In brief
- Uphold has launched a service to allow traders all over the world to buy and sell 50 of the most popular US-based equities.
- The new offering allows international traders to transact in US-based stocks like Tesla and Apple without waiting for markets to open.
- Uphold also offers more than 30 cryptocurrencies to buy, sell, and trade.
A new service is bringing around the clock trading to US based-stocks, in a format that will make it easier for investors around the world to get in on some of the fastest growing public companies in the world.
Uphold, an app for trading cryptocurrencies, fiat, and precious metals, announced on Wednesday the launch of a new 24/7 trading service for US public equities, freeing international investors from the time constraints held over from the days of stock floor trading.
The US-based New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) and other US-based exchanges, such as the Nasdaq, have for decades operated from the hours of 9:30am to 4:00pm Eastern Time, making it difficult or impossible for international investors to trade in real time on a reasonable schedule. Uphold’s new offering shows the growing appetite for exposure to US-based equities around the world—and the improving infrastructure to feed that market.
Uphold will offer trading services for 50 of the most popular US equities, including Tesla (TSLA), Apple (AAPL), Facebook (FB), and more, as well as several exchange-traded funds (ETFs) that aggregate stock picks into a single tradable equity.
Uphold also offers services for buying, selling, and trading more than 30 cryptocurrencies including popular favorites like Bitcoin and Ethereum, as well as tokens associated with smaller projects like crypto web browser Basic Attention Token (BAT), Ethereum layer-2 scaling solution OMG, and layer-1 Ethereum competitor Cardano (ADA).
Crypto projects and stock picks are included on the platform based on a number of financial and subjective factors.
"We have a new listing committee that meets monthly to discuss new opportunities for the platform,” Uphold VP of Engineering John Hazen told Decrypt.
“We take into account the management of the project, technology and security, legal and compliance, existing markets for the asset, and reputation of the company when deciding if it's a fit for our platform. For equities, we have an additional requirement on listings where the symbol has to be within the top 100 average daily trade volumes."
Uphold helps investors physically distant from US markets trade on their own schedule. Traders based in India interested in US stocks might otherwise have to wait until after 7:00pm local time to interact with the foreign market. Taiwanese or Japanese traders seeking exposure to NYSE trading hours would need to stay up past 9:00pm local time just to get started.
“U.S. equity trading has been stuck in the 20th century with archaic market hours that no longer meet the expectations of millennials who’ve grown up with ‘always-open’ digital asset markets,” Uphold CEO J.P. Thieriot said in a press release.
“Stocks such as Tesla and Apple are continuously affected by a 24-hour rolling news cycle that doesn’t stop when New York markets close.”