Interest in Cryptocurrency Derivatives Drives CFD Marketplace’s Revenues up 284%

Derivatives trading platform provider Plus500 posted a 284% increase in revenues in the first quarter of this year compared to the previous year, largely due to high levels of interest in its cryptocurrency CFDs offerings.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Triple Digit Rise

On Tuesday, contracts for difference (CFDs) market provider Plus500 released its quarterly earnings for the three months ended March 31. “Q1 2018 revenues were $297.3m, an increase of 284% compared to the same period last year,” the company revealed, adding:

The very strong start to the year…resulted from a period of relatively volatile markets and high levels of interest in the company’s cryptocurrency CFDs offering, and in turn encouraged high levels of new customer sign ups and record trading in Q1 2018.

Furthermore, earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization were up by 418% to $237.3 million.

Plus500 operates an online trading platform for individual customers to trade CFDs. Customers can trade them in over 50 countries, with more than 2,200 different underlying global financial instruments comprising equities, indices, commodities, options, exchange-traded funds (ETFs), cryptocurrencies, and foreign exchange.

Incorporated in Israel with subsidiaries in the UK, Cyprus, Australia, and Singapore, the company is additionally licensed in New Zealand and South Africa. It offers cryptocurrency trading of up to 1:20 leverage. “You can start with as little as $100.00 to gain the effect of $2,000 capital,” Plus500 advertises on its website. With 0% commission, the company “is mainly compensated for its services through the bid/ask spread.”

Hype Dying Down

While seeing strong growth in January, Plus500 revealed:

We have since seen market conditions return to more normal levels in the last two months. As such we do not expect such an exceptional performance to be repeated in the remainder of the year.

Other companies offering cryptocurrency CFDs include IG, IQ Option, Intertrader, Pepperstone, Cityindex, Gkfx, and Xtb. IG, which claims to be the number one provider of CFDs and spread betting worldwide, offers bitcoin, bitcoin cash, bitcoin gold, ether, ripple, and litecoin CDFs.

In November the UK’s Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) issued a warning about CFDs for retail investors. CFDs, “including financial spread bets, with cryptocurrencies as the underlying investment, are increasingly being marketed to consumers. These products are extremely high-risk, speculative products,” the authority warned.

What do you think of the popularity of cryptocurrency CFDs? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock, IG, and Plus500.

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