Rulebook old

1. Definitions

1.1. Definitions determined in this Rulebook complement the definitions in section 1 of Terms of use and vice-versa. This Rulebook forms an integral part of Blockreade’s Terms of use and shall be read and interpreted accordingly.

Assets mean Crypto-Assets and/or FIAT currency

Available Balance means User’s Assets less Tied Assets and Fees, available for trading

Base Asset means the Asset being traded on the Order Book – the first Asset in the Trading Pair

Crypto-Asset means a blockchain-based digital currency, app coin or protocol token which is offered for trading on Blocktrade.

Fiat Currency means government-issued currency, such as the Euro (EUR).

Fill is the action of completing or satisfying an order for a Trading Pair.

Full-Trading Modeeans a state of the platform, where the respective Order Books can accept all types of Orders and order matching functions normally.

Good till Cancelled is a Time in Force Instruction for the Order where the Order will remain on the Order Book until Filled or cancelled by the User.

Limit-Only Mode means a state of the platform, where the respective Order Books can accept only Limit Orders, typically after maintenance and trading halts.

Limit Order means an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price.

Maintenance Schedule means a planned and notified period of time for the purposes of maintenance and/or upgrades of Services.

Market Data is the price and trade-related data for an Asset reported by Blocktrade.

Market Manipulation as defined in DIRECTIVE 2014/65/EU OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 15 May 2014 on markets in financial instruments.

Market Order means an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of Base Asset at the best available price of existing Orders on the Order Book within Protection Levels as defined below. In this matter also referred to as Market buy Order or Market sell Order.

Open Order means an Order which has been placed but not Filled, cancelled or expired.

Order means a User’s binding instruction to buy or sell a specified quantity of the Base Asset at a specified price in the Quote Asset.

Order Book means each central limit order book on which Orders are placed for trading in each Trading Pair.

Platform means application, including but not limited to Apps on the Website, which provides the Services for Users with registered Accounts, as defined in Blocktrades Terms of use.

Price-Time Priority means as described in section 5.2. of this Rulebook.

Protection Levels determine maximum price increase for a Market buy Order and maximum price decrease for Market sell Order from the current best bid/ask price as defined in article 4.6. of this Rulebook.

Quote Asset means the Asset in which trading is denominated on the Order Book – the second Asset in the Trading Pair.

Tied Assets means Assets allocated to an Order.

Total Asset Value means the gross value of all of a User’s Assets expressed in chosen FIAT Currency, based on the last trade price. This includes Tied Assets.

Trade means a match of two or more complementary buy and sell Orders.

Trading Pair means each pair of a Base Asset and a Quote Asset.

User means a natural or corporate person using the Platform

2. Orders

2.1. To place an Order on an Order Book, a User must have Available Balance of the relevant Asset in their Account, which is sufficient to cover the total value of the Order plus any applicable Fees.
2.2. When a User places an Order, that quantity of the relevant Asset becomes Tied Asset.
2.3. A User can place an Order as either a Limit Order or a Market Order.
2.4. A User may cancel an open Limit Order at any time before it is Filled. No fees are charged for cancelled Orders.
2.5. User cannot cancel or revert Orders that are already Filled.

3. Limit Orders

3.1. A Limit Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price.
3.2. A Limit Order will only ever Fill at the specified price or a better price.
3.3. Good till Cancelled is a default Time in Force Instruction.

4. Market Orders with protection

4.1. A Market Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of a Base Asset at the best available price of existing Orders on the Order Book within the Protection Levels.
4.2. 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.
4.3. 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 favourable than the most recent trade price, unless such price reaches or exceeds the Protection Level(s).
4.4. A valid Market Order will be immediately Filled, if possible and within Protection Levels.
4.5. In case of absence of any outstanding Limit Orders in relevant Order Book, placement of Market Order in such Order Book will be rejected.
4.6. If individual Market Order were to be Filled at price equal to any of below specified Protection Levels, such Order obtains the properties of a Limit Order at the price equal to this Protection Level and to any of outstanding amount of Base Assets.

Protection Levels are laid out in Appendix I.

5. Matching Engine and Price-Time Priority

5.1. Blocktrade Fills Orders on each Order Book based on Price-Time Priority.
5.2. Price-Time Priority means that each time an Order is posted:

a. The Order is Filled with the earliest in time Limit Order at the best price on the Order Book; and
b. To the extent that the Order is not completely Filled by that Limit Order, it is Filled with any subsequent Limit Orders at that price, in the sequence those Limit Orders were posted; and
c. To the extent that the Order is not completely Filled by one or more Limit Orders described above, it is Filled with one or more Limit Orders at the next best price, in the sequence those Limit Orders were posted, and this process is repeated until the Order is completely Filled.

5.3. All Users are subject to the same Price-Time Priority.

6. Fills and Settlement

6.1. An Order may be Filled with and Filled by one or more Orders at the same price.
6.2. Blocktrade settles all Filled Orders immediately, by debiting and crediting the relevant balances of Assets in both Users’ Accounts.
6.3. Subject to daily withdrawal limits a User may immediately withdraw all Assets in their Account.

7. Price Improvement

7.1. Orders are Filled with the best available existing Limit 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.

8. Order Parameters

8.1. Lot size regime
A lot size is the smallest possible Order amount of a Base Asset. All Orders placed on Blocktrade are subject to the lot sizes as laid out in Appendix II.

