Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade starts spot trading of crypto for clients

Morgan Stanley’s E*Trade last week joined other retail brokerages and financial advice firms that have expanded access of nontraditional assets to financial advisors and clients, announcing the rollout of spot trading in digital assets. 

The move will give eligible clients the ability to buy, sell, and hold Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Solana directly on E*TRADE’s platform in partnership with zerohash, a digital asset infrastructure provider, the company said last Thursday in a statement.

Franklin Templeton, Bank of America and others have all joined the conga line of financial advice firms that have made moves recently to put Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in front of financial advisors and clients.

“With the rollout of crypto trading on E*TRADE we’re advancing our digital assets strategy and bringing new capabilities to clients in an integrated way,” said Chad Turner, head of Morgan Stanley Wealth Management Platforms, in a statement.

“E*TRADE has a long tradition of delivering powerful tools and innovative investment offerings that put clients in control of their financial lives,” Turner said.

As retail clients continue to clamor for digital assets – and the chance of a short-term, heady gains – financial advisor and their firms are still trying to figure out how much of a client's portfolios – 1%, 2% or more - should be in crypto currencies, advisors and executives have recently said.

Demand for digital assets from retail investors is likely to keep increasing. Roughly one-third, 32%, of financial advisors invested in crypto for client accounts in 2025, up from 22% in 2024, according to the Bitwise/VettaFi 2026 Benchmark Survey of Financial Advisor Attitudes Toward Crypto Assets that was released earlier this year.

It’s the highest allocation in the eight-year history of the survey, which included responses from 299 financial advisors from a variety of business and employment models.

Some financial advisors have embraced digital currencies while others have not.

Bank of America said at the end of last year it was approving  a 1% to 4% advisor-endorsed allocation to certain digital assets beginning in 2026 for clients of its Merrill, Bank of America Private Bank, and Merrill Edge platforms.

Then, in January, Merrill Lynch sounded the alarm bell to advisors and clients who are considering buying and investing in digital assets, according to new disclosures from the firm.

“The risks related to an investment in crypto assets are significant,” according to the updated wrap fee program brochure on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission for Merrill Lynch’s Investment Advisory Program. “Crypto assets are highly speculative and have been in existence for only a short period of time.”