Coinbase, Citing Regulations, Ends Margin Trading Services

Coinbase Pro, a US exchange for professional cryptocurrency trading, will no longer offer margin trading.

Citing guidance from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), the exchange said there will be no new margin trades starting 5 pm ET on November 25. It added that the "product will be taken offline in December once all existing margin positions have expired."

"We believe clear, common sense regulations for margin lending products are needed to protect and provide peace of mind to U.S customers," Chief Legal Officer Paul Grewal wrote in a brief blog post today. "We look forward to working closely with regulators to achieve this goal."

Margin trading is when an investor borrows funds from a third party, in this case Coinbase, to make trades for more than they actually own.

Coinbase Pro previously required investors interested in margin trading to be onboarded so that they understood the basic concepts and risks. Apparently, it's concerned that's no longer satisfactory to keep clear of regulators.