From Bitcoin to Nvidia: How Gate is building an "all-in-one trading account" for the Web3 era?

Original article | Odaily Odaily(@OdailyChina)

Author | Ethan (@ethanzhang_web3)

One night some time ago, I saw an interesting debate in a crypto trader group.

It all started when someone posted a screenshot of Nvidia's stock price breaking $190, captioned: "I told you guys to allocate some US stocks, now you regret it, right?" The group chat instantly exploded. Some complained about how troublesome it was to open a brokerage account, others grumbled about how slow cross-border fund transfers were, and still others bluntly said, "My USDT is just sitting in my wallet, I can't buy anything even if I want to."

Behind this debate lies a deeper contradiction: while the macro market is experiencing dramatic fluctuations and US stocks and gold are hitting new highs, traders holding crypto assets are trapped in the crypto ecosystem by the invisible wall of the "account system".

This isn't an isolated case. Over the past two months, I've spoken with over a dozen crypto traders, and almost all of them mentioned similar pain points. The traditional "cross-border" process is incredibly tedious: selling cryptocurrency, withdrawing fiat currency (T+1), exchanging currency, remitting to a brokerage, and waiting for the funds to arrive—the entire process takes anywhere from three to five days to a week. Each step is accompanied by transaction fees and exchange rate fluctuations. By the time the funds arrive, the market has already changed drastically.

But recently, the wind seems to be shifting. Before Binance rejoined the stock contract battle , leading exchanges were racing to enter the "multi-asset trading" fast track. From US stock contracts to RWA, this competition is also confirming the industry consensus that Web3 platforms are evolving into "super accounts" connecting global financial markets, and the boundaries of traded assets are being completely blurred.

In this competition, one exchange's actions have attracted particular attention—Gate.

Unlike its competitors' "launch first, figure later" strategy, Gate's multi-asset strategy is more like a planned and systematic project. Starting last year, it has been gradually launching assets such as metals, indices, and stocks. Recently, it launched the TradeFi section to integrate traditional financial CFD trading. Gate is building a complete trading ecosystem covering Crypto and TradeFi.

In the words of one user, "The macroeconomic environment is causing a frenzy for stocks and gold due to uncertainty, and major exchanges are actively integrating. But so far, Gate.io is the one that has done the most comprehensive integration and the fastest integration."

Is this assessment objective? To what extent has Gate achieved multi-asset trading? As a journalist who has long focused on Web3 infrastructure, I decided to experience it firsthand.

Industry Observation: Three Major Hurdles in Multi-Asset Trading

Before delving into Gate, I conducted some industry research.

From a product perspective, the "multi-asset trading" solutions currently on the market can be roughly divided into three categories:

• Tokenized asset spot trading: This involves issuing tokens that map to traditional assets (such as stocks and gold), allowing users to trade on-chain. Advantages include 24/7 trading and support for fractional shares, but liquidity is generally poor and prices are prone to decoupling.
• Crypto derivatives expansion: Adding perpetual contracts such as stocks to the existing contract system. The advantage is a user-friendly trading interface, but the core gameplay remains the same as the crypto market, and prices may deviate from real market prices.
• Traditional CFD Access: Directly connects to CFDs (Contracts for Difference) in traditional financial markets, providing trading based on real market prices. Advantages include accurate pricing and good market depth, allowing simultaneous long and short positions. However, it requires handling traditional financial rules such as market closures and swap fees.

Most exchanges choose one of these paths, but Gate's strategy is to pursue all three paths and create a complete ecosystem.

This may sound a bit radical, but in practice, this "full coverage" strategy does indeed address users' needs in different scenarios. Next, I will break down Gate's multi-asset trading capabilities from three key dimensions.

Dimension 1: The "breadth" and "depth" of asset coverage

Let me start with an interesting discovery.

When I searched for "gold" on Gate.io, 12 different trading options appeared: including four different spot tokens such as XAUT and PAXG, four different perpetual contracts such as XAUUSDT and XAUTUSDT, and four different leverage types of gold CFDs from the TradeFi platform. At first, I thought this was product redundancy, but after actually using it, I found that each method has its specific use case.

For example, holding XAUT tokens is equivalent to holding "on-chain gold," which is suitable for long-term investment; perpetual contracts support 24/7 trading and leverage, making them suitable for short-term speculation; while TradeFi's gold CFDs are based on real market prices, making them closer to the gameplay of traditional finance.

This "same asset, multiple ways to play" design is rarely seen in other exchanges. Most platforms either only offer tokenized spot trading or only contracts; very few offer the entire trading chain.

