Best Brokers

asset ranking · Primary query: best brokers for crypto

Best Brokers for CryptoUpdated August 2026 · 12 brokers, every figure sourced

Written by
Juan Manuel Gonzalez
Published
Data verified

Quick verdict

Six of the twelve brokers we score publish a crypto schedule, and the spread is wide: Interactive Brokers charges 0.12%–0.18% with a $1.75 order minimum, E*TRADE 0.50%, Webull and eToro 1.00%, tastytrade 1% falling to 0.75% on Bitcoin and Ether, and Public 1.25%. The fee is not the most important line on this page. At every one of the six, the crypto is executed and custodied by a third party — Paxos, Zero Hash or Bakkt — rather than by the broker-dealer, and SIPC protects the broker-dealer's custody, not theirs.

The ranking

Safety and regulation 34% · Fees and total cost 34% · Investment selection 16% · Account types and features 16% · Eligibility: Publishes a crypto schedule

Verified August 28, 2026

Sub-scores are integers, so the bars carry more information than the order does.

  • Safety and regulation
  • Fees and total cost
  • Investment selection
  • Account types and features

Showing 6 of 6 brokers, sorted by editorial rank.

  1. Rank 1 of 6

    Interactive Brokers

    CRD 36418 · SIPC member

    Lowest published trading fee

    9.0

    Strong

    • Safety and regulation9
    • Fees and total cost9
    • Investment selection10
    • Account types and features8
    Account minimum
    $0No account minimums
    Stock / ETF
    IBKR Lite $0; IBKR Pro from $0.0035/share (tiered) or $0.005/share (fixed)Pro minimum $0.35 (tiered) or $1.00 (fixed) per order, capped at 1% of trade value
    Options / contract
    $0.65 per contractIBKR Lite, first 1,000 US contracts a month. IBKR Pro tiered: $0.25 under $0.05 premium, $0.50 under $0.10, $0.65 above. Minimum $1.00 per order either way
    Account types
    8/12
    Visit Interactive BrokersFull review →

  2. Rank 2 of 6

    E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

    CRD 149777 · SIPC member

    8.2

    Solid

    • Safety and regulation8
    • Fees and total cost8
    • Investment selection8
    • Account types and features9
    Account minimum
    Not verified
    Stock / ETF
    $0Stocks, options base, mutual funds and ETFs
    Options / contract
    $0.65$0.50 with 30+ trades per quarter
    Account types
    10/12
    Visit E*TRADE from Morgan StanleyFull review →

  3. Rank 3 of 6

    tastytrade

    CRD 277027 · SIPC member

    7.5

    Solid

    • Safety and regulation8
    • Fees and total cost8
    • Investment selection7
    • Account types and features6
    Account minimum
    Not verified
    Stock / ETF
    $0Opening and closing
    Options / contract
    $1.00 to open, $0 to closeEquity options capped at $10 per leg. Index options $1 to open, $0 to close
    Account types
    7/12
    Visit tastytradeFull review →

  4. Rank 4 of 6

    Public

    CRD 127818 · SIPC member

    Clearest disclosure of who holds it

    7.2

    Mixed

    • Safety and regulation8
    • Fees and total cost8
    • Investment selection6
    • Account types and features5
    Account minimum
    Not verified
    Stock / ETF
    $0US-listed stocks and ETFs in regular hours. Extended hours and OTC are $2.99 per trade unless you hold Premium
    Options / contract
    $0Stock and ETF options. Index options $0.50 per contract, or $0.35 with Premium
    Account types
    4/12
    Visit PublicFull review →

  5. Rank 5 of 6

    Webull

    CRD 289063 · SIPC member

    7.2

    Mixed

    • Safety and regulation7
    • Fees and total cost9
    • Investment selection6
    • Account types and features5
    Account minimum
    $0No deposit minimum stated in the fee schedule
    Stock / ETF
    $0US-listed securities
    Options / contract
    $0Standard contracts. $0.50 on certain index options, $0.10 on oversized option orders
    Account types
    5/12
    Visit WebullFull review →

  6. Rank 6 of 6

    eToro (US)

    CRD 298361 · SIPC member

    6.4

    Limited

    • Safety and regulation7
    • Fees and total cost8
    • Investment selection5
    • Account types and features3
    Account minimum
    Not verified
    Stock / ETF
    $0Zero commission to buy or sell a stock
    Options / contract
    $0US users. Non-US users are charged $0.50 per contract
    Account types
    1/12
    Visit eToro (US)Full review →

Positions are computed from published sub-scores at build time. Interactive Brokers, E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley, tastytrade lead; their unrounded totals are 9.00, 8.16, 7.52.

