As we approach the end of the year, companies who have done considerably well on the market get into the routine of churning out ideas regarding how they could improve in the (very) near-future. Based on Thursday’s announcement about Bitcoin futures, it appears E*Trade Financial Corporation (NASDAQ:ETFC) is going to take on that role this year.
Here’s what happened: on Thursday, E*Trade, a New York-based company, revealed to the public that its customers are now eligible to participate in trading futures from Cboe Global Markets (NASDAQ:CBOE). This is pretty significant as the Cboe Futures Exchange only started trading futures on December 10, and it was only 4 days ago that the CME (NASDAQ:CME) put into effect Bitcoin futures.
It’s not a total surprise that E*Trade made this move, considering Bitcoin has investors worldwide dangling from its fingertips. First created as a result of the 2008 financial crisis, Bitcoin hit an all-time high on December 10, reaching $19,783.06 for the first time ever.
The news was posted late Wednesday night on E*Trade’s website. You might want to check it out yourself, considering it’s a monumental move both for the company and the cryptocurrency sector. As a result, E*Trade’s stock climbed marginally higher on Thursday, going up and down a few cents, but climbing steadily for the most part.
This is just the latest good news for the company. E*Trade succeeded in November, sustaining its momentum for growth throughout the entire month. The New York company witnessed a 19% Y-O-Y surge as well as a 15% month-over-month increase during November.
Further, E*Trade has seen tremendous growth in its interest-earning assets, primarily because of the increase in rates over the course of the past few months. When I say growth, I don’t mean that the company generated 10% of its revenue from these assets, I’m talking about a whopping 60% of its revenue came from interest-earning assets.
There are a number of reasons as to why I think E*Trade should not be overlooked and that it should be added to your investment portfolio for a rainy day, but perhaps the most notable aspect of the E*Trades success is its 2016 acquisition of OptionsHouse, which is definitely one of the reasons E*Trade has seen the growth that it has in trading volumes this year.
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