Some FTX US clients can now trade stocks and ETF products listed on Nasdaq. It is the first cryptocurrency exchange to integrate securities trading services into its platform.
According to CoinDesk, billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried's exchange will begin testing the stock trading function for select U.S. users on May 20. In particular, customers will be able to trade completely free of charge without commission fees and be able to top up their accounts using USDC – the stablecoin that is popular today after the LUNA-UST incident.
Most stockbrokers charge an additional trading fee when users buy or sell shares through their exchanges. A 0% commission means that there is no such additional fee.
FTX. The US will pioneer the opening of free trading accounts, which do not require a minimum balance and especially no fees from users, which is unprecedented on cryptocurrency exchanges in the United States.
This "Zero Coin Deal" for investors is reminiscent of how Robinhood pioneered the stock world, being the first to integrate free payments in cryptocurrencies. It is not known whether it was a coincidence or a coincidence that the news broke after the FTX CEO launched robinhood lifesaving buoys when he acquired a 7.6% stake in the company. There have been rumors in the lobby that FTX will "buy out" Robinhood.
According to a press release, FTX Stocks will be offered through the FTX US mobile app. The platform will connect trading with hundreds of companies and ETFs listed on Nasdaq. The company expects to roll out the full service to all users by mid-summer this year.
FTX U.S. President Brett Harrison said in a statement:
"Our goal is to provide comprehensive investment services to clients with all asset classes. With the launch of FTX Stocks, we are bringing retail investors to the platform, making it easy for them to trade cryptocurrencies, NFT and traditional securities services on a single platform with an intuitive and completely transparent interface. ”
FTX US also revealed that its new share offering will not bring in revenue from payments to order lines (PFOF), which has been a core element of Robinhood's business model for the past two years. This is the compensation that a stockbroker receives from a market Maker (MM) in exchange for routing trades for its clients.
In addition, this move of FTX is considered the "rice bowl" of CME Group, which dominates the current commodity derivatives trading and is the main "gateway" for large institutional investors. in the United States began to penetrate and become exposed to Bitcoin. CME CEO Terry Duffy was adamant in a recent press release that the FTX proposal "is clearly flawed and poses a significant risk to the stability of the market and market participants."
With its growing presence, FTX has been making a strong push into traditional financial markets, increasingly interested in crowds of investors rather than just a piece of the proprietary cryptocurrency pie.
Elsewhere, such as Coinbase, it has also stated that it has no intention of moving entirely to the securities business in the US. Since October 2021, Binance has stopped trading related to its shares after just one week of listing on Nasdag because of a legal dispute.