Why these weights

Safety is raised to 34% because the custody arrangement is the distinguishing risk here and it is not the arrangement SIPC covers, and cost stays high because a tenfold spread in trading fees is a real difference.

Winners by category

  • Lowest published trading fee

    Interactive Brokers

    0.12%–0.18% of trade value against 1.00% or more at most of the set.

  • Clearest disclosure of who holds it

    Public

    Names Zero Hash as execution and custody provider directly in its fee schedule.

The broker is not the custodian

Interactive Brokers names Paxos Trust Company or Zero Hash. E*TRADE, Public and tastytrade name Zero Hash. Webull names Webull Pay or Bakkt depending on the state. eToro uses eToro USA LLC or eToro NY LLC rather than eToro USA Securities Inc., the broker-dealer whose name is on the account. In every case the shares in the same account sit with the broker-dealer and the crypto does not.

SIPC responds to a broker-dealer's failure and states that it does not protect digital assets that are unregistered investment contracts, nor stablecoins, currencies or commodities. When the firm holding the asset is not the broker-dealer, the question is not only whether crypto is a covered security — it is whether the company that would have to fail is the one SIPC is looking at.

Four of the six route to the same firm

Zero Hash appears at four of these six brokers: named outright at E*TRADE, Public and tastytrade, and as one of two options at Interactive Brokers. An investor who deliberately spread crypto across several brokers to spread counterparty risk may not have spread it at all.

None of this is concealed. Every arrangement is disclosed in the firm's own schedule and the custodians publish licence numbers. It is invisible because it is never the headline, and it only becomes visible when six schedules are read next to each other.

Every broker in this ranking, in short

The case for and against each firm in a paragraph, with the figures that drove its score. Each links to the full review, where every number carries its source and the date it was read.

1.Interactive Brokers

9.0/10

INTERACTIVE BROKERS LLC · CRD 36418 · SIPC member

The widest published market access in our set, with a two-tier commission model and no account minimum.

Stocks and ETFs
IBKR Lite $0; IBKR Pro from $0.0035/share (tiered) or $0.005/share (fixed)
Options, per contract
$0.65 per contract
To transfer out
$0
Account types
8 published

Against it: IBKR Lite is restricted to US residents and to individual, joint, IRA and certain trust accounts

Read the full Interactive Brokers review

2.E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley

8.2/10

MORGAN STANLEY · CRD 149777 · SIPC member

A zero-commission equity schedule inside Morgan Stanley, with futures, bonds and crypto on the same statement.

Stocks and ETFs
$0
Options, per contract
$0.65
Account types
10 published

Against it: $1.50 per futures contract is the highest futures rate in our set

Read the full E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley review

3.tastytrade

7.5/10

TASTYTRADE, INC. · CRD 277027 · SIPC member

An options-first schedule: $1 to open, nothing to close, capped at $10 per leg.

Stocks and ETFs
$0
Options, per contract
$1.00 to open, $0 to close
To transfer out
$75
Account types
7 published

Against it: $1.00 to open a single equity option contract is expensive relative to per-contract pricing at the cheapest firms

Read the full tastytrade review

4.Public

7.2/10

OPEN TO THE PUBLIC INVESTING, INC. · CRD 127818 · SIPC member

The lowest published margin rates in our set, on the narrowest account lineup we publish.

Stocks and ETFs
$0
Options, per contract
$0
To transfer out
$100
Account types
4 published

Against it: $2.99 per trade outside regular market hours, and on OTC stocks, unless you pay for Premium

Read the full Public review

5.Webull

7.2/10

WEBULL FINANCIAL LLC · CRD 289063 · SIPC member

Zero commissions on stocks, ETFs and standard options, with a $75 charge to leave.

