Charles Schwab has announced plans to add Solana, Avalanche and Chainlink to its crypto platform in the coming months, extending direct trading beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum for its U.S. retail clients.
Charles Schwab Selects Three Established Altcoins
Schwab said in an Aug. 27 announcement that clients will be able to buy and sell Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), and Chainlink (LINK) through Schwab Crypto in the coming months. A launch date was not disclosed. The additions will take Schwab Crypto's planned selection from two assets to five. Bitcoin and Ethereum were the only cryptocurrencies available when direct trading began earlier in 2026. Schwab said it chose the three tokens after considering customer interest and focusing on established digital assets.
Joe Vietri, Schwab's head of digital assets, said the expansion gives clients more choices to build a digital asset allocation alongside the investing and banking experience they know and trust at Schwab. This major brokerage expansion parallels other institutional crypto adoption moves, including the Coinbase tokenized stocks going live on Base.
Schwab Crypto Builds on Its Bitcoin and Ethereum Launch
In August, Schwab rolled out direct Bitcoin and Ethereum trading at a fee of 75 basis points, or 0.75% of the dollar value of each transaction. Charles Schwab Premier Bank holds customer assets, while Paxos provides trade execution and sub-custody. Clients can view their crypto holdings alongside stocks, bonds, exchange-traded funds, and other investments through Schwab.com, Schwab Mobile, and thinkorswim. At the end of the second quarter, Schwab reported $13.1 trillion in total client assets and 39.8 million active brokerage accounts.
Before Schwab introduced direct trading, its customers could gain crypto exposure through exchange-traded funds, futures, and the Schwab Crypto Thematic ETF. Chief executive Rick Wurster previously said clients held about $25 billion in crypto exchange-traded products through the company. This expansion into altcoins also aligns with the broader ETF market growth, as seen with BlackRock's potential move into altcoin ETFs.
Pricing and Competition Among Brokerages
Schwab's 0.75% transaction fee sits below Fidelity's reported charge of about 1% but above the 0.5% fee attached to Morgan Stanley's E*Trade crypto service. E*Trade included Solana alongside Bitcoin and Ethereum during its pilot, giving Schwab another reason to add support for assets outside the two largest cryptocurrencies. Schwab has not disclosed whether staking, on-chain withdrawals or deposits will be available for SOL, AVAX, and LINK at launch.
Solana traded at about $104.84 after the announcement, gaining more than 9% over 24 hours. Avalanche rose about 2% within an hour of the news, while Chainlink gained more than 2% during the same period and extended its 24-hour increase beyond 5%. Schwab is separately preparing to bring digital-asset services to registered investment advisers, with a mid-2027 advisor rollout under consideration for spot trading, transfers and custody.
