Morgan Stanley launches lower-fee crypto trading on E*Trade

Published: 2026-05-07 09:23:32 |

Morgan Stanley has launched a limited crypto trading pilot on its E*Trade platform, offering lower all-in fees to expand TradFi access to crypto. The broker charges about 50 basis points (bps) per trade on transaction value. For comparison, Robinhood starts at 95 bps, while Coinbase and Charles Schwab start at 60 bps and 75 bps, respectively. The bank plans to roll out the service to all 8.6 million E*Trade clients later this year. Jed Finn, head of wealth management, said the move is “much bigger” than pricing, aiming to “disintermediate the disintermediators” by routing clients through familiar brokerage channels. Bloomberg also reports Morgan Stanley is studying an ETP-style structure that could convert crypto holdings into exchange-traded product shares without outright selling the underlying assets. It additionally plans tokenized equity trading in 2H 2026. For traders, the near-term takeaway is intensified fee competition and a potentially wider retail funnel into crypto-related products, though the pilot’s reach is still limited today. Morgan Stanley’s broader digital-asset push includes spot Bitcoin ETF distribution, filings for spot Ethereum and Solana ETFs, and a trust-bank charter application to support trading and staking.

Neutral

The launch is mainly about TradFi access and fee competition rather than a direct new demand catalyst for any single coin right now. Morgan Stanley’s lower crypto trading fees on E*Trade could modestly increase retail flow over time (a supportive, longer-horizon effect), but the pilot’s limited reach means near-term price impact on BTC/ETH/SOL is likely muted. The reported ETP-like conversion concept and future tokenized-equity trading are longer-dated and depend on execution and regulatory approval, so they are not immediate price drivers. Overall, traders may see more attention and activity around brokerages and crypto-related ETFs, but fundamentals for the coins themselves change gradually, pointing to a neutral price impact.