TD Ameritrade, like many other titans of the financial world, is also jumping on the Bitcoin bandwagon. Indeed, the giant securities brokerage services provider will start trading Bitcoin futures when the financial markets open on Monday, December 18, 2017.
The Volume of Bitcoin Futures Trading To Surge
For some time, Ameritrade had been monitoring whether there were sufficient liquidity and market efficiency for Bitcoin futures. Ameritrade leadership believes that these parameters are now optimal. According to MarketWatch, spokeswoman Alyson Nikulicz stated,
At this point, we believe the market is showing signs of adequate liquidity for CBOE product.
TD Ameritrade to open trading on bitcoin futures https://t.co/I8CZFWM177
— CNBC (@CNBC) December 15, 2017
TD Ameritrade, based in Omaha, Nebraska, provides securities brokerage services and related technology-based financial services. It offers its services to traders and independent registered investment advisors, and retail investors.
Bitcoin Futures Is Now The Darling of the Financial World
Bitcoin is now entrenched in the world financial circles, and its value continues to increase. As of this writing, Bitcoin’s price is nearing the $18,000 USD mark.
The fact that Ameritrade is starting to trade Bitcoin futures is significant because the company boasts of having millions of client accounts. Moreover, millennials comprise 35 percent of Ameritrade’s retail account clients. According to Ameritrade’s website,
“[Ameritrade] provides investing and trading services for seven million client accounts that total more than $750 billion in assets, and custodial services for more than 5,700 independent registered investment advisors.”
Financial institutions are starting to stream into the market a variety of Bitcoin-based financial instruments. On December 17, 2017, the CME Group Inc. will also begin trading Bitcoin futures. This initiative follows CBOE Bitcoin futures trading that started on December 10, 2017.
According to CNBC, large institutional firms such as JPMorgan and Morgan Stanley will soon allow their customers to trade Bitcoin futures. “That will allow the entry of hedge funds and larger institutional players, who may have a very different notion of bitcoin’s future.”
As Bitcoin continues to grow in value and to be accepted as a mainstream financial asset, this trend will most likely continue to gain momentum.
What do you think the impact of Ameritrade trading Bitcoin futures will be on Bitcoin value? Let us know in the comments below.
Images courtesy of CNBC, TD Ameritrade, Shutterstock