Skip down to “The Winner” to see the actual brokers. This first part is just me explaining why it matters.
While I like Boomer brokers like Fidelity and Vanguard, their big downfall is they don’t understand Bitcoin. This is likely because they confuse Bitcoin with the rest of “crypto”.
If (when) Bitcoin becomes mainstream as a form of savings and payment, it will change the world for the better by killing the incentives for inflation. Inflation kills the hope of the average worker from saving and buying a house, is an unlegislated tax on everyone, and the new dollars are given out as corporate bailouts to companies that definitely don’t need it.
Stocks still have value. I invest in both.
But I hate having to do a multi-day transfer from broker-to-bank-to-Bitcoin-exchange whenever I want to buy more.
Robinhood lets you do both from the same interface. However, remember with Bitcoin, if it’s not your keys, it’s not your coins. AKA you don’t actually have the Bitcoin in Robinhood—they have it for you.
Also, it’s Robinhood. RIP integrity.
So part of my criteria for this list is:
- You are able to transfer Bitcoin out to any other wallet you want
- You can invest in individual stocks (not just broad indices) from the platform
Dis/honorable Mentions
These exchanges say they offer “exposure” to Bitcoin but don’t actually offer Bitcoin, or are otherwise sketch:
Schwab
Bitcoin futures, not bitcoin.
TD Ameritrade
Same as Schwab, also Schwab literally owns them.
Robinhood
Lol.
Public.com
Fake crypto wallet (like Robinhood) and uses Apex clearinghouse (untrustworthy).
E*Trade
Trades in Bitcoin futures, not Bitcoin. Nice platform, though.
Webull
Notional bitcoin-based security, not actual BTC.
SoFi
Same as Webull.
IQ Option
Only listing this one because it popped up as something that offered it.
This site is sketch af. Do not use.
Plus500
British trading platform which does not allow retail traders anything to do with crypto (but for some reason it shows up as a platform that “includes Bitcoin”).
The Winner: TradeStation
The clear winner.
- You can buy actual Bitcoin and transfer it out to an external wallet
- You can still trade normal stocks, options, and have a nice trading platform (e.g. technical analysis tools if you’re into that)
- Didn’t shut down any trading during meme stock pump last year
- Clears it own trades (doesn’t rely on outside companies to actually execute the trades)
If there’s a flaw in this tool, I genuinely want to know it so I don’t recommend something poor to folks.
Heads up: I do NOT use this platform yet, but I’m going to start because of this exact research.
The Next Two: CashApp and eToro
They both let you buy stocks and Bitcoin and let you send that Bitcoin out to a separate wallet. AKA you don’t have to sell your Bitcoin first (a taxable event) and can simply transfer it out to another one of your wallets.
However, huge huge HUGE caveat with these two:
Both use clearinghouses that shut down buying of certain stocks in January 2021.
eToro uses Apex, which shut down buying in GME, AMC, BB, and others. Apex is a huge clearinghouse and tons of broker-dealers use them.
CashApp uses Axos, which shut down buying in AMC and Nokia stock at the same time. CashApp notably said it strongly disagreed with shutting down trading of certain stocks, nevertheless, they use the same clearinghouse, and the risk of repeating it still remains.
While you may not care about those stocks (I don’t care for most of them), the precedent is what matters: they don’t care about you or your freedom to buy a legitimate security.
So, while these platforms do let you freely buy and sell both stocks and Bitcoin under the same account, I can’t give an actual recommendation to either of them.
Hopefully, you’re not putting huge amounts of cash into CashApp. But I’ve seen accounts with literal millions in Robinhood, so I feel the need to mention this still.
Did I Miss Any?
As brokers improve over the years, this list will get updated. If I’ve missed any (and it’s not sketchy) let me know and I’ll add them to this list.
