Is FTX’s zero-fee stock trading emerging as a saviour for traders amid market meltdown?

The FTX crypto exchange’s new service, commission-free equities trading on its platform, could be a saviour for US traders struggling to stay afloat in a volatile market. FTX stocks offer trading and investing in hundreds of US-listed securities, including common stocks and ETFs. 

The service is integrated within the existing crypto trading platform, and FTX stocks will initially route all orders through the NASDAQ stock exchange.

FTX US President Brett Harrison said in a previous statement that "Our goal is to offer a holistic investing service for our customers across all asset classes. With the launch of FTX stocks, we have created a single integrated platform for retail investors to easily trade crypto, NFTs, and traditional stock offerings through a transparent and intuitive user interface."

Unlike its competitor Robinhood Inc. (stock trading platform), which relies on a payment-for-order business model, FTX stocks will offer its customers no-fee brokerage accounts, commission-less trading, free market data, and company fundamental data. The release of FTX stocks marks the first time in industry history that retail brokerage accounts can be funded with fiat-backed stablecoins, such as USDC, via a partnership with the FTX US crypto exchange, in addition to the standard USD deposit methods of wire transfers, ACH transfers, and credit card deposits.  

Last month, FTX acquired Embed Financial Technologies, which specializes in providing whitelabel brokerage services and APIs to broker-dealers and registered investment advisors. Embed's infrastructure and licensure cleared the final hurdle for FTX to offer a complete trading platform, where one can trade digital tokens and equities in the same place.

Currently, FTX is in an acquisition-spree mode as they are looking to invest in South Korea-based crypto exchange Bithumb. Last month, FTX signed a deal with BlockFi, giving it an option to buy the crypto lending firm for around $240 million, which is believed to be significantly lower than its previous valuation. FTX is also trying to negotiate a deal to buy bankrupt crypto lender Voyager Digital. In a tweet, FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried said that the deal would give Voyager’s customers the ability to access assets that would otherwise be locked up for a significant time as the case navigates through bankruptcy court. FTX is trying to invest in all cash-strapped organisations that are struggling to stay afloat in these turbulent times when the price of cryptocurrencies is falling from all-time highs in November last year.