E*TRADE has finished rolling out spot trading for Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana, giving its millions of retail customers direct access to three of the largest cryptocurrencies. The completion, which happened this week, means users can buy and sell the assets alongside stocks, ETFs, and options on the same platform.
What the rollout covers
Customers can now trade spot positions in Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), and Solana (SOL) through E*TRADE's standard brokerage accounts. The company had been testing the feature with a subset of users before the full launch. The three coins represent the top tier of crypto by market cap outside of stablecoins, and the selection suggests E*TRADE is starting with the most liquid, established names rather than experimenting with smaller altcoins.
E*TRADE is one of the largest traditional brokerages in the U.S., with roughly 5 million client accounts. Adding spot crypto directly — rather than through a separate custody arrangement or a trust product — lowers the barrier for mainstream investors who may have been hesitant to open accounts at dedicated crypto exchanges. The move also puts E*TRADE in more direct competition with brokerages like Robinhood and Fidelity, which already offer spot crypto trading.
The competitive landscape
E*TRADE's entry into spot crypto has been in the works for months. The company first announced plans to offer crypto trading in early 2025, but the rollout took time due to regulatory and custody considerations. Now that it's live, the pressure shifts to other holdout brokers — particularly those with large retail bases that still don't offer direct crypto. The timing isn't accidental: spot Bitcoin ETFs have pushed crypto further into the mainstream, and brokerages are racing to capture the demand.
E*TRADE hasn't said whether it plans to add more coins or expand into crypto derivatives like futures or options. For now, the focus is on making sure the spot trading infrastructure holds up under the volume from its existing user base. The completion of this rollout sets a concrete benchmark: traditional brokerage crypto is no longer a pilot program — it's a standard offering.