In terms of asset classes, Gate currently covers:

• Metals: 10 metal contracts (gold, silver, platinum, palladium, aluminum, copper, etc.), making it one of the platforms with the most categories in the industry.
• Stocks: 72 stock tokens + 45 stock contracts, covering major sectors such as technology, consumer goods, and finance.
• Indices: 19 global indices, including the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Hang Seng Index. Notably, Gate is the world's first platform to offer perpetual index contracts , bringing traditional market sentiment indicators to crypto derivatives.
• Foreign Exchange: 48 foreign exchange trading pairs, covering major currency pairs.
• Commodities: Energy assets such as crude oil and natural gas.

Data shows that Gate's asset coverage is indeed among the best in the industry.

However, it's important to point out that having a large number of assets doesn't guarantee good liquidity for all of them. I tested several niche contracts and found that some of these assets did indeed have low daily trading volumes, and their bid-ask spreads were larger than those of mainstream contracts. For high-volume traders, it's still advisable to prioritize actively traded instruments, such as gold, the Nasdaq, and mainstream stocks.

Dimension Two: Practical Measurement of Capital Efficiency

To test the efficiency of capital turnover, I conducted a simple comparative experiment.

Let's say I have 10,000 USDT and want to quickly establish a position when the price of gold breaks through a key level. Using a traditional brokerage, the process is: sell USDT for fiat currency → withdraw to bank card (T+1) → transfer to brokerage account → wait for the funds to be credited and then purchase gold ETFs or futures. Conservatively, the entire process takes at least 3-5 business days.

On Gate, all I need to do is: open the app → select gold contracts or TradeFi CFD → open a position directly with USDT (the account will show as USDx balance, pegged 1:1). The whole process takes less than 30 seconds.

More importantly, there's the "reusability" of funds. In Gate's multi-asset system, USDT serves as both the pricing unit in the crypto market and the margin for traditional asset trading. When you transfer USDT to your TradeFi sub-account, the system automatically converts it to USDx (1:1 pegged to USDT), requiring no additional exchange and incurring no custody fees.

This means that you might be trading BTC contracts in the morning and switching directly to Nvidia stocks or gold in the afternoon, with funds transferring between different accounts in seconds . This efficiency is completely unmatched by traditional financial accounts.

However, it's important to note that TradFi uses a cross margin margin trading model, and the leverage is fixed for different assets (up to 500x for forex and indices, and up to 5x for stocks). This means you can't freely adjust leverage like with crypto contracts. Users accustomed to flexible leverage may need some time to adjust.

Dimension Three: The Devil's Details of Transaction Costs

Transaction fees are the most important concern for most traders. I spent some time comparing Gate's fee structure with that of several mainstream platforms.

In conclusion: Gate's rates are indeed competitive in the industry, especially for VIP users and high-volume traders.

For example, for VIP 5 and above users (who are usually required to have a certain level of trading volume or hold platform tokens over 30 days), the transaction fee for TradFi forex contracts is $5.4 per lot, while the transaction fees for several competing products I surveyed are generally above $6; the transaction fee for US stock CFDs is only $0.018 per lot, while the transaction fees for competing products are $0.02.

The difference may not seem significant on its own, but for high-frequency traders, the cost savings over dozens or even hundreds of trades a day are considerable. (See the announcement document for details )

However, during testing, I discovered a more noteworthy point: the cost difference between TradFi and traditional contract trading. I did a simple calculation. Assuming a trade of 1 lot of gold (approximately 500,000 USDT at current prices):

• With TradFi: You only need to pay a $5.40 opening fee, and there is no fee when closing a position.
• Using traditional contracts (even for VIP users, the fee is 0.03%): $150 for opening a position + $150 for closing a position, totaling $300.

$300 vs. $5.40— a difference of over 50 times. At first, I thought I had miscalculated and checked it several times. This cost difference is practically a game-changer for day traders. If you trade 10 lots a day, you can save nearly $3,000 in commissions alone.

The table below shows a comparison of rates (Gate VIP5+ vs. competitors):

However, there are a few details that require special attention:

1. Swap fees (overnight holding fees)

TradFi contracts have market closure periods (unlike the 24/7 nature of the crypto market). If you hold positions during market closures, you will be charged swap fees. The calculation of these fees is complex, with three different formulas depending on the contract type. I tested several instruments and found that swap fees for positions held over the weekend are settled all at once for three days (because there is no trading on Saturdays and Sundays). This has little impact on short-term traders, but if you plan to hold positions long-term, you must carefully calculate this cost. (See the announcement document for details .)

