Charles Schwab opens crypto trading to all clients, starts rolling out wallet transfers

Charles Schwab has opened direct bitcoin and ether trading to all of its clients, Chief Executive Officer Rick Wurster said on Oct. 15 on the brokerage's third-quarter earnings call. The U.S. firm is also rolling out a feature that lets clients move crypto from other exchanges or personal wallets into Schwab, and plans to add three more coins by the end of the year.

"All clients can now access Schwab Crypto. We are rolling out the ability for clients to transfer their crypto holdings to Schwab, and we are launching access to three new coins by the end of the year."

Rick Wurster, CEO of Charles Schwab

Five months from first clients to all clients

Schwab Crypto began rolling out to clients in May 2026. Bitcoin and ether trading was available from the start, but accounts were opened to clients in stages at the bank's discretion. In an Aug. 27 press release, Schwab said it would add solana (SOL), avalanche (AVAX) and chainlink (LINK) "in the coming months," and Wurster said on this week's call that three new coins would launch by year-end. The company has said it may delay, modify or withdraw support for any announced asset based on market, regulatory, operational or risk-related developments.

In its 2026 Modern Wealth Survey released Oct. 7, Schwab found that 21% of Americans own crypto and another 23% do not but are interested. Six in 10 crypto owners said they plan to add to their holdings over the next 12 months, a higher share than owners of ETFs (56%) or stocks (52%). Among non-owners, the most cited barriers were concerns about scams or fraud (48%) and not understanding how crypto works (39%).

The accounts are offered not by Schwab's broker-dealer but by its banking subsidiary, Charles Schwab Premier Bank. Crypto held in them is not protected by the Securities Investor Protection Corporation (SIPC) or insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Clients residing in New York, Louisiana, U.S. territories or outside the United States cannot open accounts.

Three withdrawals a day, to allowlisted addresses only

According to Schwab's crypto FAQ page, transfers are being enabled in phases for eligible clients, who will be notified by email once the feature is turned on. To enroll, clients must verify their identity and set up a passkey, a device-based login credential. Destination addresses must first be added to an allowlist and can be used only after a cooldown of at least 24 hours.

Withdrawals are limited to three per 24 hours and $5,000 per transfer, while deposits are capped at $50 million a month. Only the Bitcoin and Ethereum networks are supported, and deposits are credited after three confirmations for bitcoin (about 30 minutes) and 12 for ether (about three minutes). Schwab does not charge to send or receive crypto, but clients pay the blockchain network fee on outgoing transfers. The company said transfers are final and cannot be canceled or reversed.

Up to $2 million per order, $10 million cost basis per coin

Trades carry a fee of 0.75% of the order value, with a minimum order of $1 and a maximum of $2 million. Orders above $1 million must be limit orders, and clients cannot buy more of an asset once their cost basis in it reaches $10 million. Crypto accounts are not eligible for margin.

Schwab reported record third-quarter net revenue of $7.2 billion the same day, with client assets up 15% from a year earlier at $13.33 trillion. On the call, Wurster named crypto and prediction markets as "additional transactional-based revenue streams." Daily average trades rose 44% year over year to 10.7 million in the quarter.

Schwab is also expanding into prediction markets. It currently offers binary options on the S&P 500 in a limited way, products that pay a fixed amount if a call is right and nothing if it is wrong. Wurster said that over the next 12 to 18 months Schwab would broaden them to financially related events, such as whether a company beats earnings estimates or how many cars an automaker delivers in a quarter. He said the firm would stay away from sports gambling.

Not open to Korean residents; won prices for the three coins

Schwab Crypto is not available outside the United States, so investors in South Korea cannot use it. All three coins flagged in August trade on the Korean won markets of Upbit and Bithumb. As of 10:30 p.m. KST on Oct. 16, solana traded at 141,900 won on Upbit, avalanche at 13,810 won and chainlink at 16,930 won. Over the 24 hours to that time on Binance, avalanche rose 7.6%, chainlink 5.4% and solana 3.5%, while bitcoin gained 1.7%.