Though it was recorded in December, a YouTube video surfaced via the Nasdaq YouTube channel that featured TD Ameritrade’s Manager of Trading Strategy, Shawn Cruz, speaking on increased investor interest in Bitcoin.
In the video, Cruz claims that investors are looking into Bitcoin once again due, for once, to its lower price. Since the asset is at a (relatively) reasonable value, it’s a more viable investment, especially in the long term.
The Early Years
That’s not to mention that we’re in the early stages of the cryptocurrency industry. Bitcoin, and digital assets in general, still have time to surprise us, says Cruz:
“I’d say that whole space is really in its infancy right now. It makes sense you’re going to see a lot of volatility there. It’s really driven by sentiment. […] There’s a lot of players coming into this space experimenting with different use cases. But right now I think Bitcoin has been something that has been center stage.”
Of course, not everyone agrees with this. There are industry speculators who claim that Bitcoin means little, blockchain is the fascinating part. While this is partly true, these naysayers fail to understand that Bitcoin has headspace. When the general public hears about crypto assets, they immediately think of Bitcoin. Hell, they believe that Bitcoin’s price is tied to the success of the technology.
So, Satoshi’s creation is more important than analysts give it credit for.
Cruz comments again on interest:
“At TD Ameritrade, we offer Bitcoin futures trading for our clients. We saw them get very interested when we volume spiked when it was around $10,000. On this pullback lower, there really wasn’t much activity from our client base. But now that we’re getting down to this 3 or $4,000 price level on Bitcoin, we’re starting to see our clients become more interested in trading Bitcoin again. So I think it’s going to be interesting to see what Bitcoin does from here.”
The TD Ameritrade manager goes on, claiming that while the stock market was falling in December, Nasdaq saw interest spike in Bitcoin. This leads analysts to believe that when traditional stocks aren’t doing so well, interest in crypto should jump up:
“It’s really interesting as we’re seeing this volatility in the market. Watching the ebb and flows of money. Watching where it’s flowing out of and where it’s flowing into is something that if you are a market spectator, someone who really likes to pay attention to these rotations in and out of asset classes. Right now I think you are getting a really enormous amount of data.”
Pure Speculation
Then again, as CCN reports, when directly comparing Bitcoin’s price history and the average stock price, the digital asset often goes in its own direction. This means the money is “driven by sentiment.” Primarily, when someone with money finds Bitcoin, they invest heavily. It’s a known fact that only a few whales hold the majority of Bitcoin. These owners buy and sell between dips, consistently moving the market as they do so. This was mainly the reason for such a significant drop in late 2017.
Finally, Cruz states that this increased interest has caused TD Ameritrade to provide Bitcoin futures trading before detailing just how they’ll benefit investors:
“We want to make sure it’s liquid. Also want to make sure it’s regulated on some sort of exchange. We offered the Bitcoin futures on those principals. We’ve actually an investment in the ErisX exchange. That’s another way for us to one, give our clients access to this asset class on a regulated exchange. And it’s also going to bring them more products that are cash and future related products.”
As of now, TD Ameritrade is only supporting Bitcoin. However, due to investor interest, they are looking into other assets as necessary. It all depends on use case and regulation.
