Assets, Bitcoin

Can You Short Bitcoin on TD Ameritrade?

Bitcoin is a cryptocurrency and worldwide payment system. It is the first decentralized digital currency, as the system works without a central bank or single administrator. The network is peer-to-peer and transactions take place between users directly, without an intermediary.

These transactions are verified by network nodes through the use of cryptography and recorded in a public distributed ledger called a blockchain. Bitcoin was invented by an unknown person or group of people under the name Satoshi Nakamoto and released as open-source software in 2009.

Bitcoins are created as a reward for a process known as mining. They can be exchanged for other currencies, products, and services. As of February 2015, over 100,000 merchants and vendors accepted bitcoin as payment. Bitcoin can also be held as an investment.

According to research produced by Cambridge University in 2017, there are 2.9 to 5.8 million unique users using a cryptocurrency wallet, most of them using bitcoin.

TD Ameritrade offers bitcoin futures trading on the CME Globex exchange. Bitcoin futures are cash-settled contracts that settle to a single, tradeable auction price. Unlike physical currencies, bitcoins are not issued or backed by any government or central bank.

The value of bitcoins is determined by supply and demand on the global bitcoin exchanges. TD Ameritrade does not offer or provide any opinion regarding the nature, potential, value, suitability or profitability of any particular investment or investment strategy, and you shouldn’t rely on any such opinion when making your own investment decisions. To learn more about bitcoin futures at TD Ameritrade visit our FAQ page here: https://www.tdameritrade.com/faq/bitcoin-futures-trading.

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