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Home/Markets & Investing/CHARLES SCHWAB · ROBINHOOD

Charles Schwab's Entry into Spot Crypto Trading Pressures Retail Fee Structures

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Robin Wentworth

Charles Schwab · Apr 17, 2026

Retail investors can now trade spot Bitcoin and Ethereum directly within their brokerage accounts through the new Schwab Crypto service. The platform integrates digital assets into a unified account view alongside equities, ETFs, and fixed-income products.

Related Brief1h ago
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Schwab Clients Can Now Trade Bitcoin and Ethereum Directly — Here’s How It Affects Their Crypto Strategy

Schwab clients now have direct access to trade Bitcoin and Ethereum through Schwab Crypto, a new feature designed to feel like an extension of their brokerage accounts rather than a separate platform. The service, powered by Paxos — the same firm that issues PayPal’s stablecoin — is part of Schwab’s broader push into the digital assets market. This move builds on the firm’s existing footprint, as Schwab clients already hold about 20% of spot crypto exchange-traded products. The firm plans to expand the offering to include more cryptocurrencies and enable deposit and withdrawal capabilities in the coming weeks.

Schwab will charge 75 basis points per transaction, a fee that undercuts Fidelity Investments' 1% charge and Coinbase's retail fee ceiling of 4%. The service operates through Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB, which acts as custodian, while Paxos provides the regulated sub-custody and trade execution infrastructure.

Related Brief2d ago
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Crypto Stocks Surge as Risk-On Returns and Capital Flows Back Into High-Beta Bitcoin Proxies

Capital is now rotating into the highest-beta equity proxies across the crypto ecosystem, not just Bitcoin itself — a shift that reveals how investors are positioning for leverage in a recovering risk environment. As $Bitcoin (BTC.CC)$ reclaimed $75,000 on Tuesday, shares of $Robinhood (HOOD.US)$, $Strategy (MSTR.US)$, $Coinbase (COIN.US)$, $Circle (CRCL.US)$, and $SoFi Technologies (SOFI.US)$ led gains, while miners like $Riot Platforms (RIOT.US)$, $MARA Holdings (MARA.US)$, and $CleanSpark (CLSK.US)$ surged alongside them. This broad-based rally reflects a synchronized rebound across the entire crypto value chain. Risk appetite improved as markets priced in a lower chance of Middle East escalation, pulling oil prices back and easing pressure on risk assets. High-beta assets — including tech stocks and Bitcoin — responded in kind. At the same time, the latest PPI data came in below expectations, tempering concerns about persistent inflation and further rate hikes. Softer producer prices signal that cost pressures are not accelerating, creating a more hospitable environment for liquidity-sensitive assets like digital currencies. Real capital is returning: recent data shows net inflows into digital asset investment products, with Bitcoin-related products capturing the bulk of demand. This isn’t just sentiment — it’s real allocation. The structure of the rally further reveals investor preference. Flows are favoring equities that offer amplified exposure to Bitcoin’s price moves. Trading platforms benefit directly from higher volumes and user activity. Infrastructure players like Circle gain from clearer stablecoin regulation and industry expansion. Miners and leveraged holders like Marathon, Riot, and Strategy see outsized gains as rising BTC prices boost their balance sheets and projected earnings. Markets are now pricing crypto not as a speculative bet, but as part of financial infrastructure. Still, the move remains a macro-driven recovery — not a resolved breakout. Geopolitical risks, inflation, and oil prices remain volatile. The rally is real, but its durability depends on conditions that have yet to fully stabilize. The terminal consequence is that investors are repricing crypto assets from pure trading instruments toward components of financial infrastructure, even as volatility remains a defining feature.

Access is currently limited to Bitcoin and Ethereum in most U.S. states, excluding New York and Louisiana. At launch, the platform does not support the deposit or withdrawal of digital assets from external wallets, effectively keeping assets within Schwab's custody environment.

Related Brief3d ago
cryptocurrency exchanges

HTX Trading Fees Drop to 0.02% for High-Volume Traders

High-volume traders on HTX can reduce their spot trading fees to 0.02% for maker positions. This tiered fee structure is determined by the volume of trades executed within a 30-day window. The default spot trading fee for users without a trading history is 0.2% for both makers and takers. Traders who execute trades worth over $500,000 in a month pay approximately 0.15%. For those trading over $100 million, maker fees drop to 0.02% and taker fees to 0.04%.

The rollout follows regulatory shifts in 2025, including the SEC's rescission of Staff Accounting Bulletin 121 in January and the OCC's reaffirmation in March that crypto custody is permissible for national banks.

Related BriefJust now
cryptocurrency

Charles Schwab retail clients can now trade bitcoin and ethereum

Retail clients can now trade spot bitcoin and ethereum through Charles Schwab. The company announced the launch of the service on April 16, 2026. Assets will be held in dedicated crypto accounts with custody handled by Charles Schwab Premier Bank, SSB.

Shares of Coinbase and Robinhood each fell approximately 3% following the announcement.

Related Brief3h ago
brokerage services

Schwab integrates spot crypto into standard brokerage product lines

Schwab clients will have direct spot crypto access through the largest traditional brokerage to offer the service. Charles Schwab plans to offer direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading by Q2 2026 through its Schwab Crypto platform. This entry into the crypto market marks a shift in how traditional brokerages view spot crypto, which is now treated as a standard product line.

Charles SchwabRobinhoodcrypto IRS rulingcrypto money laundering enforcementFidelity InvestmentsCoinbase

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