Deribit (!!) and More: TT’s Latest and Greatest for Crypto Trading in 2020
Our crypto team is trying to build the right tools and provide the right ways to access the markets with the right exchanges for crypto traders. Here’s a quick update on a few different areas of focus in early 2020.
DERIVATIVES EXCHANGES
Deribit is now live! It was highly requested by TT traders, and their markets look great on a TT® screen.
Looking ahead at what’s next, we’ll likely stick to the path we set in 2019 of internal development of native connectivity to various derivatives exchanges, which is where the action is. This path means we’ll connect to more exchanges where U.S. traders will be shut out, but we believe it’s the right approach for our product line to add the most market value globally. We believe there’s still a lot of growth ahead for crypto futures, perpetual swaps, options and more.
SPOT EXCHANGES
For U.S. traders and crypto spot enthusiasts, we’re likely to partner with a couple firms in 2020 that will provide access through TT to a variety of spot exchanges and OTC liquidity providers. Hopefully this access will be compelling for the opportunity to access “best pricing” across many different spot venues.
FRONT END
We’re developing a new TT front-end theme inspired by crypto and our involvement with CoinFLEX, where we supply the exchange front end (see example workspace image below). This theme and more flexibility for custom theming will be available in TT soon. Not only does the new “Flex” theme have a new color palette, but it also has a couple style changes that look great.
PRODUCT FEATURES AND FUNCTIONALITY
Each crypto exchange has its nuances, and I’ve written about this before, but we have made a real effort to both (1) support base functionality offered by the exchange that active traders expect and want and (2) offer new functionality that gives users an edge over the exchange website or a trader’s own in-house system.
With regard to #1, we still have some work to do in areas related and not limited to:
- P&L, so it can display in normalized terms in multiple assets
- Providing info about auto-liquidations in the market (to appear in our Time & Sales widget and as an algo field)
- Providing sufficient info about the effects of Funding Rates for perpetuals in executions reports in your P&L
- Supporting every exchange order type (we’re almost there)
- Better handling of BitMEX Overload for automated trading
With regard to #2, here’s a sampling of new functionality we’ve built to provide an edge:
- System notifications for BitMEX Overloads built off of user-aggregated data. Overload is not a state, so it is not broadcast in any way by the exchange, so the more users and orders we can build this data off of, the more responsive and helpful it will be. Knowing about Overload before others can provide you with either an offensive or defensive advantage in the market.
- ADL® and Autospreader® user-configurable features to throttle requoting to minimize messaging in automated trading. In addition to throttling, we track messaging count on a per-trader basis for BitMEX and won’t even allow an order out the door if it will breach BitMEX’s one-action-per-second limit. This will prevent you from ever getting your account blocked by the exchange for over-messaging!
- An Autospreader feature to not cross bid/ask or, even more bespoke, work a specific number of incremental offsets from the inside market while spread trading—all with the purpose of trading as “makers” instead of as “takers,” enabling a whole business model around “getting paid to trade.”
We’ll have more updates for you over the next few weeks, including a post fully devoted to best practices for using Autospreader with crypto, so keep your eyes on the Crypto Corner!