Will J.P. Morgan’s WePay strategy work in its favor?
One of the biggest banks in America is innovating payment options to try to keep up with competitors.
Today, CNBC reports that J.P. Morgan Chase will offer free same-day deposits on its WePay platform for depositors.
J.P. Morgan acquired WePay in December 2017, paying $400 million, and wants to streamline its use to compete with payment operators like Stripe and Square.
And that’s not the only move J.P. Morgan is making toward financial innovation.
Other Innovations
After months of being critical of cryptocurrency as a fraud, J.P. Morgan chief Jamie Dimon reversed course and J.P. Morgan minted its new JPM coin, a stablecoin backed by the bank itself that embarks on the digital currency adventure.
In rolling out the coin, internal resources from J.P. Morgan talked about how regulators can view this cryptocurrency, how it can be used by consumers, and how it works with the company’s overall blockchain framework, as well as its relation to the U.S. dollar as a fiat currency.
In further discussing the JPM coin, company analysts show how the new digital asset will work within the context of a rapidly changing fintech environment.
“The JPM Coin isn’t money per se,” according to JPM’s website. “It is a digital coin representing United States Dollars held in designated accounts at JPMorgan Chase N.A. In short, a JPM Coin always has a value equivalent to one U.S. dollar. When one client sends money to another over the blockchain, JPM Coins are transferred and instantaneously redeemed for the equivalent amount of U.S. dollars, reducing the typical settlement time.”
JPM Random Walk
In light of the WePay news, J.P. Morgan stock rose 1% in trading this morning. That builds on a previous rally yesterday from a start of around $112 to over $116. As a reference, last Wednesday, the stock moved from $110 to $114 in trading.
This kind of slow and steady growth can attract an investor base that’s looking for multi-day rallies as a more profound indicator of potential overall. Despite slight downturns throughout the market day, investors will be looking at the fundamentals as well as the promise of new technology to boost this firm further in a volatile market.
In fact, a one-month chart shows meaty gains by this equity balanced against sinking values throughout July and early August. Historical charts show six-month highs around $116 once in July and once in May, and dips and valleys in between as the equity struggled to break that higher resistance. Bollinger bands and advanced candlestick activity can show further details about a stock that’s been moving both up and down consistently.
Over the year, J.P. Morgan has oscillated profoundly, starting at just around $116 last September before spiking up near $120. It dropped as low as $92 in January of this year. So the current values represent roughly a midpoint between 52-week highs and lows — with steadily rising values seen throughout the past week.
Investors may be closely watching for J.P. Morgan’s new innovations and the potential for growth.
