Charles Schwab plans to let retail clients trade Solana, Avalanche, and Chainlink directly through its Schwab Crypto platform, marking the first time one of America's largest brokerage firms expands spot crypto trading beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum.
The announcement arrives roughly three months after Schwab Crypto began rolling out to eligible U.S. clients. By adding SOL, AVAX, and LINK, Schwab is effectively validating those assets as mainstream enough for a regulated incumbent, while also responding to client demand that had grown too large to ignore.
Trading will be executed through Paxos and held in custody at Charles Schwab Premier Bank, with a 0.75% trading fee. Availability will remain limited by geography and eligibility, with New York and Louisiana excluded and no timeline given for international rollout. Even so, the move signals that the old wall between traditional brokerage and direct crypto access is eroding faster than regulators expected.
For the crypto industry, Schwab's expansion is both opportunity and exposure. A retail-oriented platform can bring billions in incremental inflows, but it also invites tighter scrutiny, product restrictions, and compliance requirements that smaller crypto-native firms have long avoided. The choice of assets matters too: Solana and Chainlink represent infrastructure plays, while Avalanche adds institutional subnet relevance, suggesting Schwab is picking protocols with real usage rather than meme appeal.
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