Morgan Stanley adds Bitcoin, Ether and Solana trading to E*TRADE

Morgan Stanley has brought spot crypto trading to E*TRADE, giving eligible customers access to Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana inside the same platform many already use for stocks. For everyday investors, the move puts direct crypto trading closer to a mainstream brokerage experience, with custody and execution handled by digital asset firm Zero Hash.

The bank said Thursday that eligible E*TRADE customers can buy, sell and hold the three tokens through linked Zero Hash accounts. Spot trading means the customer is trading the cryptocurrency itself, rather than a fund, futures contract or other product tied to its price.

Morgan Stanley said crypto positions will appear alongside stocks and other investments in E*TRADE. The digital assets, however, will be held by Zero Hash, not Morgan Stanley. Zero Hash also executes the trades, according to the company.

The company said crypto trades will carry a 50-basis-point fee. A basis point is one-hundredth of a percentage point, so 50 basis points equals 0.50% of the trade value.

Morgan Stanley also said crypto transfer functionality is expected later this year. That would add another practical feature for users who want to move supported digital assets, though the company did not provide more detail on timing or scope.

Part of a larger E*TRADE update

The crypto rollout arrived alongside a broader refresh of E*TRADE. Morgan Stanley said the platform update includes retirement planning tools, fractional share trading, a redesigned IPO Center and new features for active traders.

Matt Jones, head of E*TRADE, said in a company statement that clients increasingly want investing, trading, banking and financial planning in one place. Chad Turner, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Platforms, said the crypto launch advances the firm’s digital assets strategy by adding new client capabilities in an integrated way.

The offering also completes a plan Morgan Stanley disclosed in September 2025, when it said E*TRADE would initially support Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana trading through Zero Hash.

Morgan Stanley’s broader crypto push

The launch follows several digital asset moves by Morgan Stanley this year. In January, the firm filed registration statements with the Securities and Exchange Commission for spot Bitcoin and Solana exchange-traded funds. An exchange-traded fund, or ETF, is a fund that trades on an exchange like a stock and can give investors exposure to an asset without holding it directly.

In April, Morgan Stanley said it was looking at tokenization, tokenized money market funds and tax-management tools for digital assets. Tokenization refers to representing assets on a blockchain, the shared digital ledger technology used by cryptocurrencies.

Later in April, the bank introduced a money market fund aimed at stablecoin issuers managing reserves under the GENIUS Act, according to the company. Stablecoins are cryptocurrencies designed to track the value of another asset, commonly the U.S. dollar, and issuers typically hold reserves to support that peg.

For E*TRADE users, the key change is straightforward: crypto trading is now part of the brokerage platform for eligible customers, starting with Bitcoin, Ethereum and Solana. Morgan Stanley is still relying on Zero Hash for the crypto-specific plumbing, including execution and custody, while bringing the holdings into the customer’s E*TRADE view.

This story draws on original reporting from Decrypt.