sandmark.com
Financial services giant Morgan Stanley, which manages around $1.9tn in assets, is reportedly rolling out crypto trading on its E*Trade platform, Bloomberg reported on 6 May.
E*Trade is Morgan Stanley’s digital brokerage platform that offers commission-free trading for US-listed stocks, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and options.
The pricing will reportedly be lower than trading on Coinbase, which starts at 60 basis points, Robinhood (95 basis points), and Charles Schwab (75 basis points). Bloomberg said the service is currently in pilot, though access is expected to roll out to E*Trade’s 8.6mn users later this year.
The move underscores Morgan Stanley’s push into crypto as large financial institutions increasingly compete for market share.
Just last month, the firm announced the launch of its Morgan Stanley Bitcoin Trust (NYSE Arca: MSBT). The exchange-traded product (ETP) is designed to track the performance of bitcoin. As of 5 May, the fund was trading at about $23 with a net asset value of $23.38.