1. Liquidity Differences

While Gate.io offers a broad asset portfolio, not all assets have equally good liquidity. Popular instruments such as gold, the Nasdaq, and mainstream stocks generally have good trading volume and depth (for example, the XAUT gold contract's 24-hour trading volume exceeded $489 million, ranking third globally), but some niche contracts may have significantly larger bid-ask spreads . It is recommended to prioritize actively traded instruments.

1. Leverage is a double-edged sword

The TradFi platform offers leverage up to 500x, which is an attractive tool for professional traders. However, high leverage means high risk —even slight market fluctuations can trigger liquidation. During my testing, I encountered a period of significant intraday volatility in the US stock market, and several of my high-leverage positions nearly went into liquidation. If you are a beginner, I recommend starting with low leverage and gradually increasing it after becoming familiar with the rules.

Real-world test: How I trade gold using USDT

Theory alone is no substitute for practice. To truly understand the Gate's multi-asset trading experience, I decided to try it out myself.

The main reasons for choosing gold as the test subject are: 1) Gold is one of the most liquid traditional assets; 2) Gate offers a variety of trading methods for gold, which allows for a comprehensive experience; 3) Gold prices have been volatile recently, making it suitable for short-term trading.

Step 1: Product Selection – Multiple Ways to Play with Gold

I've found that there are multiple ways to trade gold on Gate.io, catering to different risk appetites:

• Spot tokens: Gold tokens such as XAUT and PAXG, each token is fully backed by corresponding physical gold, suitable for long-term holding.
• Perpetual contracts: Metal perpetual contracts such as XAU/USDT and XAUT/USDT support 24/7 trading with up to 100x leverage ^[a] , suitable for users who want to take advantage of price fluctuations for short-term trading.
• TradFi CFD: Contracts for difference based on the price of gold in the real traditional financial market, with leverage up to 500x. Trading follows TradFi market time rules (with market closures), suitable for advanced traders.

It is important to clarify the difference between perpetual contracts and TradeFi CFDs: the former is a USDT-based crypto contract that can be traded 24/7 with relatively moderate leverage (up to 100x) ^; the latter is a contract for difference based on the real traditional financial market gold price, and the trading follows TradeFi market time rules, with higher leverage (up to 500x), making it more suitable for professional traders with a deep understanding of traditional financial markets.

Step Two: Placing the Order – Surprises and Minor Pitfalls Coexist

I chose the gold CFD on the TradeFi platform as my first attempt (mainly to experience this latest feature).

The operation process is indeed very simple:

• Open the Gate App → Go to the TradeFi tab → Complete KYC (the process is quick, I've done it before, so I'll skip it) → Transfer USDT from your spot account to your TradeFi sub-account.

Here's a small detail worth mentioning: After USDT is transferred to a TradeFi account, it's displayed as a USDx balance (1:1 pegged). Initially, I was worried about potential exchange losses, but it turned out to be unnecessary; this is simply an internal unit of account conversion, and the actual asset value remains unchanged.

Next is selecting trading instruments. The TradFi section's interface design continues Gate's consistent style—candlestick charts, depth charts, and order placement areas, almost identical to a regular contract trading interface. For experienced crypto traders, there's absolutely no learning curve.

However, I encountered my first "minor pitfall" here: TradFi's leverage is fixed (500x for gold) and cannot be freely adjusted like crypto contracts. This was a bit of a shock for me at first, as I was used to flexible leverage—I needed to calculate the position size based on the margin ratio, rather than setting the leverage first and then deciding on the position size.

However, after getting used to it, it was found that this "fixed leverage" design is actually closer to the logic of traditional financial markets. For users who operate simultaneously with traditional brokerages and Gate.com, it can actually reduce the mental burden.

The order placement process was very smooth. I opened a small long position in gold around $5030, and the order was executed almost immediately. The candlestick chart showed good smoothness and depth, with no noticeable slippage.

Step 3: Settlement – ​​Quick but requires attention to detail

I held the position for about 6 hours, and the price of gold rose by about $15, making a small profit. Closing the position is just as simple as opening one—click the close button, and the order is executed immediately.

The profit was directly transferred back to my USDx balance, and then I transferred it back to my spot account's USDT. The entire cash flow loop was indeed very fast—from placing the order to closing the position and then the funds returning to the account, it took less than 10 seconds.

