Schwab Opens Bitcoin and Ether Trading to 40 Million Clients

Charles Schwab has completed the full retail rollout of direct spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading this week. Chief Executive Rick Wurster confirmed the launch at the company fall business update on Thursday. The service is called Schwab Crypto. It runs on the Schwab website, the mobile app and the thinkorswim platform.

The scale is large. Schwab has about 40.1 million active brokerage accounts and about $13.3 trillion in client assets. Those clients can now buy and sell Bitcoin and Ether directly through Schwab, instead of using a separate crypto exchange or a fund that tracks the price.

How the service works

Schwab charges a flat fee of 0.75 percent per trade. Paxos provides trade execution and sub-custody for the service. Paxos Trust Company holds a federal trust charter from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, known as the OCC. Schwab took a stake in Paxos in the second quarter of 2026.

Transfers in and out over the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are now enabled. Customers must register recipient addresses in advance before they can move coins. The service is not open to everyone. Residents of New York and Louisiana are excluded, as are some client categories.

The rollout took months. Schwab announced the service in April 2026 and opened a waitlist. A limited launch began in May 2026 and rolled out in stages. Full availability arrived by October 15 to 16, 2026. Before this launch, Schwab clients had only indirect exposure through exchange traded funds and futures. In June 2026 Schwab added 24/7 crypto futures trading on thinkorswim.

Why it matters

A firm of this size entering direct crypto trading changes who can reach the market and how. Millions of ordinary brokerage clients can now hold Bitcoin and Ether in the same place where they hold stocks and funds. Wurster called crypto trading a significant new source of transaction revenue for the company. That comment shows Schwab sees the service as a business line, not a short term test.

The timing is not easy. Bitcoin has struggled to hold above $80,000 this week. Spot Bitcoin exchange traded funds saw outflows, with BlackRock reporting four days of net outflows within one week, according to AMBCrypto. Schwab is opening the service while prices are under pressure and some investors are pulling money out.

The risks and limits

Schwab states clearly that crypto balances are not covered by SIPC protection or FDIC protection. That is different from cash and securities in a normal brokerage account. If the value falls, the client carries the loss. If a problem hits the custody setup, those federal protections do not apply in the same way.

What happens next

Schwab plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink by the end of 2026. That would widen the list beyond the two largest cryptocurrencies. The next test is use. Traders will watch how many of the 40.1 million account holders place their first trade, and whether fee income grows as Wurster expects.

Sources TokenPost: https://www.tokenpost.com/news/business/33526 Traders Union: https://tradersunion.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/show/3849115-charles-schwab-opens/ Crypto Economy: https://crypto-economy.com/charles-schwab-ceo-reveals-cryptos-potential-as-a-major-new-revenue-driver/ FinanceFeeds: https://financefeeds.com/charles-schwab-crypto-access/ AMBCrypto: https://ambcrypto.com/deutsche-bank-charles-schwab-double-down-on-crypto-as-bitcoin-gains-on-tradfi/