TD Ameritrade Reportedly Testing Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) Trading

TD Ameritrade is a popular broker for trading traditional financial assets and has already made its entry into the cryptocurrency industry. The electronic trading platform is among the backers of an upcoming cryptocurrency exchange called ErisX. ErisX is an exchange that is targeting institutional investors. The platform will offer investors the ability to trade the cryptocurrencies Bitcoin (BTC), Litecoin (LTC) and Ethereum (ETH) on spot and futures markets. Alongside TD Ameritrade, NASDAQ Ventures and Fidelity Investments have been the leading investors in the project — which was announced in late 2018.

Is ErisX Testing Its Platform?

Traders on the TD Ameritrade platform have possibly uncovered an interesting piece of evidence that ErisX is testing its platform behind the scenes. According to support service, the ticker BTC-USD:CXERX was supposed to be active on the testing platform of the broker. The inquisitive community has also laid out a possible decipher for the CXERX symbol. While ERX represents the ErisX platform, CX could stem from the Seed CX company — which is an established institutional platform for trading digital assets. Seed CX also holds several licenses from the CFTC, NFA, and FinCEN.

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

Will Bullish Sentiment Bring Institutional Investors Onboard?

Since the start of the year, news from institutional platforms like ErisX, Bakkt, and Fidelity Digital Assets have been vague and dry – likely due to the accentuated bear market.

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

With the comeback of price volatility in cryptocurrency markets and Bitcoin swinging back above $5,000, the obvious conclusion would be that institutional interest is starting to pick up again. Hence, institutional platforms that have been delaying their launches could be in a good position to start offering their services, addressing the demand on the institutional side. What do you make of this find? Is the ErisX launch closer than expected? Tell us in the comments!

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