Stocks and ETFs
$0
Options, per contract
$0
To transfer out
$75
Account types
5 published

Against it: $75 per outgoing stock transfer — second only to Vanguard's $100 among the exit charges we recorded

Read the full Webull review

6.eToro (US)

6.4/10

ETORO USA SECURITIES INC. · CRD 298361 · SIPC member

No commissions and no options contract fee for US users, on the narrowest product range in our set.

Stocks and ETFs
$0
Options, per contract
$0
To transfer out
$75
Account types
1 published

Against it: Individual taxable accounts only — no retirement accounts identified

Read the full eToro (US) review

Every sub-score and why

Each integer below has a written reason. If you disagree with a weight, the sub-scores let you recompute the ranking yourself — that is the point of publishing them.

Interactive Brokers9 / 9 / 10 / 89.0/10Strong
Safety and regulation9/10 × 34% = 3.1
Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-47257), FINRA member, SIPC member, and part of a US-listed group. No headline retail enforcement matter identified in our sourced review.
Fees and total cost9/10 × 34% = 3.1
IBKR Lite is $0 on US listed equities for US residents. IBKR Pro tiered starts at $0.0035 per share with a $0.35 order minimum and a 1% of trade value cap, which is the cheapest published schedule in our set for large orders. Small Pro orders hit the per-order minimum, so it is not universally cheapest.
Investment selection10/10 × 16% = 1.6
The only firm in our set with every asset class we track published on one schedule, including futures, spot currencies, bonds, mutual funds, crypto and non-US listings across the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and Asia-Pacific.
Account types and features8/10 × 16% = 1.3
Taxable, joint, IRA and trust accounts are all named in the published IBKR Lite eligibility terms. No HSA or solo 401(k) identified.

Total 9.0/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full Interactive Brokers review, with every fee and source
E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley8 / 8 / 8 / 98.2/10Solid
Safety and regulation8/10 × 34% = 2.7
Accounts sit with an active SEC-registered Morgan Stanley broker-dealer (8-68191) that is a SIPC member. Marked one point below the long-single-entity firms because BrokerCheck lists the original E*TRADE Securities LLC registration as inactive, so clients have been through an entity migration.
Fees and total cost8/10 × 34% = 2.7
$0 on stocks, ETFs and mutual funds with a $0.65 options contract fee that falls to $0.50 at 30 trades per quarter. Futures at $1.50 per contract are the most expensive futures rate we recorded, and crypto at 0.50% is mid-pack.
Investment selection8/10 × 16% = 1.3
Stocks, ETFs, options, mutual funds, bonds, CDs, futures and crypto all appear on the published schedule. Fractional shares and direct international listings were not confirmed from the page we read.
Account types and features9/10 × 16% = 1.4
Full retail lineup including all IRA variants, custodial, trust and managed Core Portfolios, backed by integrated banking through Morgan Stanley Private Bank.

Total 8.2/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full E*TRADE from Morgan Stanley review, with every fee and source
tastytrade8 / 8 / 7 / 67.5/10Solid
Safety and regulation8/10 × 34% = 2.7
Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-69649), FINRA member and SIPC member. Scored below the incumbents on operating history — its CRD number places registration in the mid-2010s — with no enforcement matter identified in our sourced review.
Fees and total cost8/10 × 34% = 2.7
Free equity trades and a $10 per leg cap that makes large multi-leg options orders unusually cheap, with nothing charged to close a position. Scored below the flat-zero firms because a single equity option contract costs $1 to open, against $0.04 at the cheapest firm in our set, and — read on 30 August 2026 — closing the account costs $75 on the way out.
Investment selection7/10 × 16% = 1.1
Stocks, ETFs, equity and index options, futures, options on futures and crypto are all published, including micro futures. No mutual funds, which rules out a common long-term building block.
Account types and features6/10 × 16% = 1.0
Taxable, joint, IRA variants, trust and margin. No custodial, SEP, solo 401(k) or HSA identified.

