It is reported that Futu Securities, the largest retail brokerage in Hong Kong, has obtained formal approval from the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission on July 8 to provide virtual asset trading services to professional and retail investors in Hong Kong. Based on this approval, Futu Securities officially launched cryptocurrency trading services on August 1.
According to an announcement released by Futu Securities, Hong Kong investors can now trade cryptocurrencies through Futu’s “Futu Niu Niu” application. The following is the specific operation process:
1. Create a cryptocurrency account
For users who have opened a securities account, you can open a cryptocurrency account by following the steps below:
1. In the search bar of the Futu NiuNiu app, enter the code of a specific cryptocurrency (such as BTC) and click to enter its detailed quote page.
2. At the bottom of the detailed quote page, click the "Trade" button.
3. After entering the trading permission page, select the "Cryptocurrency" option and follow the prompts to complete the opening process. During this process, users need to complete the risk tolerance assessment, virtual asset holding limit assessment, virtual asset knowledge test, and carefully read the relevant risk disclosure content.
II. Funds Allocation
Cryptocurrency accounts must have sufficient legal currency (fiat currency) funds to trade. Currently, only funds transfer is supported to transfer fiat currency funds from securities accounts to cryptocurrency accounts. The specific steps are:
1. In the "Futu NiuNiu" mobile app, click the "Account" option.
2. Select the "Transfer" function and enter the "Fund Transfer" page.
3. On the "Fund Transfer" page, select the currency you want to transfer (USD/HKD) and set the transfer-in/transfer-out account to a cryptocurrency account.
3. Order Trading
In the "Futu NiuNiu" application, users can follow the steps below to enter the order trading page and perform trading operations:
1. Click the search icon in the upper right corner of the page.
2. Enter the trading code (e.g. BTCUSD).
3. Click the link to the trading pair price page in the search results.
4. In the lower left corner of the trading pair quotation page, click the "Trade" button to enter the order trading page to perform trading operations.
In addition, using Futu NiuNiu for trading has three significant advantages, which are detailed as follows:
Zero-commission trading: Users do not need to pay any commission fees for cryptocurrency trading on the Futu NiuNiu platform, and there is no limit on the number or amount of transactions, providing users with a more flexible and economical trading experience.
Licensed trading, safe and reliable: As the largest technology broker in Hong Kong, Futu Securities has a legal license to provide virtual asset trading services. It strictly abides by relevant laws and regulations to ensure the safety and stability of user funds and builds a safe and reliable trading environment for users.
Convenient deposit and withdrawal, support for direct trading of Hong Kong dollars and US dollars: Compared with other cryptocurrency exchanges that require users to exchange USDT and face the problem of exchange rate differences, the Futu NiuNiu platform supports users to trade directly in Hong Kong dollars or US dollars, greatly simplifying the transaction process. At the same time, it provides real-time exchange rate services to ensure that users can enjoy a more fair and transparent trading experience.
However, the currencies currently supported only include Bitcoin and Ethereum. If you are an investor who already has trading experience, there are relatively few choices at present, and it is not yet certain whether other currencies will be added in the future.
In addition to the newly opened cryptocurrency trading services, Futu NiuNiu also provides investment options for Hong Kong and US stock cryptocurrency spot ETFs, Hong Kong and US stock cryptocurrency futures ETFs, blockchain concept stocks and cryptocurrency futures.
The launch of the cryptocurrency trading business is also an important milestone in the development of Hong Kong's financial technology. In the past few years, Hong Kong regulators have continuously introduced encouraging policies to strive to build Hong Kong into a regional cryptocurrency trading center. Futu Niu Niu's cryptocurrency trading service is a microcosm of this.
As the regulatory environment becomes more and more perfect and investors' demand for cryptocurrencies continues to increase, Hong Kong's cryptocurrency ecosystem is expected to be further upgraded in the future. In addition to Futu, other brokerage firms in Hong Kong have also laid out cryptocurrency trading businesses, such as Victory Securities, which previously launched the first stock + cryptocurrency trading APP "VictoryX".
In general, Futu NiuNiu's cryptocurrency trading service provides a compliant and secure trading channel for Hong Kong investors. However, due to the limitations of service objects and product range, ordinary retail investors may not be able to use this service directly. In the future, as the regulatory environment is further improved, we look forward to seeing more cryptocurrency trading services for the general public.
