Twitter adds BTC and ETH price indexes to search function

Social media platform Twitter has added a new crypto feature that enables users to search the price of Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) simply by typing their names or tickers into the search tab. 

The new feature is an improvement of "$Cashtags" and was announced by the Twitter Business account on Dec. 21.

The account noted that whenever one tweets the symbol of a major stock, exchange-traded fund or cryptocurrency with $ in front of it, people will be able to see a clickable link that takes them to search results that now will include the pricing graphs for those symbols. 

It also noted that simply searching for the ticker symbol, whether for a stock or crypto, will also bring up the price graph. 

Shortly after that, on Dec. 22, Twitter CEO Elon Musk retweeted the announcement of the new feature, stating that it is "one of many product improvements coming to financial Twitter."

It appears that BTC and ETH are the only two cryptocurrencies with price charts at the time of writing. Other top cryptocurrencies, including Musk’s beloved Dogecoin (DOGE $0.07), have not made the cut.

However, Twitter Business said that it expects to expand its coverage of symbols and improve user experience "in the coming weeks."

A screenshot of Twitter’s 24 hour price chart of Ether (ETH). Source: Cointelegraph.

Cointelegraph found that a number of variations of Bitcoin such as  “$Bitcoin,” “Bitcoin price” and “BTC price” also bring up the price chart, with corresponding searches also working for Ethereum.

Tech blogger Jane Mastodon Wong noted to her 158,700 Twitter followers on Dec. 21 that the charts are sourced from trading analysis platform TradingView.

The price charts also include a “View on Robinhood” link that can be clicked in the bottom left hand corner, suggesting the retail trading platform has teamed up with Twitter for this integration.

There, users are brought to Robinhood’s price chart for ETH, which provides an additional link below stating “Sign Up to Buy Ethereum.” The same links are provided for Bitcoin too.

However, no partnership details have been disclosed between Twitter and Robinhood.

Twitter’s price chart integration may arguably lead to more traffic to Robinhood, as #Bitcoin alone is tweeted roughly 120,000 times per day, according to data from BitInfoCharts.

#Ethereum on the other hand hovers at around the 25,000 range.

Earlier this month, rumors began to circulate that Twitter may create its own native cryptocurrency, “Twitter Coin” to be used for payments on the platform. The rumors began on Dec. 4, about a week after Musk shared a glimpse into what “Twitter 2.0” may look like, including the possible integration of cryptocurrency-based payments on Twitter.

But Musk’s future at Twitter appears to be at the crossroads after the controversial figure asked Twitter users whether he should “step down as head of Twitter?” in a Dec. 19 Twitter poll — with 57.5 of the 17,502,391 voters polling “Yes.”

Musk later added that he “will resign as CEO as soon as I find someone foolish enough to take the job!”