BTCC, one of the largest bitcoin exchanges in the world, announced its Pro Exchange at a Money 20/20 panel held at The Venetian Resort Hotel Casino in Las Vegas.
Pro Exchange is a bitcoin margin trading tool that will allow traders to exercise 20x leverage on spot trading.
Unlike BTCC’s regular spot exchange, which might be useful for those who are looking to buy or sell one or two bitcoin, Bobby Lee, CEO of BTCC, explained that this product is better suited for more experienced traders.
“If you want to buy a lot of bitcoin, it’s a quick way to get a lot really fast,” Lee explained in an interview with Bitcoin Magazine . Lee explained that miners looking to hedge against price decline, those looking for arbitrage opportunities, and “people who are professional and directional traders would all find the tool useful.”
“We’re the first exchange to launch a radically new trading platform,” Lee said. “We’re going to reinvent the game and not wait to be marginalized. We’re going to disrupt ourselves with this. This is big. This kind of trading will be adopted by other companies, I guarantee you.”
Margin trading is effectively borrowing bitcoin to make trades with it, returning it once an individual’s trade is completed. If a user had 1 BTC and the price appreciated by $10 before selling, their profit would be $10. However, if someone borrowed bitcoin at 20x margin, they’d have 20 bitcoin to trade with. If the price went up by $10, they’d have effectively made $200 profit. Users effectively get more buying power than they physically have to trade with.
There are two parts to the fee structure that BTCC charges. “There’s a commission once you open a position to go long or go short,” Lee explained. “There’s also the overnight carry fee because of 20x leverage. It’s sort of like an interest rate. It’s very competitive.” More details on pricing can be found on the exchange website.
“It’s also the first platform that allows users to earn interest,” Lee explained. In essence, if a user allows their bitcoin to be lent out to other traders, they will earn interest on the bitcoin based on the fees that BTCC charges.
The company recently underwent a branding change from BTC China to the now current BTCC. While the Pro Exchange is one of the first products it has launched under this new moniker, the company has many plans coming.
“Our mission is to launch more and more of these convenient and trustworthy digital currency products,” Lee said. “Whether it’s merchant payments, remittance, and our wallet later this year. There’s a bunch of things coming over the horizon.”
Pro Exchange is just step one to the company’s goals of building the “world’s greatest company to serve this global bitcoin audience,” Lee said.
Jacob Donnelly is a full-time product manager and freelance journalist covering stocks, business and bitcoin. He runs a weekly digital currency and blockchain newsletter called Crypto Brief.