Morgan Stanley offers 0.5% crypto trades on E*Trade

Morgan Stanley has launched direct cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform, charging 0.5% (50 basis points) per transaction in a pilot currently open to a limited group of users. The bank plans to make the feature available to all 8.6 million E*Trade clients in 2026.

The pilot lets retail customers buy and sell Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through their E*Trade accounts. Custody, liquidity and settlement for the trading will run through Zerohash, a Chicago-based infrastructure firm in which Morgan Stanley holds a stake. Mastercard is reported to be moving to acquire Zerohash in a deal valued near $2 billion.

Morgan Stanley set the trading fee as a flat percentage per trade. For comparison, Charles Schwab charges 75 basis points on its spot Bitcoin and Ether trading. Coinbase’s retail fees can exceed 0.5% depending on customer tier and payment method. Robinhood offers commission-free crypto trades but typically shows spreads of roughly 35 to 95 basis points per trade. Fidelity’s separate crypto product charges about 1% per trade.

The E*Trade launch follows Morgan Stanley’s recent activity in digital assets. In April the bank launched a spot Bitcoin exchange-traded fund with a 0.14% expense ratio. Morgan Stanley has also filed registrations for Ether and Solana ETFs.

E*Trade provides a distribution channel within Morgan Stanley: roughly 16,000 in-house financial advisors oversee about $9.3 trillion in client assets. Morgan Stanley said the pilot will be rolled out gradually and that the full rollout to all E*Trade clients is planned for 2026.

The pilot currently covers Bitcoin, Ether and Solana and uses Zerohash for custody and settlement. Morgan Stanley chose a flat-fee structure rather than tiered pricing or a spread-based model for the initial offering.