Standard Chartered Launches BTC/ETH Spot Trading in UAE
Ethereum (ETH)
Editor:
Eugene Serbin
cvj.ai reports that Standard Chartered has become the first global systemically important bank to offer deliverable Bitcoin and Ether spot trading to institutional clients in the United Arab Emirates. Announced on September 3, the service operates through the bank’s Dubai International Financial Center arm and adds trade execution to its existing custody offerings. Trades are executed via electronic channels and allow clients to take possession of the underlying assets at settlement, with options to settle through a custodian of their choice including the bank’s own solution.
This expansion follows the bank’s introduction of similar services through its UK branch in July 2025. Rola Abu Manneh, Chief Executive Officer for the UAE, Middle East and Pakistan, highlighted that the UAE’s clear regulatory framework supports institutional participation. She noted that pairing execution with custody, governance, and global connectivity offers an integrated way for clients to access digital asset markets.
Christopher Parsons, Senior Executive Officer at Standard Chartered DIFC, emphasized that the DIFC provides an established platform for international institutions to deploy global capabilities. The service is part of a wider strategy that includes Zodia Markets, Libeara, and a partnership with Circle for USDC minting and redemption. Additionally, SC Ventures has backed a $100 million joint venture with Japan’s SBI Holdings to target market infrastructure and tokenization.
How the market reacted
Whalio's own Binance spot order flow for ETH, measured when this story was written up on 5 September 2026. Not the outlet's figures.
ETH is trading at $2,455.85 with a 1-hour buy ratio of 40.2%, indicating immediate selling pressure that contrasts with the 51.5% buy ratio seen over the 4-hour window. The 24-hour buy ratio sits at 49.0%, suggesting that short-term selling has dampened the earlier bullish sentiment. A negative volume delta of -$2,548,654 in the last hour shows that sell volume exceeded buy volume during this period, while the 4-hour delta of +$2,654,389 reflects earlier net buying. Over the full day, the volume delta is -$19,663,249, though the cumulative CVD remains positive at +$12,192,045. This indicates that while recent hours saw net outflows, the overall daily flow has still been net positive. Spot volume reached $1,023,013,585 with 2,876,331 trades executed in 24 hours.
The latest daily buy ratio of 46.8% sits at the 16th percentile of the last 322 days, against a median of 49.5% - weaker buying than most days.
Was that an ordinary day?
The same Binance spot measurements for ETH, averaged over the days leading up to the story.
The current 24-hour buy ratio of 49.0% is slightly below the 7-day average of 50.4%, representing a 1.5-point drop from the weekly norm. Trading volume has spiked to 1.53 times the average, marking an unusually active day compared to the preceding week. Over the past eight days, the price has changed by only +0.5%, while the total volume delta has been +$17,452,678. Net buying has occurred on only 3 of the last 7 days, suggesting inconsistent momentum over the week. This day’s elevated volume and slightly lower buy ratio indicate a divergence from the steady weekly trend.