Event Overview

Recently, news about whether ETRADE will soon support Bitcoin trading has rapidly spread within the community, but there are significant discrepancies in the timelines and details provided by different sources, necessitating a clearer timeline. According to a report by blockcast.it in September 2025, multiple insiders stated that Morgan Stanley plans to launch cryptocurrency trading services for retail clients through its brokerage platform ETRADE in the first half of 2026, which is expected to allow over 5 million users to directly buy and sell mainstream crypto assets, including Bitcoin, within their existing securities accounts. In contrast, the KOL account "The Bitcoin Historian" recently claimed that "the online financial giant E-Trade will allow 7 million users to trade Bitcoin this year," describing it as a "huge positive." However, ETRADE's official X account has not publicly mentioned any product plans related to Bitcoin or crypto trading, continuing to focus on stock trading and market analysis content. This highlights a contradiction: on one hand, there are media reports pointing to a rollout in the first half of 2026, while on the other hand, KOL claims of "launching this year and covering 7 million users" present conflicting timelines and user scales without official endorsement. This article will explore two core questions: first, if ETRADE integrates Bitcoin as expected, what does this mean for the funding entry and mainstreaming of the crypto market; second, in the absence of official confirmation, which pieces of information currently circulating are relatively credible facts, and which remain high-uncertainty rumors that investors should treat with caution.

Authenticity of Information

From the known public information, blockcast.it's report provides the most complete and relatively clear timeline: Morgan Stanley intends to open cryptocurrency trading, including Bitcoin, to retail clients through ETRADE in the first half of 2026, with a potential user scale described as "over 5 million." This timeline is clearly later than the current date, indicating that claims of "already or soon to be launched this year" do not align with the media's presentation. In contrast, The Bitcoin Historian's narrative on social media states that E-Trade will open Bitcoin trading "this year," with a total user scale of "7 million," emphasizing the market significance of the event. However, no original long post or detailed citation chain corresponding to this claim has been found on X, nor has any official or mainstream media confirmed this number and timeline, so it can only be regarded as unverified second-hand information, with risks of exaggeration or misinterpretation. Additionally, checking ETRADE's official X account shows that its recent tweets continue to focus on traditional stocks, ETFs, and market education, with no appearance of keywords like "crypto," "bitcoin," or "digital assets," indicating the official silence on crypto services. Considering these signals, the current information can be roughly categorized: first, relatively high-confidence directional facts—Morgan Stanley is planning to lay out retail crypto trading through E*TRADE, with a timeline pointing to the first half of 2026, reaching millions of users; second, parts that must be labeled as rumors—claims like "launching this year" and "7 million users will definitely participate," which conflict with the media report timeline and lack official confirmation, should be viewed as market rumors awaiting verification, rather than established hard facts.

Funding and Sentiment

Even in the stage where there has been no official announcement and the launch timeline remains contentious, the potential opening of Bitcoin trading by ETRADE itself is enough to spark imaginations about "funding entry." As one of the major online brokers in the U.S., ETRADE primarily serves small and medium retail investors, with media reports mentioning an active or potential user scale of over 5 million, and some KOLs even citing "7 million users." If users are allowed to directly buy and sell Bitcoin within their securities accounts, it means that a large number of traditional investors who may have only engaged with stocks and ETFs will gain a lower-threshold, more compliant entry path to crypto assets. Theoretically, this is akin to adding an incremental funding pool from a mainstream brokerage channel to the existing demand curve for Bitcoin. However, current community sentiment is not one of unidirectional enthusiasm but rather "cautiously optimistic yet skeptical": on one hand, many recognize the symbolic significance of "Morgan Stanley + E*TRADE entering the market"; on the other hand, without an official statement or concrete funding flow data, many traders view it as a favorable expectation still in the stage of public opinion contest. Historical experience shows that in the context of bull-bear transitions and liquidity tightening, unverified positive news can easily be amplified through social media, creating emotional leverage and price volatility in the short term, exacerbating mismatches between bulls and bears. For market participants, in the absence of real transaction volume and funding inflow data, a more reasonable approach is to treat such news as "option-like information" to adjust position flexibility and risk budgets, rather than betting heavily on a story that has not yet entered the execution phase at emotional peaks.

Wall Street Entry

To understand the potential impact of ETRADE, it is essential to place it back within Morgan Stanley's retail business landscape. After being acquired by Morgan Stanley, ETRADE has become an important online brokerage platform for the general public and high-net-worth individuals, with a significant size among traditional brokers and a mature brand, primarily serving medium to long-term investors and self-directed traders, which differs significantly from the user profile of pure crypto exchanges. In other words, if at some future point ETRADE truly supports Bitcoin trading, it will not simply add another "trading venue," but rather embed Bitcoin into an asset allocation entry that is already highly trusted by the traditional financial system. In a broader industry context, recent moves by institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale to increase their crypto exposure through Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other mainstream coins via spot or leveraged ETFs, along with regulatory cooperation and simplified approval processes, depict a clear trend of "traditional finance accelerating its embrace of crypto." Accessing Bitcoin through brokerage portals and ETF products significantly lowers the compliance threshold for both retail and institutional investors, while also allowing funds to enter and exit in an orderly manner under traditional financial regulatory frameworks. However, at this stage, there is a lack of reliable information supporting the specific product forms that ETRADE may offer in the future—such as whether it will only support spot trading or include leverage, how margin and risk control parameters will be set, and whether there will be restrictions on trading hours and limits—any speculation down to rates and clearing models can only remain at the narrative level, necessitating a conscious effort to hit the brakes on "over-imagination."

