brokerage

According to the information released by the SEC, Robinhood (HOOD) Chief Brokerage Officer Steven M. Quirk sold 24,416 shares of the company's stock on September 3 at an average price of $120.33 per share, totaling approximately $2.9379 million. After the transaction, his direct holdings decreased to 77,839 shares. Meanwhile, GC Daniel Martin Jr sold 10,000 shares of the company's stock on the same day at an average price of $122.43 per share, totaling approximately $1.2243 million. After the transaction, his direct holdings decreased to 509,943 shares.

According to CoinDesk, Japanese financial giant SBI Holdings plans to acquire a 20% stake in Indonesian online brokerage Ajaib Group for $270 million by the end of this month to expand the circulation of its yen stablecoin JPYSC in Southeast Asia and utilize blockchain technology to build cross-border settlement infrastructure.Ajaib provides a foothold for SBI to enter the Indonesian market. Indonesia is one of the largest retail investment markets in ASEAN, with over 20 million retail investors and an estimated retail market size of $375 billion. Ajaib operates online brokerage, forex margin trading, cryptocurrency, and asset management businesses in Indonesia, and this $270 million deal is also the largest tech financing in Indonesia in years.SBI Chairman and President Yoshitaka Kitao stated that in the era of tokenization, the importance of global digital asset infrastructure is becoming increasingly prominent. This investment is part of SBI's strategy in Southeast Asia, having previously acquired Singapore cryptocurrency exchange Coinhako for about $100 million and invested in Singapore digital securities trading platform DigiFT. The Japanese government has also recently announced plans to build blockchain infrastructure for stocks and government bonds, with the expectation of launching 24/7 on-chain settlement in the early 2030s.

According to Bloomberg, South Korea's financial regulatory authorities plan to strengthen the regulation of structured products such as ELS starting next month. They will require brokerages to warn investors when products approach the principal loss trigger line (Knock-in) and to reassess product design and sales when market conditions lead to a significant increase in risk.It is reported that the South Korean stock market has recently experienced significant fluctuations, but retail investors' enthusiasm for high-risk investments has not noticeably cooled. After regulatory tightening on leveraged ETFs for individual stocks, some investments have shifted to stock-linked securities (ELS) that offer high "coupon" rates. Data released by the Korea Financial Investment Association shows that in July, the sales volume of ELS in South Korea reached 35 trillion won, setting a new high in over three years since April 2023, with ELS products based on Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix stocks becoming the main drivers of growth.

Brian Armstrong posted on the X platform that Deribit has obtained a VARA brokerage license, allowing access to the market and liquidity of Coinbase Exchange. The UAE is embracing modern finance and digital assets.

The cryptocurrency market maker Flowdesk, supported by Coinbase, has obtained a full brokerage license issued by Dubai VARA, allowing it to provide compliant services to local institutional investors.

According to The Block, Nasdaq-listed trading investment platform eToro has agreed to acquire the American online brokerage TradeZero, with a transaction value of up to $231 million. This acquisition is an important step for eToro to expand its presence in the U.S. market and strengthen its services for active traders. ReutersThe announcement of the acquisition was released simultaneously with eToro's financial report for the second quarter of 2026. The report shows that eToro continued to achieve profit growth in the second quarter, with net contribution increasing by 9% year-on-year to $229 million, mainly driven by enhanced stock trading activity.Founded in 2015, TradeZero primarily serves active traders in the U.S. and operates in Canada and other international markets. eToro stated that after acquiring TradeZero, it will further expand its retail customer base in the U.S. and gain a stronger brokerage infrastructure, accelerating the launch of new products in the U.S. market. ReutersIn recent years, eToro has continuously strengthened its layout in digital assets and on-chain finance. The company previously acquired the self-custody crypto wallet service provider Zengo to enhance its digital asset capabilities and explore the integration of traditional finance with the on-chain economy. eToro's acquisition of TradeZero reflects its strategic direction in building a comprehensive financial ecosystem between stock trading, crypto assets, and multi-asset investment platforms. It is reported that the TradeZero transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2027.

