Japanese internet banking behemoth SBI Holdings to start offering CFD trading for three cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ethereum, and XRP) through its forex trading subsidiary called SBI FX Trade.
The new service will become available on Aug. 31, but SBI FX Trade is already accepting new account registrations.
BTC, ETH, and XRP will be quoted against the U.S. Dollar and the Japanese yen, which means that there will be a total of six available trading pairs.
Cryptocurrency CFDs, explained
A contract for difference is a derivative instrument that lets traders gain exposure to a certain market without actually owning the underlying asset.
Opening a position requires making an arrangement with a CFD broker that stipulates the size of a position, fees, and other pertinent details.
Unlike Forex trading, CFDs allow speculating on various types of assets — from metals and energy to cryptocurrency.
They also tend to offer better liquidity, security, and higher leverage than cryptocurrency exchanges.
SBI FX Trade is the first Forex company in Japan to support the CFD trading of digital assets.
Its customers will be allowed to open a trading position of up to 10,000,000 XRP, 10,000 ETH, or 500 BTC.
The subsidiary also introduced a separate smartphone application for trading cryptocurrency CFDs.
Ripple’s high-profile partner
SBI Holdings is a long-time partner of XRP-affiliated blockchain company Ripple. Together, they founded DLT-powered payment platform SBI Ripple Asia back in 2016.
Back in June, SBI Ripple Asia started trialing Ripple’s On-Demand Liquidity (ODL) solution that leverages XRP for cross-border payments.
Valeria Blokhina
