Eastside Distilling, Inc. (NASDAQ:EAST) shares are trading higher Thursday after the company announced it had signed a merger agreement with Beeline Financial Holdings, Inc., a privately-held mortgage technology company.

The Details:

In conjunction with this transaction, Eastside executed a debt-for-equity exchange with, and asset sale of Craft Canning + Digital Printing to, a group of private investors. The company said the transaction will eliminate all debt from Eastside's balance sheet and provides Craft with access to additional growth capital. Eastside will issue Beeline shareholders a combination of common and preferred stock as merger consideration.

"I couldn't be more thrilled about this new growth platform, the opportunities it presents for our shareholders and the talented team and innovative technology joining the Eastside family. This development offers tremendous potential for our stakeholders," commented Geoffrey Gwin, CEO of Eastside.

Eastside shares are racing higher on heavy volume following the merger announcement with more than 91 million shares already traded in the session. According to data from Benzinga Pro, Eastside Distilling stock has a float of only 1.323 million shares.

How To Buy EAST Stock:

By now you're likely curious about how to participate in the market for Eastside Distilling – be it to purchase shares, or even attempt to bet against the company.

Buying shares is typically done through a brokerage account. You can find a list of possible trading platforms here. Many will allow you to buy 'fractional shares,' which allows you to own portions of stock without buying an entire share. For example, some stock, like Berkshire Hathaway, can cost thousands of dollars to own just one share. However, if you only want to invest a fraction of that, brokerages will allow you to do so.

If you're looking to bet against a company, the process is more complex. You'll need access to an options trading platform, or a broker who will allow you to 'go short' a share of stock by lending you the shares to sell. The process of shorting a stock can be found at this resource. Otherwise, if your broker allows you to trade options, you can either buy a put option, or sell a call option at a strike price above where shares are currently trading – either way it allows you to profit off of the share price decline.

EAST Price Action: According to Benzinga Pro, Eastside Distilling shares are up 249.9% at $2.66 at the time of publication Thursday.

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