JPMorgan Chase today officially raised its target level for the S&P 500 index at the end of 2026 from 7800 points to 8000 points, primarily due to a robust outlook for corporate earnings, while major tech companies are increasing their AI investments, which is expected to significantly accelerate revenue growth. This target level has about a 3% upside compared to the S&P 500's closing level last Friday.Currently, at least seven brokerage firms expect the S&P 500 to reach 8000 points by the end of 2026. JPMorgan analysts stated that as backlogged orders convert into actual revenue, the cloud computing business is expected to maintain strong growth, which will validate the rationale for AI capital expenditures and further alleviate market concerns about the return on invested capital. According to data from the London Stock Exchange Group, among the 436 S&P 500 constituent companies that have disclosed their Q2 financial reports, 85.1% exceeded analysts' expectations, significantly higher than the long-term average of 68% since 1994. So far this year, driven by optimism related to AI, the S&P 500 index has risen by about 13%.

According to market news, Binance has started to open the stock asset transfer feature for US stocks. Some users can transfer US stock assets held by other brokerages into Binance, and they can also transfer US stock assets from their Binance accounts to other brokerages. Currently, this feature is in gray testing and is expected to be fully opened soon.

According to The Block, crypto infrastructure and capital markets company Keyrock has completed the acquisition of BlockFills' institutional trading and brokerage business. This transaction brings Keyrock BlockFills' trading technology, institutional client relationships, and a team of experienced derivatives traders.The announcement stated that this acquisition also expands Keyrock's regulatory footprint, establishing a CIMA-registered entity in the Cayman Islands and planning to obtain FCA authorization in the UK. Keyrock's announcement did not disclose the acquisition price. According to previous court documents and reports, Keyrock was selected for $3.25 million in BlockFills' bankruptcy restructuring process. Chicago-based BlockFills filed for bankruptcy protection in early 2026 after suffering significant losses due to the cryptocurrency market crash in February.

After recently launching the financing trading feature, BIT today announced the official launch of the US stock margin trading (short selling) feature. Regarding this business upgrade, BIT brokerage head Elio Cui stated: "With the launch of margin trading, BIT brokerage has become one of the very few in the industry to support financing, margin trading, and options preparation on a trading platform under the real US stock framework. Our product planning has been aimed from the beginning at building a complete traditional brokerage investment experience. Within the same account, users can seamlessly connect long and short positions and risk hedging to respond to different market cycles with higher capital efficiency."After the launch of this feature, BIT margin account users who meet the initial margin requirements can short sell specified US stocks. The platform will dynamically update key risk control indicators such as margin rates, borrowing interest, and margin pool limits in real-time to ensure transparency and efficiency in trading.In conjunction with the new business launch, BIT brokerage is offering a limited-time "0 fee" promotional activity. The activity is subject to relevant terms and conditions; details can be found on the BIT US stock channel X platform.

Bitget announced a partnership with the U.S. licensed brokerage Atomic Vaults (AVS), which will provide underlying support for Bitget's recently launched U.S. stock direct connection service "Bitget U.S. Stocks." AVS is a registered broker-dealer with the U.S. SEC, a member of FINRA and SIPC, with a nominal monthly trading volume exceeding $20 billion, offering institutional-grade trading infrastructure and compliant access to the U.S. stock market.It is understood that Bitget's U.S. stock business has formed a dual-track layout. On one hand, it provides stock token (rToken) trading through the compliant RWA protocol Reality, and on the other hand, it offers real stock direct connection trading through AVS. This "tokenization + direct connection" dual-track model aims to meet the differentiated needs of different users regarding asset ownership forms and trading experiences, further consolidating its competitiveness in the multi-asset trading field.

According to the official announcement, Binance has announced that due to a system upgrade planned by its partner brokers, stock trading on Binance will be temporarily unavailable. The system upgrade will take place from June 13, 2026, 18:50 to June 14, 2026, 00:00. Users are strongly advised to cancel all open orders for Binance stock trading before the planned upgrade to avoid potential losses.Any open stock orders that are still active at June 13, 2026, 18:50 will be automatically canceled. This system upgrade is scheduled outside of regular market trading hours, and the downtime is expected to be within the scheduled window, but it may finish early or require additional work and be extended. Once the system upgrade is complete, stock trading services will automatically resume. Users should plan their trading activities accordingly.

