Charles Schwab Begins Rolling Out Spot Bitcoin and Ethereum Trading for Retail Clients

• Charles Schwab has begun a phased rollout of Schwab Crypto, giving retail clients direct access to spot Bitcoin and Ethereum trading.
• The service will launch with a 75 basis point transaction fee, no crypto deposits or withdrawals, and no availability in New York or Louisiana.

Charles Schwab is finally moving from indirect crypto exposure to direct spot trading, opening a new chapter in how one of America’s largest brokerage firms wants to compete in digital assets.

The firm said its new offering, Schwab Crypto, will roll out in phases over the coming weeks, sticking to the second-quarter timetable it had signaled earlier after opening a waitlist this month.

At launch, retail clients will be able to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum through dedicated crypto accounts linked to their traditional Schwab brokerage accounts.

Schwab moves beyond ETFs and derivatives

That marks a clear shift for the company. Until now, Schwab’s crypto offering has largely been limited to indirect exposure through exchange-traded funds and derivatives-related products.

Spot trading changes that. Clients will now be able to buy and sell the assets themselves, even if the structure still keeps the activity tightly contained inside Schwab’s own ecosystem.

The crypto accounts will be offered through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, with Schwab acting as custodian. Paxos will handle trade execution on the back end, giving the firm outside blockchain infrastructure while keeping the client-facing relationship under the Schwab name.

The fee is not especially cheap. Schwab said it will charge 75 basis points per transaction, which places the product more in the convenience-and-trust category than the low-cost, crypto-native one.

A cautious rollout comes with early limits

The launch is not a full-featured crypto account, at least not yet. Clients will not be able to deposit or withdraw digital assets at launch, meaning any Bitcoin or Ethereum they want to trade must be purchased directly through Schwab’s system. That is a notable restriction, and probably an intentional one.

The service will also be unavailable to residents of New York and Louisiana, a reminder that state-level regulatory complexity still shapes even the largest firms’ crypto ambitions.

Still, the direction is clear enough. Schwab is no longer treating crypto as something its clients access only from the side. It is bringing spot trading into the core brokerage experience, even if the first version arrives with training wheels still on.

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