TD Ameritrade to open trading on bitcoin futures
- TD Ameritrade, one of the top three retail brokerages according to Tabb, is planning to let certain clients trade Cboe's bitcoin futures contract on Monday.
- The brokerage will not initially support CME's bitcoin futures, which are set to launch on Sunday.
- Interactive Brokers let clients trade the Cboe futures contract at launch and said Friday that it plans to let customers bet on and against the CME contract.
TD Ameritrade is planning to offer clients access to Cboe's bitcoin futures contract on Monday.
The company is one of the top three retail brokerages, according to capital markets research and consulting firm Tabb.
In order to be eligible to trade the futures, clients must have a minimum balance of $25,000, according to the brokerage. The margin requirement will also be 1½ times what the Cboe requires, TD said.
TD Ameritrade will not initially support CME's bitcoin futures, which are set to launch this coming Sunday.
On Sunday, Chicago-based Cboe Global Markets became the first established exchange to offer bitcoin futures. Many see the launch of the derivatives contract as a first step towards establishing cryptocurrencies as a legitimate asset class, paving the way toward an exchange-traded fund.
Interactive Brokers said it handled just over half of the Cboe bitcoin futures trading volume on the first trading day, which saw the highest daily volume so far at 4,127 contracts in total across the products expiring in January, February and March.
Interactive Brokers said Friday that it plans to let customers bet on and against the CME contract.