Morgan Stanley (NYSE:MS) is rolling out cryptocurrency trading on its E*Trade platform charging 50 basis points per transaction, undercutting Coinbase (NASDAQ:COIN), Robinhood (NASDAQ:HOOD), and Charles Schwab (NYSE:SCHW).

The Pricing War Begins

Morgan Stanley’s 50-basis-point fee is about half of Robinhood’s 95 basis points. Coinbase charges 60 basis points, while Schwab announced 75 basis points last month.

The offering is in pilot now, with all of E*Trade’s 8.6 million clients set to gain access later this year. The platform will start with Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC), Ether (CRYPTO: ETH), and Solana (CRYPTO: SOL).

“This is much bigger than trading crypto at a cheaper rate,” Jed Finn, Morgan Stanley’s head of wealth management, stated. “In a way, the strategy is disintermediating the disintermediators.”

Morgan Stanley’s Broader Crypto Push

Spot trading on E*Trade is one piece of Morgan Stanley’s crypto expansion over the last year. 

The bank debuted a Bitcoin ETF last month, the first Wall Street bank to do so, and made it the cheapest fund in the category.

Morgan Stanley has Ether and Solana ETFs on the way. In February, the bank applied for a national trust bank charter to custody digital assets.

Executives are preparing an offering for clients to convert crypto into shares of exchange-traded products without selling the assets first. On the institutional side, Morgan Stanley plans to add tokenized equities trading in the second half of this year.

Trump Era Opens Door For Banks

President Donald Trump’s second term ushered in a new era for digital assets. 

During his campaign, he vowed to make the U.S. the “crypto capital of the planet,” extending that vision to banks that had been discouraged from crypto activity under previous regulatory measures.

After Trump won the 2024 election, talks on how to expand in crypto gained momentum inside Morgan Stanley. 

Executives decided to offer spot trading on E*Trade and partnered with crypto infrastructure provider Zerohash in September.

Coinbase And Robinhood Face New Competition

Robinhood began offering crypto trading in 2018 and made $901 million in crypto transaction-based revenue last year, representing 20% of its annual net revenue.

Coinbase pulled in $3.32 billion in consumer transaction revenue in 2025. Bitcoin and Ether transactions made up 45% of Coinbase’s total trading volume last year.

Moreover, Coinbase survived industry upheaval including the FTX collapse to become the biggest crypto exchange in the U.S. 

Now its roster of competitors has swelled to include traditional banks previously unable to operate in the space.

“It’s going to be very competitive in the next couple of years, particularly given the regulatory moats are drying up,” Finn concluded.

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