Coinbase IPO: COIN stock opens higher as direct listing begins

Coinbase Global (COIN) opened for trading at $381 Wednesday following its eagerly anticipated direct listing, up from a $250-a-share reference price that the Nasdaq and Goldman Sachs set a for the stock Tuesday afternoon.COIN’s was changing hands at $403.29 shortly after 1:30 p.m. ET. The stock symbol for Coinbase will be “COIN."Wall Street had been excitedly awaiting COIN’s go-public move, as the company represents perhaps the first pure play on the hot cryptocurrency market.Coinbase operates a popular trading platform for Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and other cryptocurrencies, and also offers services like hosting the digital “wallets” that store investors’ crypto holdings.COIN is going public at a time when Bitcoin is hitting a record high, as are other cryptos like Ethereum (ETH-USD) and Dogecoin (DOGE-USD).However, the company took the unusual move of doing public via a direct listing rather than a traditional IPO. Certain Coinbase pre-IPO investors are simply making as many as