Even though bitcoin trading is quite a popular speculative activity, the BTC trading volumes cannot be compared to the world’s largest market – Forex. Earlier this year, the world’s largest Forex broker, GMO Click, has decided to integrate its trading services together with its bitcoin wallet – GMO Wallet Co. Ltd. Such an update might sound as nothing serious for the bitcoin industry, yet the news are much more important than they seem.
According to topratedforexbrokers.com, GMO Internet, a company behind GMO Click, was established in 1991 and its market capitalisation is set at 177.28 billion JPY. GMO Internet total assets are valued at 555 billion JPY and the company employs over 5000 people. Apart from that, retail and institutional FX trading has always been the main part of the business.
When speaking of FX trading in Japan, it is possible to say that the reality is completely different there. While the traders in Europe could trade the amounts that are 500 larger than the size of their deposits due to the offered leverage, the Japanese traders were capped at 25:1. Apart from that, Japan has introduced its own strict regulation which kicked many European brokers out from the market. Having said this, Japan still accounts for nearly one third of the total retail FX trading volumes, and this makes GMO Click Securities Co. Ltd. the largest FX brokerage not only in Japan, but also in the whole world.
One of the main advantages of GMO Click Securities Co. Ltd. is its technology. Incorporation of the leveraged bitcoin trading could certainly be a step forward as there is a very limited possibility to trade bitcoins on a margin nowadays. Apart from that, only a limit number of FX brokers offers a bitcoin price feed in its trading platforms.
Even though one may argue that bitcoins are not really connected to the FX market, there are quite a few factors that make bitcoin very suitable for online trading brokerages. First of all, it is the volatility. The year of 2016 has shown quite weak profits for many players in the FX industry, and considering the recent regulatory changes, the brokers will need to adopt the products of a high volatility to sustain similar profits.
On top of that, considering the updates in the regulation and the likelihood of having many unregulated brokers banned by the payment service providers, bitcoins in FX start making even more sense. As the transfers of the cryptocurrencies are not restricted, many unregulated FX brokers that target EU customers would find trading balances in BTCs very useful. Perhaps this is an area that GMO Click Securities Co. Ltd plans grow into a white-label business.
Nevertheless, we have to keep an eye on the regulative updates in Japan, it is forecasted that the regulators may see cryptocurrencies being an equivalent to money, just like UKGC did. In case this happens, bitcoin trading profits will be taxed and treated the same way as the gains from the FX or stock trading. And this regulation can set a new era in both cryptocurrency and FX trading.
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