FTX.US, the American affiliate of Sam Bankman-Fried's global cryptocurrency exchange FTX International, is snapping at rival’s heels, with the latest trading report promising more competition in the market.
West Realm Shires Services Inc, the operator of FTX.US, today announced the exchange’s trading results for Q3 2021, with a 512% increase in average daily trading volume (about $360 million) among the key metrics covered.
The platform saw $768 million traded in the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko, which is not much away from the peak value of $807 million recorded during a 24-hour period on September 7.
FTX.US is currently the fourth-largest digital assets exchange in the U.S. in terms of volumes, with only Coinbase, Kraken, and Binance.US ahead.
There is, however, one crucial metric where FTX.US is already outperforming both Coinbase and Kraken: liquidity.
The term is used in financial markets to describe the ease by which an asset can be converted into cash or swapped for another asset. The higher the liquidity, the lower the risk that an exchange operator won’t be able to meet a trade at its quoted price.
According to Cryptowatch, FTX.US is currently holding the number one ranking of all crypto exchanges in the U.S. for liquidity, with the company stressing that it maintained this position since the start of the year.
FTX.US also reported that it was responsible for about 4.5% of the entire U.S. spot market trading volume by the end of September—up 2% at the start of Q3.
User count in the period between July and September increased by 52%, said the exchange.
“The trust and support of our user base has allowed FTX.US to become the fastest growing and most in-demand crypto exchange in the U.S., but we have barely scratched the surface,” Brett Harrison, President of FTX.US, said in a statement.
According to him, the exchange will continue to improve its existing offerings and “rapidly expand into new areas, including derivatives, NFTs, and payment services."
FTX dials in regulatory ambitions
During Q3 FTX.US also announced the launch of its own market for non-fungible tokens (NFTs). Still, the primary focus remains the firm’s derivatives plans.
In August, the company announced the acquisition of LedgerX, a crypto derivatives trading platform regulated by the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC). The deal was finalized last month and saw LedgerX rebranded to FTX US Derivatives.
According to Harrison, this acquisition puts FTX.US “in the unique position to reshape the U.S. derivatives market,” as it enables the company to provide licensed crypto futures and options to both retail and institutional customers.
FTX.US is also hoping to play a central role in defining crypto regulatory policy in the U.S. said Harrison.
To further strengthen its positions in this area, last week the exchange hired Mark Wetjen, former CFTC commissioner, as its head of policy and regulatory strategy.