For latecomers to the cryptocurrency craze, there are always derivatives. As the price of a single bitcoin hovers between the US$8,000 and $9,000 mark (about R100,000), cryptocurrency contracts for difference (CFDs) — which allow investors to speculate on the price movements of digital currencies without having to physically buy them — are soaring in popularity. IG, one of the world’s largest online trading providers, reported that cryptocurrency trades amounted to 5% of its over-the-counter leveraged trading revenue for the six months to November 2017 — a tenfold increase on the previous comparable period. Plus500, an online trading platform listed on London’s Alternative Investment Market (the equivalent of the JSE’s AltX), said in a trading update that strong volumes in crypto-CFDs had lifted profit for the year to December above market expectations. "Cryptocurrencies are virtual currencies that operate independently of banks and governments, but can still be exchanged — or specu...
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