sludgefeed.com
Retail investor interest in Bitcoin (BTC) appears to be returning following an impressive run-up in the first half of 2018.
In a recent interview with TheStreet, Tim Hockey, the outgoing CEO of online brokerage TD Ameritrade (AMTD), shared that demand for digital currency trading is growing among brokerage clients.
“Especially given the discussions around Libra and the rebound in bitcoin, there’s heightened interest again,” Hockey said. “We would like to be able to participate, but we want to be comfortable with the risk to our clients and ourselves in a world where crypto has still got lots of debate about a number of items that we’re all hearing about.”
While there have been rumors circulating over the last few days that TD Ameritrade has launched Bitcoin futures trading for retail clients, the information is false. This trading is currently only available to institutional clients, but Hockey did note that the brokerage firm hopes to offer the service in the future.
“Our investment in ErisX at some point may allow us [to enable direct trading in cryptocurrencies],” Hockey said.
TD Ameritrade previously made a strategic investment in ErisX, a new regulated crypto derivatives exchange that plans to offer both digital futures and spot trading, starting with Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash (BCH), Ethereum (ETH) and Litecoin (LTC).
The brokerage firm has also tested paper-trading for both Ethereum and Bitcoin.