China’s largest Bitcoin exchange, OKCoin, announced Monday the launch of a new set of algorithmic trading tools that cater to the needs of Bitcoin investors who participate in high-volume market activities.
These “Wall Street level” trading tools – the first of their kind to be offered on any Bitcoin exchange, according to OKCoin – offer Bitcoin investors the following algorithmic trading strategies:
- Trigger Orders- This order type allows the user to further specify under which conditions an order will be entered into the trading book.
- Icebergs- This order type allows the user to place a large volume order without moving the market by dividing this single order into many smaller orders, masking the total order quantity.
- Modified Time-Weighted Average Price- This order type allows high-volume traders to execute orders over a specific time period in order to keep the price close to the prevailing market price.
By offering high-volume trading tools, which are commonly found in non-Bitcoin financial exchanges, the Beijing-based exchange hopes to boost the growth and maturity of Bitcoin trading, which is still in its infancy.
“We have seen a lot of increased interest from knowledgeable individuals, investment funds, and institutional investors. These investors are looking for an exchange that can provide the types of professional trading technologies that the traditional securities world takes for granted,” said founder and CEO Star Xu. “OKCoin is committed to the continued enhancement of our trading tools and service offerings, and we will not stop until our platform offers all of the same trading services and options that one might expect from world-leading financial exchanges.”
The effort was lead by OKCoin’s new Chief Technology Officer, Changpeng Zhao, who previously worked as the Head of Research and Development for Bloomberg Tradebook Futures. Zhao also previously served as the Head of Development at Blockchain.info.
“By being the the first Bitcoin exchange in the world to offer Wall Street level trading tools to sophisticated investors, OKCoin is not only raising the bar – we are leading the digital currency evolution,” said Zhao in a statement. “I am excited that I can leverage my Wall Street experience directly at OKCoin, and I see many opportunities for the company to fill gaps and shortfalls within the Bitcoin trading ecosystem.”
Last week, OKCoin reintroduced its P2P margin trading services, and also recently released an English version of its website. The introduction of these news services, along with the fact that OKCoin is “aggressively expanding outside of China and is recruiting international expertise,” indicate that the company is aiming to establish itself as a serious international Bitcoin exchange.
