Hong Kong Trading House Launches Ethereum OTC Trading
A private Hong Kong-based international commodities and digital asset trading house has announced support for trading Ethereum on its OTC desk for bulk trades of the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency, after Bitcoin.
Hong Kong trading house Octagon Strategy has added Ethereum trading to its roster of supported cryptocurrencies. The private trading platform, which claims to facilitate ‘access to large-scale acquisition and trading of an array of digital assets for institutions, wealth managers, mining consortiums and Family Offices’, adds support to Ethereum alongside the cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Dash.
Ryan Rabaglia, head trader of Octagon Strategy confirms that the private firm’s largest traded asset remains bitcoin while adding that its buyers are diversifying into other digital assets. Ethereum, in particular, has had a stellar month in March, hitting a series of all-time highs as overall value pushed past $4 billion in its market cap toward mid-March, doubling its scale of $2 billion on March 12. Ethereum prices gained nearly tripled during the period.
“Recent news coverage and high prices have driven interest in the wider digital assets sector. In the past year, the total market cap for Ethereum has risen from $875 Million USD to over $4.5 Billion USD,” Rabaglia stated, explaining his firm’s decision to include support for Ethereum. “Savvy buyers have been clamoring for access to the market and the challenge for interested parties has traditionally been the difficulty to enter.”
Toward late-March, Ethereum received a boost when digital currency exchange Coinbase became the first trading platform to offer Ethereum trading for New York users after approval by the state’s financial regulatory.
At the time of publishing, Ethereum has taken a dip of 10% in a 24-hour trading period, with its market capitalization remaining above $4 billion.
Ethereum prices are averaging at just under $46, according to data from CoinMarketCap, dipping below the $50 marker in April. Still, prices are up nearly 250% compared to trading to the dollar at this time last month.
Featured image of Hong Kong street from Shutterstock.
