E*TRADE Goes Full Crypto: 8.6M Households Now One Click From $BTC, $ETH, $SOL 🏦

Morgan Stanley's ETRADE has opened spot cryptocurrency trading to eligible self-directed clients, letting them buy, sell and hold Bitcoin, Ether and Solana through infrastructure provider Zero Hash. Crypto holdings appear alongside stocks and other traditional investments on the ETRADE platform, with transfer functionality for moving digital assets on and off the platform expected later this year.

The self-directed channel served 8.6 million households and held about $1.56 trillion in client assets as of March 31, according to Morgan Stanley's latest financial supplement. Trades carry a 50-basis-point fee, while custody and transaction services are handled through separate Zero Hash accounts that are not covered by FDIC or SIPC protections. Morgan Stanley said it expects to transition the digital asset services to Morgan Stanley Digital Trust, its national trust bank currently in organization.

The launch follows a pilot in May that tested the service with a limited group of users before expanding to eligible ETRADE clients. Alongside the crypto rollout, Morgan Stanley introduced fractional share trading, a revamped retirement planning tool and new features for its Power ETRADE Pro desktop platform.

Beyond retail spot trading, Morgan Stanley has broadened its digital asset business in 2025. In April, the firm launched a stablecoin reserve offering that allows issuers to hold the assets backing their tokens in one of Morgan Stanley's money market funds while earning interest. The same month, the company launched its spot Bitcoin ETF with a 0.14% management fee, at the time the lowest-cost spot Bitcoin ETF on the US market. The fund debuted on NYSE Arca as the first spot Bitcoin ETF launched by a major US commercial bank, drawing more than $100 million in net inflows during its first six trading days and surpassing the cumulative inflows of WisdomTree's spot Bitcoin ETF, which launched in January 2024. Cumulative net inflows have reached about $385 million, according to SoSoValue data.

In June, Morgan Stanley amended its proposed spot Ether and Solana ETF filings to set management fees at 0.14% after first applying to list the funds in January.