eToro becomes the latest broker to launch trading in the Chinese yuan. Going live on Monday, trading of the Chinese yuan is being added alongside that of the Russian ruble with the two being launched together. According to a representative of the firm, the addition of the two currencies represents continuous user demand for volatile currencies. Specifically the ruble has been one of the more active currencies this year, with the USD/RUB forex pair having risen 20% from its July lows to a recent 40.72.

Earlier in the year we posted that bitcoins had become 2014’s version of the yuan. During 2013 we witnessed a sharp rise of firms launching the yuan as China had become a hot product to market to brokerage customers, with bitcoins taking that mantle in 2014. In eToro’s case, adding the yuan occurs after they had launching trading in bitcoins earlier this year. However, as in the case of the Russian ruble, the Chinese yuan is expected to appeal to the firm’s more active customers due to its volatility. In addition, both China and Russia represent regions of account growth in 2014 for eToro, of which offering local currencies helps in marketing in the countries.

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Expected to begin trading tomorrow, the two currencies will be offered via variable spreads, and will become the only two forex pairs at eToro which aren’t set with fixed spreads.