Regardless of bearish movements this year, online brokerage entity M1 Finance is prepared to release crypto trading accounts and trading services throughout the next few weeks.

Specifically, the Chicago-headquartered firm was reportedly established in 2015 and claims to have in possession over $5 billion equivalent of assets under management (AUM). The brokerage also provides retirement accounts apart from offering commission-free trading on stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs).

Founder and Head of M1 Brian Barnes additionally disclosed that the decision was mainly fueled by strong consumer demand to assist with crypto assets. 

“The crypto market is still young and volatile; Bitcoin emerged just 13 years ago. Cryptocurrencies are a roughly trillion-dollar asset class that over 20% of Americans have invested in, traded, or used. It has been the most requested asset addition, with roughly half of our surveyed users wanting to use M1 to invest in crypto.”

Including them to the platform offers clients a selection to include this burgeoning asset class within the scope of their long-term investment strategy. 

In the initial phase, the company will provide ten crypto assets, nominally Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH) and “other large-cap liquid crypto assets.” M1 Finance shared its plan to widen the scope of its services gradually, and that crypto trading will be commission-free – the same feature as its rivals like Robinhood.

One of M1 Finance’s key offerings is pie-based investing, which essentially makes it possible for users to build a portfolio of “Pies” where every asset and its exposure percentage is represented as a slice on a pie graph. 

The service is supported by algorithmic software which can automatically balance each portion of the pie, based on the investor’s initial investment strategy or asset allocations.