Online trading pioneer TradeStation to go public in $1.43B SPAC deal

As one of South Florida’s oldest financial technology companies and an online trading pioneer, TradeStation Group is going public through a SPAC deal with Quantum FinTech. The transaction is valued at $1.43 billion, the company announced Tuesday.

The transaction is expected to close in the first half of 2022. At that time, the company will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol “TRDE.”

Founded in 1982 and headquartered in Plantation, TradeStation originally offered its trading tools in a software product that allowed users to develop and tested their own trading strategies against historical market data and received trading alerts when their strategies’ conditions were met. It was pioneering for its time.

TradeStation became an online brokerage in 2001. Its subsidiaries now provide trading and analysis platforms and self-clearing online brokerage services for equities, options, futures – and now cryptocurrency, including a recently launched crypto IRA. In addition to its Planation HQ, the global company has offices in New York, Chicago, London, Sydney and other locations.  

“We believe this transaction will provide additional resources to help achieve two broad objectives: expand the business through increased marketing of TradeStation’s differentiated offerings among both new and experienced traders and investors; and help fund expanded information technology and product development resources to further enhance our robust multi-asset online brokerage and education offerings,” a company statement said.

Proceeds from the transaction will be used to help fund TradeStation marketing to accelerate account and revenue growth, as well as increased product development and IT headcount for completion of new products and features. The funds will also add liquidity to support an anticipated larger customer base, TradeStation said.

Upon closing, the transaction will provide TradeStation with about $326 million of cash, of which $125 million of that will come through a fully committed private placement of common stock. The PIPE includes $50 million from TradeStation’s sole shareholder, Tokyo-based Monex Group, and $50 million from Galaxy Digital LP, an affiliate of Galaxy Digital Holdings. Monex will own approximately 81% of TradeStation at closing.

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Nancy Dahlberg