Morgan Stanley Launches E*Trade Crypto Trading at 0.5%, Undercutting Coinbase and Schwab
Morgan Stanley has begun direct cryptocurrency buying and selling on its E*Trade platform. The financial institution is charging shoppers 50 foundation factors per transaction, undercutting Coinbase, Robinhood, and Charles Schwab.
The pilot is dwell for a small group of customers now. All 8.6 million E*Trade shoppers are set to achieve entry later in 2026, in line with Bloomberg.
A Direct Shot at Crypto-Native Brokerages
The 0.5% charge locations Morgan Stanley below several rivals competing for retail crypto circulation. Schwab charges 75 basis points on its newly launched spot Bitcoin and Ether buying and selling. Coinbase retail charges can climb above 0.5% relying on tier and cost methodology.
Robinhood markets itself as commission-free, however spreads on every commerce usually run 35 to 95 foundation factors. Fidelity’s separate crypto product fees roughly 1% per commerce.
The pilot covers Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and Solana (SOL). Morgan Stanley has filed exchange-traded fund functions for a similar three property.
Custody, liquidity, and settlement run by Zerohash, the Chicago infrastructure agency wherein the financial institution holds a stake. Mastercard just lately moved to acquire the same firm in a deal reported close to $2 billion.
E*Trade Fits Into a Wider Crypto Push
The brokerage launch arrives weeks after MSBT, Morgan Stanley’s spot Bitcoin ETF. That fund went dwell in April with a 0.14% expense ratio, the most affordable within the US market. The financial institution has additionally filed for Ether and Solana ETFs.
E*Trade provides Morgan Stanley a distribution channel few crypto-native exchanges can match. Roughly 16,000 in-house advisors oversee about $9.3 trillion in consumer property. That base gives a number of paths to push the brand new buying and selling product.
The aggressive pricing suggests Morgan Stanley is keen to compress margins to seize retail crypto share earlier than peer banks reply.
How shortly Coinbase and Robinhood regulate their efficient charges might determine whether or not this pilot reshapes business pricing.
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