According to The Block, cryptocurrency market maker GSR has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) and has officially completed the acquisition of Portland SEC-registered broker-dealer Equilibrium Capital Services, which is now renamed GSR Securities. GSR CEO Xin Song stated that this acquisition will strengthen its compliance broker-dealer platform capabilities in the United States, focusing on serving institutional clients.GSR had previously disclosed plans to position its business as a "Web3 investment bank," and after the acquisition, it will further expand its tokenized financing business. Additionally, GSR has been active this year: in April, it launched the GSR Crypto Core3 ETF on Nasdaq, in March it acquired token consulting firms Autonomous and Architech, and invested in the tokenized platform Libeara under SC Ventures; last month, SC Ventures, the fintech investment arm of Standard Chartered Bank, became GSR's first external shareholder and completed its investment.

Bitget's compliant RWA issuance platform Reality announced a partnership with the U.S. registered brokerage and self-clearing agency Alpaca. According to the cooperation details, Alpaca will provide brokerage infrastructure support for Reality, assisting it in accessing U.S. stocks and ETF tokenized products within a regulated market framework, covering key aspects such as clearing, custody, and trade execution.Founded in 2015, Alpaca is a developer-first brokerage infrastructure company, with Alpaca Clearing being a FINRA registered broker-dealer and SIPC member, focusing on the custody and clearing of underlying assets. Through this partnership, Reality will further enhance its underlying infrastructure capabilities for tokenized U.S. stocks and ETF products, providing a more standardized and transparent access method for eligible global users.Bitget CEO Gracy Chen stated that Reality is a key part of Bitget UEX's panoramic exchange strategy, aiming to connect traditional financial assets with on-chain infrastructure in a more pragmatic way. Alpaca co-founder and CEO Yoshi Yokokawa expressed his pleasure in partnering with Reality to jointly promote the development of tokenized stock infrastructure, further enhancing the accessibility of global financial services.

Digital asset market infrastructure provider Prometheum recently launched Digital Brokerage Solutions, offering agency clearing, custody, and trading services for broker-dealers and registered investment advisors (RIA), enabling them to provide cryptocurrency assets and tokenized securities directly to clients through traditional brokerage accounts.Co-founder and co-CEO Aaron Kaplan stated that hundreds of billions of dollars in tokenized securities have been issued on-chain, but there is a lack of distribution channels to reach mainstream investors. He believes that the crypto industry has solved the tokenization issue but has not yet addressed the distribution problem, and that broker-dealer and RIA channels are key to achieving scalable reach to investors.

Cryptocurrency infrastructure service provider Zerohash Europe has obtained an Electronic Money Institution (EMI) license issued by the Dutch central bank, becoming the first company to hold both the EU MiCA cryptocurrency license and full EMI qualifications.Zerohash previously obtained the MiCA license from the Dutch Authority for the Financial Markets in October 2025, allowing it to provide cryptocurrency asset services across the EU. With the acquisition of the EMI license, the company will be able to handle both cryptocurrency asset services and traditional electronic money circulation, particularly suitable for stablecoin-related payment and settlement scenarios.The European Banking Authority has previously clarified that some stablecoin fund flows may be considered electronic money business, thus requiring relevant institutions to obtain an additional EMI license. Zerohash stated that the dual-license structure will enable it to provide compliant infrastructure for banks, brokerages, fintech companies, payment service providers, and enterprise platforms in the European market.

According to official news, the asset tokenization platform Securitize has announced that it has received approval from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) to expand its brokerage proprietary business through its subsidiary Securitize Market. This allows it to conduct tokenized securities custody business within the framework of traditional brokerages, enabling on-chain atomic swaps and clearing settlements between tokenized securities and stablecoins, as well as participating in the primary and secondary issuance underwriting and sales of tokenized securities.