This level of efficiency is on a completely different level compared to traditional brokerages. With traditional brokerages, even if you make money, you have to wait T+1 or even longer to withdraw it to your bank card; but at Gate, funds can be immediately invested in the next trade or withdrawn to an on-chain wallet.

However, two points should be noted here:

• Impact of swap fees: Because I closed my position intraday and it didn't cross the holiday period, I didn't incur any swap fees. However, if you plan to hold your position overnight or over the weekend, you must calculate the swap fee cost in advance—especially if you hold a position on Friday over the weekend, as the swap fees for three days will be settled in one lump sum.
• Market Closure Restrictions: TradFi contracts follow the trading hours of the real market and have clearly defined market closure schedules. During my testing, I encountered a US stock market closure period and found that I couldn't place orders for some US stock CFDs. This is significantly different from the 24/7 trading of the crypto market, requiring prior knowledge of the trading hours of each market.

Overall, Gate's multi-asset trading experience is smooth, especially in terms of capital turnover efficiency and user-friendliness. However, as a newly launched feature, users still need to spend some time familiarizing themselves with the rules—particularly the characteristics of traditional financial markets such as swap fees, market closures, and leverage mechanisms.

One question: How were these 144 types of assets created?

After experiencing the entire process, this question has been lingering in my mind.

It's important to understand that multi-asset trading is not simply about "listing coins"—each additional asset class means connecting to different data sources, handling different trading rules, and taking on different risk exposures. Binance has undergone cautious iterations and compliance refinements in relaunching its stock perpetual contracts, while OKX still primarily focuses on Crypto derivatives and RWA exploration, with relatively restrained coverage of TradeFi assets. Gate, however, launched 144 TradeFi assets at once, covering five major categories: forex, stocks, indices, metals, and commodities.

This is either blind confidence or a well-prepared move. I looked through Gate's historical actions and found some interesting clues.

First of all, Gate.com did not suddenly enter the multi-asset market. As early as the beginning of 2025, it launched metal perpetual contracts (10 metals), index contracts (19 global indices), and even pioneered the index perpetual contract category globally—at the time, many people did not realize the significance of this move.

By the time the TradeFi platform launched last December, Gate.io had already completed the full architecture of its transformation from a "crypto derivatives platform" to a "multi-asset trading platform." This was not a spur-of-the-moment move, but a systematic project planned in advance.

Secondly, Gate chose a "lighter" path.

The TradFi platform operates on the MT5 (MetaTrader 5) trading system— a mature system that has been proven in the traditional forex market for over a decade. By integrating with MT5, Gate avoids the enormous costs of building a traditional asset trading system from scratch, while also quickly connecting to data and orders from major global liquidity providers.

This is a smart choice, but it's a double-edged sword. The advantages are fast deployment, controllable costs, and mature risk management (MT5's margin mechanism and liquidation logic have withstood countless market tests). The disadvantages are limited flexibility—for example, fixed leverage (unable to be freely adjusted like crypto contracts), adherence to traditional market trading hours (with market closures), and complex swap fee calculations. These characteristics are familiar to traditional forex traders, but require adaptation for crypto users.

The third point, and the one most easily overlooked, is liquidity.

According to official data, Gate TradFi's total trading volume has reached $33 billion, with a peak daily trading volume exceeding $6 billion. Gold (XAUUSD) ranks first in cumulative trading volume, followed by silver (XAGUSD) and the Nasdaq 100 Index (NAS100).

What does this number indicate? It indicates that Gate is not "idling" in multi-asset trading— there are real users trading with real money.

Even more interestingly, Gate's gold futures contract (XAUT) ranks third among global exchanges according to Coinglass's statistics, with a 24-hour trading volume of $489 million. This ranking is backed by genuine liquidity. In my tests, even orders of a few thousand dollars were executed instantly with extremely low slippage.

However, there's a problem here: uneven liquidity. While the liquidity of popular instruments (gold, silver, Nasdaq, and mainstream stocks) is indeed very good, the trading volume of some niche instruments is dismal . I randomly tested several less mainstream forex pairs and small-cap CFDs and found that the bid-ask spreads were significantly large, and sometimes orders had to wait several minutes to be executed.

This is normal—any platform encounters this problem when expanding into new categories. The key is whether Gate can improve the liquidity of these long-tail assets in the coming months. If not, then the "full coverage" of 144 assets is just a nice-sounding number, with only a dozen or twenty actually usable.

Finally, here's one of my personal observations: Gate's fee structure is very favorable to large investors.

