Man Vs Machine: Europe's Largest ETP Trader Moves in on Crypto Market

Europe's largest, high-speed trading technology and exchange-traded products platform made the jump into crypto despite resistance from regulators.

Flow Traders, an Amsterdam-based speed trader that has traded over $686 billion in ETP value, recently began making markets in the first exchange-traded notes based on Bitcoin and Ethereum.

While US investors wait for a resolution to the SEC's request for public commentary on a new CBOE Bitcoin ETF application European market participants have been trading Bitcoin ETNs since 2015.

Flow Traders' entrance into the cryptocurrency market marks the first time a speed trader publicly announced the trading of crypto ETNs, which are almost functionally identical to ETFs.High-Speed Traders Enter the Crypto Fray.

High-speed traders have dramatically disrupted traditional markets from stocks to forex and futures over the last decade, handing transactions over to advanced algorithms and executing trades in time frames measured in microseconds.

The low volatility of traditional markets has led high-speed traders to turn to the explosively volatile cryptocurrency market in order to expand their profit margins.

A speed trader openly announcing an entrance into the crypto market hasn't yet occurred.

In the case of XBT Provider ETNs - the crypto ETN's that Flow Trader announced that they are trading - the price movement of BTC/SEK and BTC/EUR exchange rates are tracked.

Purchasing Bitcoin or Ethereum via ETNs is extremely fast, thus making them highly appealing to speed traders - when a trader makes only 0.028% on a trade, they need to produce a lot of them, fast.

The Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets is less than enthusiastic about the potential of high-speed traders entering the crypto ETP market.