What Time Will Coinbase Start Trading? Where To Buy Stock As Crypto Exchange Goes Public

Cryptocurrency platform Coinbase is going public, marking April 14 as the first time a major bitcoin exchange will list on a U.S. stock market. Shares for the company, Coinbase Global, Inc., will trade on the New York City Nasdaq exchange under the ticker COIN from Wednesday afternoon, as the San Francisco-based crypto giant completes a direct listing first teased back in December 2020. Coinbase is used by roughly 56 million people to buy and sell digital currencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum. The Nasdaq listing comes as the price of Bitcoin hit an all-time high on Tuesday, and is currently valued at over $63,000 per token. According to CNBC, Nasdaq gave the company a reference price of $250 a share ahead of the direct listing, which could value the business at more than $65.3 billion on a fully diluted basis. Some analysts projected a valuation of $100 billion or more. Unlike a traditional initial public offering (IPO), which raises cash by selling new stock in a company, the direct listing option means Coinbase employees and investors can sell their existing stock to the public at a price that's determined by the market. Coinbase said on April 13 that only shares of Class A common stock will be listed for trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market. It previously said in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing it would list 114 million shares to the public.

When will COIN trade on the Nasdaq?

An exact time for Nasdaq Exchange trades to begin has not been confirmed at the time of writing, but it has been forecast to start on the afternoon of April 14. According to financial news outlet MarketWatch, Coinbase may follow Palantir's direct listing on the NYSE in September, which saw trading kick off at around 1:30 p.m. ET. It noted that Coinbase is the first significant direct listing to take place on Nasdaq. According to CNBC, tech platforms Spotify and Slack used direct listings for the NYSE and their opening price was about 37 percent above reference price on average.

Where to buy coinbase stock

Coinbase will trade on the Nasdaq under the ticker COIN and can be purchased via a brokerage account such as Robinhood, eToro, Fidelity, Interactive Brokers, Webull and TD Ameritrade—the same way you would buy shares in other public companies. It is highly advised to shop around as brokerage firms will have different rules and fees. One helpful brokerage comparison guide is available via Investopedia. According to MoneyMorning.com, the shares will be available via the Robinhood platform. An explainer by financial news website Decrypt notes you can place a market order—meaning shares will be bought at trading price—or a limit order that will tell a brokerage to avoid buying the Coinbase shares if the price is above a set target. Ultimately, trading is expected to be volatile. While it has a reference price of $250 a share, the price will be determined by market demand, and may go up or down.

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What has Coinbase said about the listing?

In a statement posted to its blog on Wednesday, co-founder and CEO Brian Armstrong said the platform had succeeded through both "luck and skill" over the years. He wrote in the post: "Today's listing is a milestone, but it's not as important as every new day in front of us... We have a lot of hard work to do to make this a reality. We're still in the early days of this industry, but we're squarely focused on the future, on our mission, and on building the best crypto experiences for you, our community."