When I woke up the other morning, I wondered what I wonder most mornings lately: How bad is crypto doing today?
I opened Coinbase to find out. Things were bad, but that wasn’t surprising. What was surprising was the new asset listed on my homescreen: Stocks.
Stocks? On Coinbase?
Yes, Coinbase now offers stock and ETF trading directly in the app. They first announced this was coming toward the end of 2025, but today they announced it has rolled out to all accounts. I noticed it in my account a few weeks ago, so naturally I had to test it.
The signup process was quick and easy; exactly what you’d expect from an app like Coinbase. I was approved for stock trading in less than two minutes and promptly bought a tiny bit of Walmart stock (not a recommendation; this was a fairly random choice for testing purposes) using my USDC balance. USDC is Coinbase’s preferred stablecoin, issued by Circle. This was a cool, convenient touch, since it’s typical to keep cash as USDC in Coinbase, rather than USD.
After that, I could see a small balance next to the word “stocks” on my home screen, which appears below my crypto balance. So easy.
Beyond ease, there are a few other good things about this new feature — and, in my opinion, some pretty bad things.
TL;DR: If you already have Coinbase, and you don’t yet have a traditional brokerage account, it could suffice for getting some exposure to equities. But my preference is still to use Coinbase for crypto, and a separate, dedicated brokerage for stocks.
What I like about Coinbase’s new stock trading feature
It’s extremely convenient. Coinbase is on a mission to become the “Everything Exchange,” much like Robinhood. And it’s true that the ability to sell crypto, then turn around and use that cash to buy stocks, is very convenient. It’s also easy to see your allocations split between digital and traditional assets. Everything about the stock-buying process is slick and simple.
Stock trading is available 24 hours a day, 5 days a week — a crowd accustomed to round-the-clock crypto trading will likely applaud this. Buying stocks directly with USDC means moving funds between crypto and equities is about the easiest it’s ever been.
It’s free. You can’t really get away with charging a commission for stock trades these days, so as would be expected, there’s no fee to users to buy and sell stocks.
The scoring formula for online brokers and robo-advisors considers more than 15 factors, such as account fees and minimums, investment choices, customer support, and mobile app capabilities. When I checked my Coinbase app one morning, I was surprised to see $0 balances for derivatives, predictions, and stocks, even though I never signed up for these products. It seemed like overnight, my app had transformed into a hub for speculative assets, offering me a variety of investment options in one place.
What struck me the most was the juxtaposition of my stocks balance next to my prediction market balance. In the past, online betting was separate from traditional investing, but now it’s all integrated. You can easily shift funds from one asset to another, blurring the lines between investing and gambling.
While Coinbase remains a reliable platform for cryptocurrency trading, I believe it’s best to keep speculative investments separate from long-term wealth-building strategies. Using different platforms for different purposes can help maintain discipline and prevent impulsive decision-making.
In conclusion, I will continue to use Coinbase for cryptocurrency trading, as I believe in its value as part of a diversified portfolio. However, I will be cautious about venturing into stock trading on the platform, as I prefer to keep my speculative activities separate from my long-term investment goals. sentence “I need to go to the store to buy some groceries” as “I have to run some errands at the store to pick up groceries.”