Now — for the first time — anyone, anywhere around the world can invest in stocks, commodities, indexes and ETFs using crypto-collateralized contracts made possible by Bitcoin.
As part of the early access program, you can use Abra’s new stock and equity investing capabilities.
- Cash Dividends: Any investments made during the early access window will not accrue cash dividends. This feature will be available when the product is launched for general availability.
- Limit orders: This functionality is not yet available in the Abra app.
- Charts: Tracking asset performance via price charts will be released soon.
- US availability: Currently stock and ETF investing is only available for non-US residents.
Below is everything you need to know to get started and review the early-access release of the product.
How it works
Abra offers the ability to buy and sell exposure to stocks and ETFs using market orders. A market order is an order for immediate execution, in this case using the most recent market price. We do not offer short-selling or limit orders at this time.
Please reference the step-by-step walkthrough below for details on how to execute a trade in the Abra app.
Step 1
Click on “Manage Assets” in the top right corner of your portfolio tab.
Tap the investment asset you would like to add to your portfolio.
Select how you want to fund the asset. In this walkthrough, we will be funding the purchase of Apple stock using Bitcoin.
Step 2
Select the investment you want to exchange your Bitcoin to.
Initiate and review the exchange.
Confirm the exchange.
Note: there are zero trading fees in 2019 for any exchanges between our natively supported cryptocurrencies (Bitcoin, Ether, Bitcoin Cash, Litecoin) and any equity!
Step 3
You will receive confirmation your order has been received. If the order is placed outside of market hours, the buy will remain “pending” until the market reopens and your fund type used to make the investment will be locked until the market open price has been confirmed.
Once the order is confirmed, your investment will appear in your portfolio tab. Repeat the same process to add more investments.
What stocks and ETFs can I invest in?
Abra are initially launching with over 50 supported stocks and ETFs as listed below, with plans to steadily support more based on feedback from users.
Abra expects this might be the very first time some individuals have the opportunity to invest in US stocks and ETFs. So they chose some of the most popular and unique assets as well as some of the more recent IPO listings.
Stocks & ETFs
AAPL Apple Inc. AAXJ iShares MSCI All Country Asia ex-Japan ETF
AMZN Amazon.com, Inc. AGG iShares Core U.S. Aggregate Bond ETF
AXP American Express Co. EEM iShares MSCI Emerging Markets ETF
BABA Alibaba Group Holding Limited EFA iShares MSCI EAFE ETF
BA Boeing Company (The) EWA iShares MSCI-Australia ETF
BRK.B BERKSHIRE HATHAWAY INC. EWJ iShares MSCI Japan ETF
FB Facebook, Inc. EWU iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF
GE General Electric Company EWW iShares MSCI Mexico ETF
GOOG Alphabet Inc. EWZ iShares MSCI Brazil ETF
JMIA Jumia Technologies AG GLD SPDR Gold Trust
JNJ Johnson & Johnson GOVT iShares U.S. Treasury Bond ETF
JPM J P Morgan Chase & Co GSG iShares S&P GSCI Commodity-Indexed Trust
KO Coca-Cola Company (The) FXI iShares China Large-Cap ETF
LYFT Lyft, Inc. INDA iShares MSCI India ETF
MSFT Microsoft Corporation IWM iShares Russell 2000 ETF
NFLX Netflix, Inc. QQQ Invesco QQQ
NKE Nike, Inc. RSX VanEck Vectors Russia ETF
PD PagerDuty, Inc. SPY SPDR S&P 500 ETF
PG Procter & Gamble Company (The) TIP iShares TIPS Bond ETF
PINS Pinterest, Inc. USO United States Oil Fund
SK Slack VEA Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF
SPOT Spotify Technology S.A. VEU Vanguard FTSE All-World ex-US ETF
TSLA Tesla, Inc. VGK Vanguard FTSE Europe ETF
UBER Uber VNQ Vanguard Real Estate Index Fund
UPS United Parcel Service, Inc. VTI Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF
V Visa Inc. VTV Vanguard Value ETF
VZ Verizon Communications Inc. VUG Vanguard Growth ETF
WMT Walmart Inc. VWO Vanguard FTSE Emerging Markets ETF
XOM Exxon Mobil Corporation VYM Vanguard High Dividend Yield ETF
ZM Zoom Video Communications, Inc. XLF Financial Select Sector SPDR Fund
XLK Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund
Support for forthcoming IPOs planned. XLV Health Care Select Sector SPDR Fund
Market Hours
All stock and ETF trades made within the Abra app are executed during the trading hours of 9:30AM – 3:45PM US Eastern Time on days when the US stock market is open (Monday through Friday, except US holidays). If an order is placed after market hours, the buy will remain “pending” until market trading hours resume. The asset used to fund a stock order placed after hours will be unavailable until the order is executed once the market opens. The user reserves the right to cancel the pending order anytime before it gets executed.
For convenience, here is a time zone conversion table for the active trading hours within the Abra app presented in UTC (Coordinated Universal Time) with references to key cities in those time zones for ease of use. Daylight Savings Time is not accounted for in this chart.
Trading Fees
Abra has a no-fee promotional offer for users who’ve registered for early access on our website. These users will pay zero in trading fees on these assets (stocks and ETFs) for the rest of 2019!
This means users will not be charged any fees to invest in equities. However, the exchange spread will still apply when converting equities to any assets other than equities (non-native Cryptocurrencies or Fiat Currencies).
Get your free $25 in Bitcoin now with the all new Abra App!