Charles Schwab (SCHW) just posted its biggest quarter ever. Revenue hit a record $7.1 billion, up 21% from a year ago, beating Wall Street forecasts. Adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share also topped the consensus near $1.55.
The broker also opened direct Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) trading for retail clients. Still, SCHW shares barely moved, trading near $102.91 after the report.
Why Charles Schwab Earnings Beat Wall Street Estimates
Almost every number came in strong. Net income rose 32% to $2.8 billion. Client assets grew 22% to a record $13.08 trillion.
Clients did the heavy lifting. They placed a record 11.9 million trades a day, up 57% from last year. Margin balances nearly doubled to $165.1 billion, a sign clients are taking bigger swings.
There is one catch. Schwab earned 19% less per trade than a year ago, at $1.64. Sheer volume, not pricing, drove the 28% jump in trading revenue.
Interest income improved too. Net interest margin climbed to 3.00% from 2.66%, as Schwab keeps recovering from the cash crunch that hurt it through 2023.
“Schwab’s leading value proposition continued to resonate in 2Q26, as investors opened 1.4 million new brokerage accounts and brought $120 billion in core net new assets to the firm,” Rick Wurster, CEO since January 2025, credited the firm’s asset gathering in the earnings release.
Rivals are watching. Analysts just raised rival brokerage price targets before Robinhood reports on July 29. Schwab has now set the tone for other companies to watch this quarter.
Schwab Crypto Arrives With Bitcoin Down 43% in a Year
Until now, Schwab clients could only touch crypto through funds and futures. Schwab Crypto changes that. It offers direct BTC and ETH trading for the first time.
The timing is bold. Bitcoin trades near $66,690, down 43% over the past year. ETH price action tells a similar story, with the token near $1,927, down 49%.
Schwab is also late to the party. Robinhood has offered retail crypto since 2018. Interactive Brokers and Fidelity followed in 2021 and 2022.
There is more in the pipeline. Portfolio Insights, a new artificial intelligence (AI) tool, now summarizes daily portfolio moves for clients. Access to Cboe’s prediction markets is slated for the coming months.
So why the flat stock? Investors saw the records coming and priced them in. The real test is whether crypto and AI can deliver the next surprise.