Crypto Lender Nexo Introduces Spot and Margin Trading Platform

Cryptocurrency lender Nexo has introduced a trading platform that offers spot, futures and margin trading to retail clients, according to a press release shared with CoinDesk.

The trading platform, named Nexo Pro, will aggregate liquidity from more than 10 trading venues and market makers to minimize order slippage, or the change in price that occurs between an order being placed and being executed. Slippage occurs when a market order is made into thin liquidity, which causes the average price to fluctuate.

Nexo has managed to survive this year's crypto winter, an achievement not shared by many of its lending rivals including Voyager Digital and Celsius Network, both of which filed for bankruptcy over the past few months following a dramatic slump in cryptocurrency prices.

Nexo's lending platform already featured a "swap" function that allowed users to exchange one cryptocurrency for another, but the decision to move into derivatives trading is a first for a yield-generating company like Nexo.

Trading platforms and exchanges are not a risk-free ventures, however. New York-based financial services firm Eqonex closed its exchange product last month, citing intense market competition, low margins and significant technology load. Coinbase (COIN) has also phased out its standalone Coinbase Pro product to integrate "advanced trading" into its retail app.

Nexo's co-founder and executive chairman, Kosta Kantchev, remains confident, describing Nexo Pro as "a gateway to professional-like trading for retail customers" in the statement.

"We are the first platform to offer institutional-grade liquidity aggregation with this many venues as pure-play exchanges usually prefer to settle exclusively within their own order books," he said.

See also: Nexo, Crypto Lender on Prowl for Ailing Rivals, Faces Declining Deposits