Bitfinex, one of the top cryptocurrency exchanges, has launched margin trading for ApeCoin (APE), an Ethereum-based token linked to the Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible token franchise.
Users will be able to trade APE token with a relatively conservative leverage of 1.66x.
The platform allows users to trade with up to 10x leverage by borrowing additional funds from the exchange's peer-to-peer (P2P) market. Exchanges are required to go through an intermediate verification process.
In October, Bitfinex enabled margin trading for 11 trading pairs, which cover Solana (SOL), Avalanche (AVAX), Cardano (ADA), Polygon (MATIC) and other cryptocurrencies. These cryptocurrencies can be traded with a maximum leverage of 3.3x.
Last year, Binance and FTX moved to curb maximum leverage from 100x to just 20x as part of their effort to become regulatory compliant.
ApeCoin's turbulent debut
ApeCoin captivated the attention of the cryptocurrency community in March with its loud debut. Yet, some criticized Yuga Labs, the maker of the Bored Ape Yacht Club collection, for adding more toxicity to the community by launching new tokens.
Expectedly, ApeCoin failed to live up to the hype and crashed during the first days of trading. However, it has since grown some legs, currently trading at $15. Leading NFT market OpenSea recently added support for ApeCoin, boosting its adoption.
The ERC20-based token has plunged more than 12% over the last 24 hours after the viral Otherside Metaverse made Ethereum fees skyrocket due to enormous demand.
Arman Shirinyan
