Trading Rules for The BlockQuake Exchange
Version 2021-1
The BlockQuake Exchange (BlockQuake) is a central limit order book trading platform, which settles trades in a number of Fiat Currency to Digital Asset and Digital Asset to Digital Asset Trading Pairs.
A Digital Asset is defined as a blockchain-based digital currency, app coin or protocol token which is offered for trading on BlockQuake. The term Asset refers to a Digital Asset or Fiat Currency, which is a government-issued currency. Each customer trading on BlockQuake (Trader) will have a BlockQuake Account (Account).
Section 1: ORDERS
1(a) Definitions
An Order is an instruction to buy or sell a specified quantity of the Base Asset at a specified price in the Quote Asset (see 5(a) for details on Base and Quote Assets) . The Order Book reflects all open Limit and Stop Orders for an Asset. This is usually presented as a list of total quantities available at each price for which there are Limit and Stop Orders. The Total Asset Value less any amounts held for Open Orders and fees are the Trader’s Available Balance. Total Asset Value is the gross value of all of a Trader’s Assets for the relevant Order Book, expressed in the Quote Asset based on the last trade price. This includes all Assets allocated to Open Orders.
1(b) Order Types
BlockQuake offers a variety of Order Types including Market, Limit and Stop Orders. Limit and Stop Orders may be placed with Time in Force Instructions. The following are the available Order Types on BlockQuake:
Market
Limit Good-Til-Canceled
Limit Fill-Or-Kill
Limit Good-Til-Date
Limit Immediate-Or-Cancel
Limit Day-Order
Stop Good-Til-Canceled
Stop Fill-Or-Kill
Stop Good-Til-Date
Stop Immediate-Or-Cancel
Stop Day-Order
See Order definitions and details in the sections below.
1(c) Place An Order
To place an Order on the Order Book, a Trader must have an Available Balance of the relevant Asset in their Account which is sufficient to cover the total value of the Order plus any applicable fees. BlockQuake does not offer trading on margin.
When a Trader places an Order, that quantity of the relevant Asset becomes subject to a Hold, meaning the Assets allocated to an Order are set aside.
A Trader can place an Order in one of the available order types listed above.
A Trader may cancel an open Limit Order or Stop Order at any time before it is Filled. No fees are charged for canceled Orders.
1(d) Market Orders
- A Market Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of a Digital Asset at the best available price of existing Orders on the Order Book.
- There is no guarantee that a Market Order will fill at the price specified. A Market Order may fill at a number of different prices, based on the quantity of the Market Order and the quantities of the existing Orders on the Order Book at the time.
- Depending on the volume and prices of Orders on the Order Book at the time when a Market Order is posted, the Market Order may fill at a price less favorable than the most recent trade price, in some cases significantly so. In times of high market volatility, an order may ultimately be filled at a price different from what was originally posted as executed in the order book. This may or may not be favorable. These situations, while rare, are possible. Example: BTC is priced at $5,000 USD and a customer goes to sell at market at that price. The order looks like it executed at market in the order book at $5,000 USD, however, when the order is sent out to match at that price with our market makers, the price has slipped to $4,800 USD. The order will ultimately be filled at $4,800 USD and records will be updated to reflect this. It could also go the other way and the price could move to $5,200 USD in times of high market volatility.
- In these instances BlockQuake cannot be held liable for the “slippage”.
- A valid Market Order will be immediately posted to the Order Book. A Market Order is always a Taker Order.
1(e) Limit Orders
- A Limit Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price.
- A Limit Order will only ever Fill at the specified price or a better price.
- A Limit Order will be immediately posted to the Order Book (subject to any Time in Force Instructions) and can result in a Maker Order or a Taker Order, or an Order that is partially a Maker Order and partially a Taker Order.
1(f) Stop Orders
- A Stop Order is an instruction to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset but only if and when the best available maker order is at an equal or worse price than the Stop Price. The Stop Price is the price specified in a Stop Order.
- Once a Stop Order has been placed, it is considered ‘active’ until it executes when the Stop Price is triggered.
- A Stop Order is not posted to the Order Book and is not visible to other Traders.
- A Stop Order posts a Market Order when the Stop Price is triggered.
- A Stop Order is not guaranteed to fill.
1(g) Time In Force Orders
Limit and Stop Orders may be placed with one of the following Time in Force Instructions:
- Good Til Canceled: if posted, the Order will remain on the Order Book until canceled by the Trader. This is the default Time in Force Instruction.
- Immediate or Cancel: the Order will only be posted to the Order Book to the extent that it would be immediately Filled; any remaining quantity is canceled. This results in a Taker Order.
