COIN (COINBASE) Options Trading Now AvailableInvestors got a new way to bet on the fortunes of Coinbase Global as options on the cryptocurrency exchange's stock started trading with healthy volume on Tuesday.
About 22,000 Coinbase contracts traded by late afternoon, with puts outnumbering calls slightly, and volume should hit 31,000 by the end of the day
Puts convey the right to sell the stock at a set price at a future date, while calls provide the right to buy it at a certain price at a future date.
Coinbase recently went public in a high-profile direct listing on Nasdaq, where - unlike a traditional initial public offering - no shares are sold ahead of the opening.
Trading volume in Coinbase options was robust but fell short of other popular stocks' options launches. For instance, Facebook's options traded about 360,000 contracts on their first day in 2012.
Less than a week after the exchange's stock market debut on Nasdaq, Cboe Global Markets, Nasdaq, the Intercontinental Exchange and other exchanges launched trade in Coinbase equity options
It's not fireworks," said Henry Schwartz, head of product intelligence at Cboe. "Still, volume isn't bad."
For Coinbase, the lack of a lockup period, where a bar on selling stock can prompt investors to turn to options to protect their holding, may have taken away one source of demand, Schwartz said.
Still, strong retail interest in Coinbase bodes well for the options.
Following its launch last week, Coinbase drew massive retail buying, with over $100 million worth of shares, on a net basis, taken up in the first two days of trading, according to Eric Liu, head of research at Vanda Research.
For Coinbase, the lack of a lockup period, where a bar on selling stock can prompt investors to turn to options to protect their holding, may have taken away one source of demand, Schwartz said.
Still, strong retail interest in Coinbase bodes well for the options.
Following its launch last week, Coinbase drew massive retail buying, with over $100 million worth of shares, on a net basis, taken up in the first two days of trading, according to Eric Liu, head of research at Vanda Research.
SUPPORT- $290, $275, $250-$240
RESISTENCE- $305,$325, $350, $360, $380, $400, $450
Sector: Technology Services
Industry: Packaged Software
Coinbase Global, Inc. operates as a secure hosted bitcoin wallet to purchase and use bitcoin . It provides merchant tools that enable companies to accept payments in bitcoin by incorporating a single button. The company was founded by Brian Armstrong in 2012 and is headquartered in San Francisco
Where will it list?
Coinbase is set to go public on the Nasdaq under the ticker symbol “COIN” as a direct listing, meaning it isn’t raising new money, as a company would in a traditional IPO .
Coinbase is the Nasdaq’s first major direct listing, with Spotify SPOT , Slack Technologies WORK and most recently Palantir all opting to directly list at the NYSE.
Valuations?
Nasdaq assigned Coinbase a reference price of $250 a share on Tuesday evening, which values it at over $65 billion. On Wednesday, Coinbase stock was indicated to open around $350, or 40% above its reference price.
Coinbase, whose users primarily deal in bitcoin and ethereum , reported last week that its revenue soared 847% in the first quarter to $1.8 billion, and that it now has 56 million verified users.
Leeor Shimron, an analyst at FundStrat Global Advisors, described the Coinbase listing as seminal. “Coinbase’s direct listing is a watershed moment for the crypto industry.”
