients’ behalf under its custody framework. That is a regulated, insured custody relationship. It is not self-custody. For the mainstream investor who has no interest in managing private keys, it is a material improvement over the current situation of using a crypto exchange that operates with less regulatory oversight than a registered broker-dealer.

The TCB View

Schwab’s launch is the most consequential mainstream crypto access event since the spot Bitcoin ETF approvals in January 2024. The ETFs gave institutional allocators and financial advisors a regulated wrapper. Schwab’s trading gives 35 million retail investors direct access without requiring any change in their existing investment behavior. The fee is reasonable. The platform is trusted. The distribution is massive. The adoption curve from here is not about awareness or access. It is about the day each of those 35 million people decides that some allocation to Bitcoin makes sense in their portfolio, opens the app they already use, and buys it in 30 seconds. That day gets closer every week that Schwab shows them the price.