Interactive Brokers announced Tuesday it is launching low-fee cryptocurrency trading for professional investors in Hong Kong, making it the latest by the discount broker to expand the reach of its digital asset offering.
The firm, one of the largest brokerages in the US, opened an early-access waitlist to eligible clients including individuals with over HKD 8 million in assets or institutions with assets greater than HKD 40 million. They will be able to trade and custody Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) alongside stocks, options, futures, bonds, mutual funds and exchange-traded funds, creating a unified client experience.
“Investor demand for digital assets continues to grow in Hong Kong and around the world, and we are pleased to introduce cryptocurrency to address the trading objectives of clients in this important market. Eligible clients will benefit from our low costs and the ability to trade crypto alongside many other global products from a single unified platform,” said David Friedland, Head of APAC at Interactive Brokers.
“We are excited to bring our expertise in the digital asset space to the market through these initiatives. The launch of regulated digital asset trading services marks the inception of a transformative process in the digital asset market. We eagerly anticipate the emergence of additional market alliances that will drive growth and increase market share,” added Hugh Madden, CEO at BC Group and OSL.
Interactive Brokers has recently widened access to cryptocurrency trading for its clients. Specifically, the discount broker extended trading hours for its cryptocurrency products to be traded 24/7, including on the weekends.
Before that, cryptocurrency traders at Interactive Brokers were having their contracts expire each week on Friday, and these were rolled over to the next week. This was instituted to prevent potential gaps that could be incurred by clients to reflect price changes while IBKR trading was closed outside of trading hours.
The broker offers low-cost cryptocurrency trading to its clients via partnership with New York-based exchange and stablecoin issuer, Paxos, which is currently under SEC’s scrutiny.
The changes applied by Interactive Brokers help resolve some of the underlying issues that have made it challenging for traders to have access to cryptocurrency trading around the clock. Namely, the extended trading hours eliminate the inconvenience of carrying positions from one week to the next without weekend quotes.
