Okcoin launches derivatives trading amid ISDA membership
Okcoin is a provider of proprietary trading infrastructure to asset managers, venture capital, hedge funds, retail brokers, and payment processors.
Okcoin has added derivatives trading to its suite of institutional investment products as the crypto trading specialist celebrates its membership in the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA).
The exchange’s bilateral OTC derivatives offering will go beyond Bitcoin and Ether, to which US derivatives trading is currently limited, and will cater to institutional investors.
Despite the crypto derivatives market growing significantly—with open interest in bitcoin futures alone increasing 500% since May 20201—and the participation of major financial institutions, most of this trading has to date been outside of the US. As a regulated platform and
Okcoin is the third cryptocurrency exchange to join ISDA’s network, which counts with more than 900 businesses in 78 countries. The new member of ISDA will enable a global network of eligible derivatives-trading institutions to gain greater cryptocurrency exposure in a safe and efficient way.
By adhering to ISDA’s Master Agreement, which sets the standards and best practices for traditional assets’ derivatives, Okcoin will ensure clients that they are operating in a regulated environment – a key aspect of the financial industry’s adoption of digital assets.
Okcoin going beyond spot markets
Iskandar Vanblarcum, Head of Sales and General Manager for Europe at Okcoin, said: “Our clients want exposure to digital assets that extends beyond spot markets while maintaining a degree of standardization. The ease of operating from the same set of standards enables greater market liquidity and ultimately, maturation. We look forward to offering derivatives products that align with ISDA’s Master Agreement and move the cryptocurrency industry forward.”
Okcoin is a provider of proprietary trading infrastructure to asset managers, venture capital, hedge funds, retail brokers, and payment processors.
Founded in 2013 in the United States, Okcoin enables retail and institutional investors to purchase more than 50 digital assets using local currencies. The platform was the first to provide access to the DeFi space by adding Earn, a tool for earning APY through decentralized lending, liquidity pools, and staking.
Wilshire has announced this week that Okcoin has moved from the watchlist to “contributing” exchange for its price discovery mechanism as it launched 25 new indexes, available via Refinitiv.
In March, Okcoin partnered with PrimeXM, the low-latency connectivity, aggregation, and B2B trading technology firm, and became the first cryptocurrency exchange acting as a liquidity provider in the XCore community.
PrimeXM’s XCore is a global marketplace of more than 250 institutional maker and taker firms that transact on average more than $55 billion per day in foreign exchange (FX), spot metals, contract for differences (CFDs), futures, stocks, and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).
