sludgefeed.com
Confusion and excitement struck the crypto community on Monday after a TD Ameritrade (AMTD) user claimed that he purchased 1 bitcoin (BTC) directly through his account.
According to that user, BTC/USD was trading under the symbol ‘CXERX’ on NASDAQ (NDAQ). The chart for CXERX began on April 10, 2019.
UPDATE: According to TDAmeritrade support – it’s not a real trade in my account – it appears they are testing only using their Paper Trading platform. Support said “I’m not able to speak on it” -They did not know what CXERX is. Strange… But something is going on for sure! pic.twitter.com/gUxtHX0TNg
— Cryptopolis (@cryptopolis_x) April 22, 2019
However, upon further inspection and a conversation with support, the user discovered that his purchase was not fulfilled and was only a paper trade on some sort of test system pulling data from NASDAQ.
“According to TDAmeritrade support — it’s not a real trade in my account — it appears they are testing only using their Paper Trading platform,” stated the Cryptopolis. “Support said ‘I’m not able to speak on it’ — they did not know what CXERX is.”
Perhaps notably, the support person who wasn’t “able to speak on it” did let slip that CXERX led them to believe it was an index or forex symbol.
The leaked test integration was corroborated Tuesday by Charlie Lee, who tweeted, “TD Ameritrade is testing both BTC and LTC trading on its brokerage platform.”
Just saw that TD Ameritrade is testing both BTC and LTC trading on its brokerage platform. 😲 🚀 pic.twitter.com/TVo39oECeH
— Charlie Lee [LTC⚡] (@SatoshiLite) April 23, 2019
A spokesperson told Bitcoin Magazine that TD Ameritrade currently offers bitcoin futures but not bitcoin spot trading, adding, “We always look to implement products our clients have demand for. When it comes to cryptocurrencies, we take a deliberate approach with a focus on education.”
While neither company has confirmed the test integration, the situation isn’t that far out of left field, as Nasdaq previously revealed that it was planning to list Bitcoin futures as early as the first half of 2019. The exchange also recently integrated Brave New Coin’s Bitcoin Liquid Index (BLX) and Ethereum Liquid Index (ELX).
Testing the functionality, including how it functions on major brokerage platforms, looks to be the natural progression of these activities.