Hive Empire, the company that owns the financial comparison site finder.com, has launched a cryptocurrency trading service, HiveEx.com, offering sophisticated investors the ability to do larger trade efficiently.

The trading service was kicked-off in February and has done $2 million of business since then.

HiveEx co-founder Fred Schebesta says billions of dollars are traded on cryptocurrency exchanges every day but most exchanges are set up to handle a high volume of small trades.

According to HiveEx data, the median trade value of Bitcoin on the popular BTC exchange was US$645 on March 20.

Schebesta says: “A high value trade can take thousands of small transactions to complete and some exchanges have trade limits. This is inefficient and creates a number of problems: it can be difficult to complete large trades; settlement times can be slow; and the price might vary considerably in the course of a transaction.”

HiveEx, has been designed as an over-the-counter exchange, with buyers and sellers matched via WhatsApp, an encrypted messenger service.

HiveEx quotes a price on a cryptocurrency and will transact in a number of different currencies. It takes a spread on the trade, which ranges from 70 to 150 basis points, depending on the volatility on the market.

“We did one trade last week where the price was moving about $150 every 30 seconds. We use the higher spread to protect our position when things get volatile,” Schebesta says.

HiveEx offers same day turnaround at a fixed price, helping traders avoid the price slippage they encounter in other exchanges.

Schebesta says it can do this by dealing with “liquidity providers that hold large amounts of cryptocurrency and process large transactions outside of exchanges.”

HiveEx works with a partner organisation to conduct know-your-customer checks on traders. It also requires a letter from an accountant certifying that the trader is a sophisticated investor.

“We have had people try and make illegitimate trades with us,” Schebesta says.