OKCoin.cn, the largest Chinese bitcoin marketplace by volume, according to
data from CoinMarketCap.com, announced today that all margin trading is being suspended. OKCoin
said the decision to halt lending facilities came at the request of PBoC regulators.
Furthermore, existing margin positions will be wound down gradually, “Users with loans that have already taken place will not be asked to forcibly repay the debt. After voluntarily repaying previous loans, users will not be able to apply for new loans,” writes OKCoin.
According to some traders on OKCoin, the leverage cap applies only to spot markets, with futures leverage remaining at 20x.
And OKCoin wasn’t the only Chinese bitcoin exchange to halt leveraged trading today. Huobi, the third largest bitcoin trading venue in China, released a statement on Chinese microblogging platform Weibo, saying PBoC regulators have asked for the stopping of all leveraged trading.
While BTCC, the second largest Chinese exchange,
suspended bitcoin margin loan trading last Friday, the exchange’s Twitter timeline is full of tweets denouncing speculative theories and news articles:
