OTC Broker

The OTC broker allows users to buy and sell assets at fixed rates via the quick trade tab, prioritizing convenience, and speed of use, without removing the option for users of using the Orderbook.

Setting up an OTC Broker Deal

Due to the nature of how the OTC Broker sources bought funds, an account on your exchange must have sufficient balance for both of the assets that constitute the trading pair.

Setting up a deal with OTCBroker is almost as easy as a user trading with one. From an admin account on your exchange, enter the Operator controls’, and find the OTCBroker tab.

From here the ‘Start new deal’ button will open the menu to configure the deal.

First, define the base asset (what will be traded) and what it will be priced against (what the trading pair will be).

Your trades will be able to go both ways, the importance here of order is when setting the price ratios between the two currencies.

Now define the parameters defining minimum/ maximum amounts as well as the increment amount

  • Minimum/ Maximum Tradable Amount: The minimum/ maximum amount of the base asset that can be traded on this deal.

  • Increment Amount: The lowest decimal value increase/decrease possible.

Asset Pricing Method

There are two options for how the base asset is priced in terms of the pricing asset, chosen from the dropdown menu.

  • Static Pricing - The base asset is set to a particular amount for both buying and selling. This will not change until the operator chooses to change.

  • Dynamic Pricing - The system allows the set up of formulations to create prices, including retrieving prices periodically from other exchanges.

In both cases, here selling refers to the price the exchange is selling to the user at, and buying price is what price the exchange will buy from a user.

Static Pricing

Static pricing is simple to set up. Choose what the selling price and buying price of the base asset will be, with respect to the pricing asset. This price will not change until edited by the operator. Once these prices are chosen, hit next and continue to the 'Source Wallet' section.

Dynamic Pricing

Dynamic pricing has a couple more options than static

  • Formula - This is how the base price of the primary asset will be priced (in the pricing asset). By default, the system will retrieve the Binance price of the chosen market. If this needs to be edited or the market doesn't exist then read the advanced section below.

  • Percentage Price Spread - This value will edit the formula price value of the asset in question, and add/ subtract this percentage to buy/ sell orders respectively.

  • Price Refresh Interval - This is how often the exchange will seek out the value from chosen outside exchange (Binance, Kraken, etc.), run the defined formulation (see Advanced below), and set the price that will be shown to users on the Quick Trade screen.

  • Price Quote Expiry - This is simply the time in seconds between a user typing in a value to the Quick Trade page for the OTC deal and receiving an initial quote, and being told the initial quote is no longer valid and has to generate a new one.

  • Result - The real-time price (based on the formula) can be generated and checked here by clicking the 'Show price result' link.

  • Advanced - Here the formula for the base price is defined. There is a lot of flexibility in creating exactly the equation wanted using general mathematical operators as well as retrieving prices from outside exchanges. The form of these price retrievals is such:

    • <Exchange_Name><Market> -> e.g. 'kraken_eth_usdt'

The third menu will allow you to set the fixed pricing for the pair (dynamic pricing will be available in future updates).

Here selling refers to the price the exchange is selling at, and buying price is what price the exchange will buy at.

Source Wallet

The next choice is what source the funds the brokerage will draw from. The options presented in the dropdown are taken from the exchange's accounts.

Primarily, you as the exchange owner will want to use either the admin account or a dedicated source account to provide the initial liquidity required.

Ensure this account has access to sufficient funds for both assets of the pair, as otherwise, trades will not be possible if users want to buy/ sell amounts larger than the source wallet's available assets

Select Status & Enable OTC Trade

The next option is the status of the OTC deal. If an OTC deal is set to live then we can move onto the tab next to the OTC Broker 'Quick Trade'. From here find the newly created OTC pair, click the gear icon, and choose OTC to instantly enable the market.


Configuring an Existing Deal

Fortunately changing how your OTC deal behaves is a simple task, by using the configure button to the right of the deal in your listing. This will allow you to go through the steps detailed above once more.

The deal can also be paused or unpaused, without deleting it through the ‘edit’ link, in the ‘State’ field of the deal, on the OTCBroker page.

Deleting an OTC Deal

If instead, you want to fully remove a deal from the exchange and revert to using the orderbook between the pair, using the edit link within the ‘State’ field of the deal, there will be a remove link at the bottom of the popup menu.


Using the OTC Broker

The OTC broker offers possibly the simplest method of trading on your exchange. The user desiring the trade will be given a simplified screen when compared to the orderbook, or the quick trade using the orderbook.

User flow:

  1. On the Quick Trade screen choose the pair desired to trade within the quick trade dropdowns.

  2. See the amount of the desired currency, calculated from the static pricing the exchange operator has set

  3. If the balance of the source wallet is sufficient to facilitate the trade, the trade will instantly take place. If the source wallet doesn't have the funds, then the trade will be rejected

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