Total 7.5/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full tastytrade review, with every fee and source
Public8 / 8 / 6 / 57.2/10Mixed
Safety and regulation8/10 × 34% = 2.7
Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-66049), FINRA member and SIPC member, with no enforcement matter identified in our sourced review. Its CRD number, 127818, is lower than those of Robinhood, Webull, tastytrade and eToro, which means the legal entity has been registered longer than the app’s launch date suggests. Still well short of the multi-decade registration records that earn a 9 here.
Fees and total cost8/10 × 34% = 2.7
$0 on US-listed stocks and ETFs in regular hours, $0 per stock and ETF options contract, and margin from 4.90% falling to 3.95% — the cheapest margin schedule we recorded, undercutting the next firm by more than six percentage points at the entry tier. Held to an 8 by three charges the headline pricing does not show: $2.99 per extended-hours or OTC trade without Premium, $100 to transfer the account out, and a 0.30% fee on currency conversion.
Investment selection6/10 × 16% = 1.0
Stocks, ETFs, equity and index options, OTC stocks, Treasuries, corporate bonds and crypto are all priced on the published schedule, and the bond range is deeper than most of the set. No mutual funds and no futures, which is the same double gap that holds the other app-first brokers at this level. Fractional shares are advertised but were not confirmed from a fee schedule or pricing table.
Account types and features5/10 × 16% = 0.8
Taxable, traditional IRA, Roth IRA, a crypto IRA and margin. No joint, custodial, SEP, solo 401(k) or HSA accounts identified; trust accounts are listed as not yet available. That rules the firm out for a large share of household situations.

Total 7.2/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full Public review, with every fee and source
Webull7 / 9 / 6 / 57.2/10Mixed
Safety and regulation7/10 × 34% = 2.4
Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-69978) and SIPC member. Scored below the incumbents on operating history alone — its CRD number places its registration well after the established firms — not on any enforcement matter we identified.
Fees and total cost9/10 × 34% = 3.1
$0 on US-listed stocks, ETFs and standard options contracts, with regulatory fees itemised transparently. Held off a 10 by the $75 outgoing transfer fee, which is a real switching cost.
Investment selection6/10 × 16% = 1.0
Stocks, ETFs, options and fractional shares confirmed. No mutual funds. Futures and crypto not confirmed from the fee schedule we read.
Account types and features5/10 × 16% = 0.8
Taxable, traditional, Roth and rollover IRAs plus margin. No joint, custodial or trust accounts identified.

Total 7.2/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full Webull review, with every fee and source
eToro (US)7 / 8 / 5 / 36.4/10Limited
Safety and regulation7/10 × 34% = 2.4
Active SEC-registered broker-dealer (8-70212) and SIPC member, so custody protection matches the rest of the set. Scored lowest of the non-enforcement firms purely on operating history — it holds the highest CRD number here, meaning the shortest US registration record.
Fees and total cost8/10 × 34% = 2.7
$0 stock and ETF commissions with no per-contract options fee for US users, and $0 withdrawal fees. The full brokerage fee schedule, read on 31 August 2026, shows the costs the headline does not: $75 to transfer the account out, $10 a month in inactivity fees, and a 0.25% FX spread on non-USD wires. With crypto at a flat 1% as well, that is a wider fee surface than the zero-commission framing suggests.
Investment selection5/10 × 16% = 0.8
Stocks, ETFs, options, crypto and fractional shares only. No mutual funds, bonds or futures — the narrowest published range in our set.
Account types and features3/10 × 16% = 0.5
Individual taxable accounts only. No IRA, joint, custodial or trust accounts identified, which excludes retirement investing entirely.

Total 6.4/10 · sum of weighted contributions, rounded to one decimal

Full eToro (US) review, with every fee and source

How we evaluated

Safety and regulation34%
Evidence: FINRA BrokerCheck entity record — legal name, CRD number, SEC file number and registration status — SIPC membership, and public enforcement actions from the regulator or SRO that brought them.
Fees and total cost34%
Evidence: The firm's own published commission and fee schedule, read in full.
Investment selection16%
Evidence: The asset classes named on the firm's own published pricing or product pages.
Account types and features16%
Evidence: The account types named in the firm's own published account lineup.

