coindesk.com
While the cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s new shares technically could start trading with the overall U.S. equities market at at 9:30 a.m. EST, don’t hold your breath. A very conservative starting point for the Coinbase listing practically guarantees it will take more time than usual for the fireworks to begin. It might be after noon.
- Late Tuesday, the reference point for Coinbase's hotly anticipated direct listing was set at $250 a share. The reference point is the low end of the expected opening trading range in a direct listing such as Coindesk's.
- Given how that's almost $100 below the $343.58 the shares had been trading at in the private secondary market, it's almost certain that the opening price for the Coinbase shares will be far above $250 after buyers and sellers eventually assign a value to the shares of the leading cryptocurrency exchange.
- As Digital Currency Group CEO Barry Silbert succinctly put it in a tweet: "I will not be selling any of my Coinbase stock to you at $250. Try again." DCG , the world's largest digital asset manager, is the parent of CoinDesk.
- When Slack, the business communication software, went public via a direct listing in June 2019, it took about two and a half hours to start trading. "The stock opened just after noon," according to a Wall Street Journal story at the time.
- Given COIN's ultra conservative reference price, it it may take even longer for buyers and sellers to agree on an opening price.
- This could mean traders won't see robust trading in COIN until at least 11 a.m. EST even though U.S. stocks markets open at 9:30 a.m.