- Fill or Kill: the Order will only be posted to the Order Book if it would be immediately and completely Filled. This results in a Taker Order.
- Good Til Date: the order will remain on the Order Book until its specified expiration time and date, unless it has already been filled or canceled.
- Day: the order will remain on the Order Book until End of Day (12:00 a.m. UTC/GMT), unless it has already been filled or canceled.
Section 2: POSTING OF ORDERS TO THE ORDER BOOK
2(a) Definitions
A Fill is the matching of two Orders and may also be referred to as an Execution. An Open Order is a Maker Order which has been posted but not Filled, canceled or expired, or a Stop Order which is currently active.
2(b) Taker Order
If an Order is posted to the Order Book at a price equal or worse than one or more matching Maker Orders, it is a Taker Order which will result in an immediate Fill at the Maker Orders’ price, to the extent of the total quantity of those existing Orders.
2(c) Maker Order
To the extent that an Order is posted to the Order Book at a better price than all matching Maker Orders, it is a Maker Order which will remain open at that price on the Order Book until:
It is canceled by the Trader;
it expires due to a Time in Force Instruction;
it is completely filled by one or more Taker Orders; or
it is canceled by BlockQuake in relation to Scheduled Downtime.
2(d) Order Minimums
All Orders placed on BlockQuake are subject to the minimum order size requirements listed at $10 U.S. Dollars or the equivalent value in digital assets or any other fiat currencies available on the platform.
2(e) Updating Order Minimums
BlockQuake will periodically update these Order Minimums to reflect the current state of our marketplace and the notional value of the assets.
Section 3: MATCHING ENGINE & ORDER PRIORITY
3(a) BlockQuake matches Taker Orders with Open Maker Orders on the Order Book based on Price-Time Priority, meaning that earlier in time Orders have priority over later Orders.
3(b) All Traders accessing BlockQuake are subject to the same Price-Time Priority.
3(c) Taker Orders are matched with the best available existing Maker Orders. This means that a Limit Order placed outside the market (i.e. a sell Order below the highest existing buy Order, or a buy Order above the lowest existing sell Order) will be filled by the best available existing Order rather than an existing Order with the same price as the Limit Order.
3(d) Price-Time Priority means that each time a Taker Order is posted: the Taker Order is matched with the oldest Maker Order at the best price on the Order Book; and to the extent that the Taker Order is not completely filled by that Maker Order, it is matched with any subsequent Maker Orders at that price, in the sequence those Maker Orders were posted; and to the extent that the Taker Order is not completely filled by one or more Maker Orders described above, it is matched with one or more Maker Orders at the next best price, in the sequence those Maker Orders were posted, and this process is repeated until the Taker Order is completely filled or there are no remaining Maker Orders with matching prices.
Section 4: ORDER FILLS & SETTLEMENT
4(a) When a Maker Order is matched with a Taker Order, those Orders are Filled. An Order may be matched with and filled by one or more Orders at the same price.
4(b) BlockQuake settles all Filled Orders immediately, by debiting and crediting the relevant balances of Assets in both Traders’ Accounts.
4(c) Subject to withdrawal limits a Trader may withdraw Assets from their Account.
Section 5: TRADING FEE
5(a) Definitions
A Trading Pair is defined as each pair of a Base Asset and a Quote Asset offered on BlockQuake. The Base Asset is the Asset being priced on the Order Book (the first Asset in the Trading Pair) while the Quote Asset is the Asset in which trading prices are denominated on the Order Book (the second Asset in the Trading Pair). For example, on the BTC/USD Order Book, BTC is the Base Asset and USD is the Quote Asset.
5(b) A fee of 0.2% (20 basis points) will be charged on all executed Orders – for both Makers and Takers.
5(c) BlockQuake charges a Maker fee for each Maker Order and a Taker fee for each Taker Order that is posted to the Order Book. The fee is charged in the Quote Asset for sell Orders and Base Asset for buy Orders.
5(d) A fee is debited from the Trader’s Available Balance at the time that the Order is executed.
5(e) If an Order is posted to the Order Book partially as a Maker Order and partially as a Taker Order, a Maker fee applies to the portion posted as a Maker Order and a Taker fee applies to the portion posted as a Taker Order.
Section 6: MARKET INTEGRITY
6(a) All Trades are Final
6(b) BlockQuake may cancel Open Orders in the following circumstances:
- Orders placed by Traders who, in our sole discretion, have engaged in abusive use of the platform, for example, Market Manipulation, or using the API in a manner which unreasonably burdens the platform .
- Orders which under the circumstances involve an obvious error with respect to price, quantity, or other parameters – a ‘clearly erroneous transaction’.
- If required by any applicable law or regulation, including specifically where BlockQuake is required to suspend or terminate a Trader’s BlockQuake Account or de-list a Digital Asset.