Not scored, and why

  • Access and eligibility — Country-by-country onboarding terms confirmed against each firm's own account-opening documents.
  • Platform and usability — Hands-on use of a funded account on desktop, web and mobile.
  • Research and education — Logged-in access to each firm's research suite and education library.
  • Customer service — Timed contact tests across phone, chat and email, repeated over several weeks.
  • Execution quality — Analysis of SEC Rule 605 and Rule 606 order-execution and routing disclosures across a full quarter.

Researched but excluded

  • SoFi Invest (SOFI SECURITIES LLC, CRD 151717) — Legal entity confirmed via FINRA, but the fee page returned HTTP 403 when we attempted to read it. Re-attempted on 30 August 2026 against the published fee schedule PDF and the SoFi support articles: both returned 403 as well. Secondary summaries of SoFi’s pricing are available and we are not using them — we will not score a firm from anything but its own document.
Read the full methodology

Frequently asked questions

Is crypto at a brokerage covered by SIPC?
No. SIPC states it does not protect digital assets that are unregistered investment contracts, nor stablecoins, currencies or commodities. Separately, at all six US brokers we checked the crypto is held by a third party rather than the broker-dealer, and SIPC protects the broker-dealer's custody function.
Which broker has the cheapest crypto fees?
Of the six US brokers publishing a crypto schedule, Interactive Brokers is cheapest at 0.12%–0.18% of trade value with a $1.75 minimum per order. Public is the most expensive at 1.25% of the order amount, with Webull, eToro and tastytrade at around 1%.

Sources

  1. [1]Interactive Brokers — Stocks, ETFs, warrants and structured products commissionsRead August 28, 2026
  2. [2]Interactive Brokers — Options commissionsRead August 30, 2026
  3. [3]FINRA BrokerCheck — Interactive Brokers LLCRead August 28, 2026
  4. [4]Interactive Brokers — Other feesRead August 30, 2026
  5. [5]Interactive Brokers — Mutual fund commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  6. [6]Interactive Brokers — Bond commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  7. [7]Interactive Brokers — Futures commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  8. [8]Interactive Brokers — Cryptocurrency commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  9. [9]Interactive Brokers — Margin ratesRead August 31, 2026
  10. [10]Interactive Brokers — Spot currency commissionsRead August 31, 2026
  11. [11]E*TRADE — Pricing and ratesRead August 28, 2026
  12. [12]FINRA BrokerCheck — Morgan Stanley / E*TRADE Securities LLCRead August 28, 2026
  13. [13]tastytrade — Pricing and commissionsRead August 28, 2026
  14. [14]FINRA BrokerCheck — tastytrade, Inc.Read August 28, 2026
  15. [15]tastytrade — Commissions and fees (last updated 30 July 2026)Read August 30, 2026
  16. [16]FINRA BrokerCheck — Open to the Public Investing, Inc.Read August 28, 2026
  17. [17]Public — Fee schedule (last updated 14 August 2026)Read August 30, 2026
  18. [18]Public — Account types and asset lineupRead August 30, 2026
  19. [19]Webull — Pricing and feesRead August 28, 2026
  20. [20]FINRA BrokerCheck — Webull Financial LLCRead August 28, 2026
  21. [21]eToro US — FeesRead August 28, 2026
  22. [22]FINRA BrokerCheck — eToro USA Securities Inc.Read August 28, 2026
  23. [23]eToro USA Securities Inc. — Brokerage Fee Schedule, last updated 1 July 2026Read August 31, 2026

Affiliate disclosure

We currently have no affiliate or commercial relationship with any broker on this site, and every outbound link is a plain link. If that changes, it will be disclosed here and on the broker's row. Read the full disclosure.

Risk warning

Investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal. Nothing on this site is personalized investment advice, a recommendation to buy or sell any security, or a solicitation. Figures are read from public sources on the dates shown and can change without notice — verify anything you intend to act on with the provider directly. Read the full risk disclosure.