Trinity Securities, a subsidiary of SET-listed Trinity Wattana, plans to encourage investment in digital assets by educating 1,000 customers about assets such as cryptocurrency and other digital assets over the next year.
Trinity Securities has a total of 10,000 accounts registered to customers.
“Traditional investment assets often move in the same direction, however the movement of cryptocurrencies has been random comparatively,” said Visit Ongpipattanakul, managing director of Trinity. “Investors can better diversify their risks by investing in cryptocurrency.”
Mr Visit suggested investing 1-5% of a total portfolio in cryptocurrency or digital assets.
“Bitcoin [a top cryptocurrency] has returned more than 14.5% this year compared with returns from equity investments,” he said. “Price volatility has also declined to about 40% this year, down from 95% in the same period last year.”
Mr Visit said bitcoin and some other alternative investment options run on blockchain technology, so the company will educate investors on both cryptocurrency and blockchain technology, as this tech will have a vital role in the future.
“Blockchain is being used in many industries such as financial services, fundraising and land title deed issuance,” he said.
“This is why we have to make our customers in the traditional investment world familiar with this technology.”
For traditional investment, Mr Visit said global markets have high volatility as a result of the pandemic and there is a high risk that a second wave of outbreak could hit Thailand. The geopolitical risk is expected to be intense in October in the run-up to the US presidential election.
“We suggest investors increase the portion of cash/liquidity in their portfolio from 25% to 35% and buy assets when the prices see a correction,” he said.
A good time to buy domestic equities is when the SET index is around 1,200 points, said Mr Visit, the ideal level to do selective buying.
Gold is a safe investment class best purchased when markets are weakening, he said, and the US interest rate should stay low. This makes the US real interest rate -1%, indicating that global gold prices could touch US$2,100 in the future, said Mr Visit.
He suggests avoiding investments in oil because there are great uncertainties including geopolitical risks affecting oil prices.
Last month the company partnered with Bitkub, a cryptocurrency exchange platform, to prepare financial advice on bitcoin and other digital assets.
Mr Visit said the company is the first securities firm to partner with this digital asset exchange. Trinity also plans to prepare other financial and capital services for Bitkub.
According to ranking data from the SET for the first eight months this year, Trinity ranked 29th in terms of total value (combined buy and sell) worth 201 billion baht, which contributed 1.05% of the total market, excluding proprietary trading.
The company is wholly owned by Trinity Wattana.