For example, for VIP 5+ users (who are typically required to have a certain trading volume over 30 days or hold platform tokens), the transaction fee for TradFi forex contracts is $5.4 per lot, while competitors generally charge more than $6; the transaction fee for US stock CFDs is only $0.018 per lot, while competitors charge $0.02.

The difference may not seem significant , but for high-frequency traders who make dozens or hundreds of trades a day, this cost difference can create a significant compounding effect over the long term.

In other words, Gate's multi-asset trading is more like a tool for "professional players" than an entry-level product for beginners.

If you are an ordinary user who occasionally trades cryptocurrencies and doesn't have a large trading volume, Gate's multi-asset trading may not be very meaningful for you—after all, the difference in fees for small transactions is not significant, and you would also need to spend time learning traditional financial rules such as swap fees and market closure times.

However, if you are a seasoned trader with substantial capital who wants to allocate assets in the global market, Gate's multi-asset ecosystem is definitely worth your serious study.

In conclusion: The restructured exchange

After experiencing Gate's multi-asset trading, I kept thinking about one question: What is the ultimate fate of crypto exchage?

Five years ago, the core competitiveness of exchanges was "fast listing"—whoever could list popular projects the fastest could reap the benefits of increased traffic. Three years ago, the focus of competition shifted to "derivatives"—perpetual contracts, options, leveraged tokens, and a variety of financial instruments emerged. Now, the rules of the game have changed again.

From Binance and OKX to Gate, leading exchanges are all rushing in one direction: transforming themselves into "financial supermarkets." Crypto, stocks, forex, gold, crude oil... any tradable asset is being dumped onto their platforms.

The business logic behind this is clear: the best way to retain users is to give them no reason to leave.

When a user trades cryptocurrency, US stocks, and gold through your platform, their funds are held within your system, reducing their reliance on other platforms. More importantly, multi-asset trading significantly increases a user's LTV (Lifetime Value) —a user who only trades spot may trade a few times a year, but a user who trades cryptocurrency, stocks, and gold simultaneously may have several times or even dozens of times more trading frequency and transaction fee contributions.

But here's a fatal question: when a crypto exchage starts selling stocks, gold, and forex, is it still a "crypto exchage"?

Furthermore, if traditional brokerages also begin to support USDT deposits and enable cryptocurrency trading, where will the boundary between the two lie?

This is not an exaggeration. Robinhood has been offering crypto trading for a long time, and eToro supports BTC and ETH. The barriers for traditional financial institutions to enter the crypto market are rapidly decreasing, while the compliance barriers for crypto exchage to enter the traditional market remain high.

Gate's TradeFi platform uses a CFD (Contracts for Difference) model— users trade contracts that fluctuate in price, not real stocks or gold. The advantage of this model is low compliance costs and fast deployment, but the disadvantage is also obvious: it is essentially still a self-indulgent activity within the "crypto ecosystem" and cannot truly open up the flow of funds in TradeFi.

In other words, current multi-asset trading is more like a "simulation" of the traditional financial market within the crypto market, rather than a true integration.

So here's the question: if this is just a product of a transitional period, what's next?

I can think of two directions:

Firstly, we await a clearer regulatory framework that will allow crypto exchage to compliantly offer trading in real assets (not CFDs, but actual stocks, bonds, and ETFs). However, this path could take 5-10 years, or even longer.

Secondly, crypto exchage are abandoning the illusion of being "omnipotent" and returning to their core advantage—becoming a "trading hub for on-chain assets." The focus is not on replicating the practices of traditional finance, but on promoting the tokenization (RWA) of more traditional assets, enabling the circulation of genuine on-chain assets.

Gate's current strategy is clearly to find a balance between the first and second paths. It has tokenized assets (stock tokens, gold tokens), TradFi with its CFD model, and pure crypto derivatives.

This "do-everything" strategy can reap the benefits of multi-asset trading in the short term, but its long-term viability depends on three things:

• Will the regulatory attitude become more lenient (or more stringent)?
• How long will users' acceptance of "simulated asset trading" last?
• When will traditional financial institutions enter the crypto market on a large scale, and how much room for survival will Gate.com leave for them?

Ultimately, multi-asset trading is not the end point, but a signal—it signifies that the crypto market is transforming from a "closed subculture" into "part of the global financial system."

Is this change good or bad? I don't know.

But what I do know is that the moment you use USDT to buy gold and trade US stocks on Gate, you are no longer a "crypto person"—you are just an ordinary trader looking for opportunities in the global financial market.

And this, perhaps, is the deepest meaning of multi-asset trading.