Historical Reflection

Expanding the view from a single event to the past year reveals a relatively stable timeline: the integration of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other mainstream coins into ETFs and traditional brokerage channels has formed a mutually reinforcing feedback loop with price and trading volume at various nodes. Since September 2025, dynamics related to crypto ETFs have noticeably intensified; for instance, some asset ETFs set the best trading records for similar products on their launch day, followed by a period of about two to three months where market expectations for such products continued to heat up, compounded by regulatory acceleration of new product approval processes, leading to gradual accumulation of funds and sentiment. By November-December, as giants like BlackRock applied for or advanced ETFs for assets like Ethereum, combined with regulatory agencies' simplified approval practices based on Section 8(a) of the Securities Act, this wave of "traditional finance accessing crypto" reached an annual peak. In most cases, a similar rhythm can be observed: first, "product access intentions or applications" are made public, triggering expected trading; as regulatory clarity gradually emerges, market sentiment and trading volume for related targets significantly increase; once products are truly launched and funds can enter according to rules, prices often exhibit a differentiated trend after "positive news is realized," with some varieties entering a consolidation phase while maintaining high trading volumes, while others retract gains after a brief surge. From this, a common pattern can be distilled: in events involving traditional financial access, expected trading often precedes, with traders repricing positions at the announcement, regulatory advancement, and rollout stages, while "realized trading" tests the sustainability of the underlying capital and the attractiveness of the product itself, rather than relying solely on concept-driven momentum.

Bull-Bear Game

Surrounding the potential event of ETRADE accessing Bitcoin, a relatively clear boundary has formed within the community regarding bull and bear logic. From a bullish perspective, ETRADE, as a large retail broker under Morgan Stanley, once it officially supports Bitcoin, will constitute another key piece in the traditional finance's deep embrace of crypto, alongside the previous ETF wave: millions of existing securities accounts are seen as a potential incremental funding pool for Bitcoin, while the endorsement of a mainstream broker also helps enhance Bitcoin's "asset legitimacy" in the eyes of ordinary investors and regulators. From the bearish or cautious perspective, three points are emphasized: first, the current claims of "launching this year" and "7 million users fully open" lack official evidence, with media reports pointing to the first half of 2026, indicating a clear mismatch in timing; second, before actual rollout, the market is more likely to engage in sentiment trading around expectations rather than having large-scale funds entering; third, the product design and compliance negotiations between Morgan Stanley and regulatory agencies could change the advancement rhythm at any time. From a neutral perspective, this event is likely to be positive in direction—representing mainstream finance's further acceptance of Bitcoin—but there is high uncertainty regarding the rhythm, scale, and product details, necessitating waiting for clearer regulatory signals and official disclosures. For participants with different trading cycles, this uncertainty implies strategic differentiation: short-term speculators may view news related to E*TRADE as an event-driven factor, seeking short-term price differences amid the fluctuations of rumors and denials; while medium to long-term allocators should incorporate it into the macro variable of "traditional financial access level," controlling position leverage, patiently observing official announcements, regulatory dynamics, and the follow-up of real funding flows, and gradually adjusting long-term allocations, rather than significantly altering strategic layouts based on an unverified positive news.

Future Market Framework

In the current context of limited information and significant contradictions, a more reasonable approach is to build a conditional future market framework rather than preset a single narrative. If, within the next few months to a year, ETRADE officially announces and launches Bitcoin trading services as planned, it can be expected that: on one hand, the platform's millions of existing customers will be systematically exposed to the option of crypto assets; even if only a small portion of funds convert into actual purchases, it could marginally support market liquidity; on the other hand, the synergy between traditional brokers and ETFs will further solidify Bitcoin's position in traditional asset allocation, reinforcing its dual narrative as "digital gold + risk asset." Conversely, if the launch timeline is significantly delayed, or if it remains in the "planning stage" for an extended period due to regulatory or internal strategic adjustments, the current positive expectations surrounding ETRADE are more likely to be repriced by the market, and the premium from short-term sentiment trading will gradually diminish, with funds refocusing on already established or more certain channels, such as existing Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs.

Looking ahead, signals that can serve as observation anchors include: formal statements and product roadmaps from E*TRADE or Morgan Stanley, public statements from regulatory agencies regarding retail crypto trading, the proposed product forms (whether only spot or including derivatives), as well as fee and margin structures; these factors will collectively determine the event's attractiveness to real funding flows. From a longer-term perspective, regardless of the final rhythm of this event, it can fundamentally be incorporated into the broader trend of "deep integration of crypto assets and traditional finance," forming the same evolutionary path as the continuous actions of institutions like BlackRock and Grayscale. For traders and allocators, it is more important to assess such news in conjunction with macro liquidity, changes in the regulatory environment, and other institutional movements, rather than interpreting a single "positive tweet" in isolation. Maintaining restraint on positions and risks in the absence of data support often holds more long-term value than rushing into a vague narrative.

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