A brokerage managing $13 trillion has officially brought BTC and ETH into stock accounts—so now you can buy crypto right in the app you use to buy stocks.
What happened:
Charles Schwab confirmed on its Q3 earnings call on October 16 that “Schwab Crypto” is now fully available to eligible retail customers across the U.S. You can buy and sell $BTC and $ETH at spot directly in your brokerage account, in the same app you use for stocks.
- Powered by Paxos for compliant custody, trade execution, and settlement. A flat 0.75% fee applies to each trade, with no additional spread.
- You can now transfer crypto from external wallets into your Schwab account over the BTC/ETH networks. New addresses must be registered in advance and are subject to a 24-hour waiting period.
- Schwab plans to add SOL, AVAX, and LINK by year-end. New York and Louisiana are not yet covered.
- Scale: Schwab manages more than $13.33 trillion in client assets across around 40 million accounts. Its CEO said crypto trading is a new source of trading revenue for the company.
Why it matters:
The key point isn’t that “another institution is bullish”—it’s that the path to buying crypto has opened up. Until now, U.S. retail investors who wanted to buy crypto had to open an account at an exchange or buy an ETF. Now they can simply open the brokerage app they’ve used for years and buy spot crypto directly. Many brokerage customers have “never opened an exchange account.” This incremental inflow may not be visible on-chain, but spot and ETF markets will feel it.
Don’t expect prices to react overnight: brokerage channels bring in slower-moving money, and a 0.75% fee isn’t cheap. In the short term, the impact is more about sentiment and narrative. But the direction is clear—traditional finance is opening up more and more “on-ramps” to crypto, and brokerages are covering the cost of customer acquisition for the crypto industry.
Data as of: 2026-10-17 18:00 UTC
Sources: Crypto Economy (2026-10-17); Traders Union (2026-10-16)
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.
Would you buy crypto directly in a brokerage app, or stick with an exchange?
What happened:
Charles Schwab confirmed on its Q3 earnings call on October 16 that “Schwab Crypto” is now fully available to eligible retail customers across the U.S. You can buy and sell $BTC and $ETH at spot directly in your brokerage account, in the same app you use for stocks.
- Powered by Paxos for compliant custody, trade execution, and settlement. A flat 0.75% fee applies to each trade, with no additional spread.
- You can now transfer crypto from external wallets into your Schwab account over the BTC/ETH networks. New addresses must be registered in advance and are subject to a 24-hour waiting period.
- Schwab plans to add SOL, AVAX, and LINK by year-end. New York and Louisiana are not yet covered.
- Scale: Schwab manages more than $13.33 trillion in client assets across around 40 million accounts. Its CEO said crypto trading is a new source of trading revenue for the company.
Why it matters:
The key point isn’t that “another institution is bullish”—it’s that the path to buying crypto has opened up. Until now, U.S. retail investors who wanted to buy crypto had to open an account at an exchange or buy an ETF. Now they can simply open the brokerage app they’ve used for years and buy spot crypto directly. Many brokerage customers have “never opened an exchange account.” This incremental inflow may not be visible on-chain, but spot and ETF markets will feel it.
Don’t expect prices to react overnight: brokerage channels bring in slower-moving money, and a 0.75% fee isn’t cheap. In the short term, the impact is more about sentiment and narrative. But the direction is clear—traditional finance is opening up more and more “on-ramps” to crypto, and brokerages are covering the cost of customer acquisition for the crypto industry.
Data as of: 2026-10-17 18:00 UTC
Sources: Crypto Economy (2026-10-17); Traders Union (2026-10-16)
For informational purposes only; not investment advice.
Would you buy crypto directly in a brokerage app, or stick with an exchange?