- If required for technical reasons, such as during Scheduled Downtime.
Section 7: ACCESS TO BLOCKQUAKE
7(a) BlockQuake has the authority to take any action deemed appropriate to preserve market integrity. Such actions include, but are not limited to, Halting Trading, modifying risk-mitigating parameters, restricting Trader access to BlockQuake, restricting order types to post-only or limit only, canceling orders resting in the order book, or any other actions deemed to be in the best interest of the Exchange.
7(b) Definitions
Halting Trading means that Traders cannot place or cancel any Orders. During Limit-Only Mode Traders can only place and cancel Limit Orders but any Market Order will be rejected. During this mode, Limit Orders can be filled. During Post-Only Mode Traders can only place an Order if it would be posted to the Order Book as a Maker Order. An Order which would be posted as a Taker Order will be rejected. No Market Orders may be placed and no Orders will be filled. Resting orders may be canceled in post-only mode.
7(c) Interruptions
- If technical reasons prevent or limit Traders’ ability to place or cancel Orders, or prevent or limit access to BlockQuake APIs or the Web Interfaces or affect the operation of BlockQuake Order Books or matching engines, then BlockQuake may, in its discretion, take one or more of the following actions:
- Temporarily disable depositing or withdrawing Assets
- Cancel Open Orders
- Disable the ability to place new Orders
- Disable sign-in
- Disable the BlockQuake APIs
- Disable access to the Web Interface
- If access to BlockQuake through the Web Interface is unavailable for 5 minutes or longer, BlockQuake will move BlockQuake to Cancel-Only Mode as soon as possible. During Cancel-Only Mode traders cannot place new Orders and no Orders will be filled. However, Traders are able to cancel open Orders.
- If BlockQuake is in Cancel-Only Mode, it will be restored to fully operational only after access through the Web Interface becomes available for at least 5 minutes and BlockQuake deems it is safe to restore BlockQuake to fully operational.
7(d) Self-Trade Prevention
- Traders are not able to place an Order which would result in self-execution—i.e., where the same Trader would act as both the maker and taker for the trade. Trades cannot be executed by a trader and a broker who are colluding with each other. Both of these instances would constitute wash trading.
- If two Orders would result in self-execution, the new Order will be rejected and the open Order will remain open.
7(e) Flash Crashes and Circuit Breakers
BlockQuake does not use circuit breakers or automated trading halts based on predetermined price bands. As provided in Section 2.22 and 2.31, BlockQuake may, in its discretion, Halt Trading.
Section 8: MARKET MANIPULATION PROHIBITED
8(a) Traders are prohibited from engaging in Market Manipulation.
8(b) Market Manipulation of any kind is strictly prohibited. Market Manipulation is defined as actions taken by any market participant or a person acting in concert with a participant which are intended to:
- Deceive or mislead other Traders;
- artificially control or manipulate the price or trading volume of an Asset; or
- aid, abet, enable, finance, support, or endorse either of the above. This may include actions on BlockQuake and/or outside of BlockQuake.
8(c) Market Manipulation specifically includes, without limitation: front-running, wash trading, spoofing, layering, churning, and quote stuffing.
Section 9: ACCESS TO INFORMATION
9(a) Market Data Access
All Traders have real-time access to Market Data. Market Data is made available through the Web Interface or the BlockQuake APIs.
- Market Data includes the following:
- Aggregated Limit Orders placed on the Order Book (price and total quantity).
- All Fills or Executions (price, quantity, and time).
- Market Data does not include the following:
- Resting Stop Orders (Stop Orders that have been placed but not triggered).
- Any information about which Trader placed or canceled an order.
Section 10: SCHEDULED DOWNTIME
Scheduled Downtime is a planned temporary outage for maintenance, or upgrades or other functions that take the exchange offline.
Daily, at 5:00 PM ET, BlockQuake will be offline for approximately 30 minutes for daily order reconciliation by our market makers. During this time, trading will not be available. Users should monitor their open orders in the event they are cancelled.
From time to time, BlockQuake may suspend trading temporarily, for a more extensive period of time, for maintenance or upgrades. Absent extenuating circumstances, BlockQuake will follow this process for closing and re-opening trading for these particular Scheduled Downtime instances;
Step 1: Announce Scheduled Downtime via Email
Step 2: Scheduled Downtime Begins
Step 3: Immediately after Scheduled Downtime is Completed, Trading Resumes
Step 4: Announce that Trading has Resumed via Email
To ensure a fair and orderly marketplace, BlockQuake may in its discretion cancel all resting limit orders in an order book before moving the market to post-only mode or to limit-only mode.