Coinbase rolled out commission-free stock and ETF trading to all U.S. customers on Tuesday, building on a limited December launch as part of the company's stated "everything exchange" strategy.
More than 8,000 securities are available at the launch, with fractional shares starting at $1 and trades fundable in USD or USDC.
The expansion places Coinbase in direct competition with Robinhood, which has built its core user base on zero-commission equities and has been aggressively adding cryptocurrency products.
How It Works
Trading runs 24 hours a day, five days a week, though Coinbase noted that extended-hours sessions carry reduced liquidity and wider spreads for eligible symbols. Clearing, custody, and execution are handled by Apex Fintech Solutions, not Coinbase's own brokerage infrastructure.
Coinbase One subscribers earn uncapped USDC rewards on their trading balance.
A Coinbase spokesperson confirmed to The Block that zero-commission stock trading will be permanent but declined to share details on the revenue model.
As part of the launch, Yahoo Finance will add a "Trade on Coinbase" button to each stock and crypto asset page, allowing direct one-click execution from Yahoo's research interface. Yahoo Finance users are being offered a one-month free trial of Coinbase One Basic.
The Roadmap Ahead
Coinbase plans to expand 24/5 trading to thousands of additional stocks in coming months.
This spring, it intends to launch stock perpetual futures through Coinbase Bermuda Ltd. for traders outside the U.S., providing capital-efficient 24/7 exposure to U.S. equities - those products will not be available to U.S. users.
Longer term, Coinbase has said it plans to offer tokenized stocks that could trade around the clock globally and be used as on-chain collateral, pending regulatory approval.
Revenue Context
The equities expansion comes after Coinbase posted a Q4 net loss of $667 million, with transaction revenue and subscription income both declining quarter over quarter.
Adding equity trading represents an attempt to reduce the company's heavy dependence on cryptocurrency trading volumes - and to loosen the tight correlation between its COIN stock price and Bitcoin's (BTC) price swings.
