The brokerage giant has opened the door, but the gate is still locked
Schwab’s 13.33 trillion dollars in client assets and 40.3 million brokerage accounts can finally buy BTC and ETH directly, with a 0.75% fee and trades ranging from $1 to $2 million. Sounds pretty generous. But then you look at withdrawals: three per 24 hours, capped at $5,000 each, and new addresses have to sit for 24 hours before they’re approved. New York and Louisiana are flat-out excluded. You can buy in, but you can’t get your coins out. They’ve put more thought into the restrictions than a custodial bank.
That 0.75% fee is about ten times Binance’s. Paxos takes a cut for execution and sub-custody, while Schwab makes money from existing clients who can’t be bothered to move their accounts. There won’t be any meaningful new buying pressure in the short term, so expecting these account holders to lift the market is wishful thinking. BTC has a dense cluster of underwater holders overhead, so any rally is a chance to reduce positions. ETH might pop on the brokerage narrative, but without volume it’ll fade. SOL won’t launch until 2026, and expectations have already gotten ahead of themselves; anyone buying the dip will just be chasing headlines. Market makers are waiting for exactly this kind of good news to become official: push prices up a bit, then slowly unload to the first retail traders who open accounts.
With a $5,000 withdrawal limit per transaction, how many withdrawals would it take to move the positions you guys are holding? Drop a number in the comments.
$BTC $ETH $SOL
Schwab’s 13.33 trillion dollars in client assets and 40.3 million brokerage accounts can finally buy BTC and ETH directly, with a 0.75% fee and trades ranging from $1 to $2 million. Sounds pretty generous. But then you look at withdrawals: three per 24 hours, capped at $5,000 each, and new addresses have to sit for 24 hours before they’re approved. New York and Louisiana are flat-out excluded. You can buy in, but you can’t get your coins out. They’ve put more thought into the restrictions than a custodial bank.
That 0.75% fee is about ten times Binance’s. Paxos takes a cut for execution and sub-custody, while Schwab makes money from existing clients who can’t be bothered to move their accounts. There won’t be any meaningful new buying pressure in the short term, so expecting these account holders to lift the market is wishful thinking. BTC has a dense cluster of underwater holders overhead, so any rally is a chance to reduce positions. ETH might pop on the brokerage narrative, but without volume it’ll fade. SOL won’t launch until 2026, and expectations have already gotten ahead of themselves; anyone buying the dip will just be chasing headlines. Market makers are waiting for exactly this kind of good news to become official: push prices up a bit, then slowly unload to the first retail traders who open accounts.
With a $5,000 withdrawal limit per transaction, how many withdrawals would it take to move the positions you guys are holding? Drop a number in the comments.
$BTC $ETH $SOL