Coinbase's COIN stock trading on Nasdaq is off to a rocky start

Trading has already begun on Coinbase’s COIN stock on the Nasdaq after weeks of anticipation following the U.S. exchange giant’s direct listing announcement.

COIN began trading significantly higher than the $250 reference stock price assigned by Nasdaq prior to the market open, rising quickly to around $430. The price fell sharply within the first few minutes of trading however, and sits at $381 at time of publication.

Even so, COIN is up about 55%, putting the U.S. crypto exchange giant’s valuation at just under $100 billion.

Enthusiasm for COIN exposure is also evident among crypto traders judging from the preliminary volume figures from Binance and FTX.

Both crypto exchanges are offering users access to Coinbase stock traded against stablecoins. Pre-IPO tokenized stock price for Coinbase on FTX has crashed from $643 down to $410 at time of publication.

As previously reported by Cointelegraph, market commentators have remarked that the Coinbase listing on Nasdaq represents a “watershed” moment for the crypto market as a whole. Indeed, there is even talk that COIN could rival Bitcoin (BTC) in terms of popularity within and outside the cryptocurrency space.

Meanwhile, the current bullish advance in the crypto space has continued for another day with the total market capitalization surging 4% in the last 24 hours.