Lot sizes are enforced on the Base Asset. For example, orders can be placed in increments of 0.001 BTC, i.e. orders 0.001 BTC, 0.002 BTC, 0.5 BTC, 1 BTC, 1.001 BTC are acceptable, while 0.0015 BTC is not.

8.2. Order Maximums:
Blocktrade has no maximum size limit by default, however, Blocktrade may cancel or reject a specific Order, if the Fill of such Order were to result in disruption of the market.

8.3. Tick size regime
Tick size is the smallest possible price change (price interval) of a Base Asset. The minimum tick sizes are laid out in Appendix III.

Tick sizes is enforced on the Quote Asset of the relevant Trading Pair.

8.4. Prefunded accounts and reserved balance
When submitting a buy Order, a User needs to have their trading account sufficiently pre-funded with Quote Asset to (i) Fill the opposite Order and (ii) pay the fees associated with the trade. The reserved balance is calculated as follows:

Reserved balance = (100% + Trading fee(j) + 0.01%)* (Relevant price(i) * Amount(i))

where:

  • Trading fee(j) is the variable trading fee for the tier,
  • Relevant price(i) is current Ask + Protection Level (for market Orders) or limit price (for limit Orders) for Asset i, and
  • Amount(i) is the amount entered for an Asset i.

If the balance in the trading account is insufficient, the trade will be rejected.

9. Deposit and withdrawal parameters

9.1. Minimum deposit
Blocktrade does not enforce minimum deposits on cryptocurrencies and other tokenized assets. Blocktrade does, however, enforce minimum deposits on FIAT currencies due to fixed fee netting. Minimums are laid out in Appendix IV.

9.2. Maximum deposit
Blocktrade does not enforce maximum deposits.

9.3. Blockchain confirmations
Each cryptocurrency deposit must be confirmed on the blockchain with a sufficient number of mined blocks before it is credited. Minimum block confirmations are laid down in Appendix V.

9.4. Minimum withdrawals
All assets are subject to minimum withdrawals. Minimums are laid out in Appendix VI.

9.6. Crypto-Assets withdrawal batching
All Crypto-Asset withdrawals are batched at 5 min intervals.

9.7. Manual review
All deposits and withdrawals may be subject to manual AML/CFT review. Affected users will be notified by email. User acknowledges and agrees that in such cases, deposits and withdrawals in question shall be processed within 48 hours (for Crypto-Assets) or within 5 business days (for Fiat Currency), or in exceptional cases longer. In case additional information and documentation on the assessment of the individual transaction in more detail from the viewpoint of AML/CFT and potential fraud screening, the above period starts when the affected user delivers all such required information and documentation.

9.8. Withdrawal processing times
In addition to provisions set forth in article 9.6. and 9.7. of this Rulebook, the user acknowledges and agrees withdrawals may take up to 48 hours (Crypto-Assets) or up to 5 business days (for Fiat Currency) to be processed in exceptional cases longer.

9.9. Confirmation email
By default, withdrawals must be confirmed within 5 minutes via a link sent to the user’s email.

10. Market Integrity

10.1. All Fills are final and will not be reversed unless:

  • Blocktrade is compelled to do so by any applicable law or regulation; or
  • Due to a serious technical error, Orders or Fills do not occur as specified in this Rulebook – in which case Blocktrade will make all reasonable efforts to restore all Users to the position they would have been in had the error not occurred.

 10.2. Blocktrade may cancel Open Orders in the following circumstances:

  • Orders placed by Users 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 Blocktrade is required to suspend or terminate a User’s Account.
  • If required for technical reasons.

11. Access to Blocktrade

11.1. All Users have equal access to the Blocktrade API and Web Interface. Blocktrade does not provide prioritized access to any User.
11.2. Blocktrade has the authority to take any action deemed appropriate to preserve market integrity. Such actions include, but are not limited to, the halting of trading, modifying risk-mitigating parameters, restricting User access to Blocktrade, restricting order types to limit only, cancelling orders resting in the order book, or any other actions deemed to be in the best interest of the trading platform.

12. Interruptions

12.1 If technical reasons prevent or degrade Users’ ability to place or cancel Orders, or prevent or degrade access to Blocktrade API or the Web Interface or affect the operation of Blocktrade Order Books or Matching Engines, then Blocktrade may, in its discretion, take one or more of the following actions in respect of one or more Order Books:

  • Temporarily disable depositing or withdrawing Assets.
  • Cancel Open Orders.
  • Disable the ability to place new Orders.
  • Disable sign-in.
  • Disable the Blocktrade API.
  • Disable access to the User interface of the Platform.

12.2. Blocktrade will notify Users of the above-mentioned actions via Website.

13. Market Manipulation Prohibited

13.1. Users are prohibited from engaging in Market Manipulation.
13.2. Market Manipulation means actions taken by a User or a person acting in concert with a User, which are intended to:

  • Deceive or mislead other Users;
  • Artificially control or manipulate the price or trading volume of an Asset; or
  • Aid, enable, finance, support, or endorse either of the above and may include actions on Blocktrade and/or outside of Blocktrade.

13.3. Market Manipulation specifically includes, without limitation: front-running, wash trading, spoofing, layering, churning, and quote stuffing.

14. Access to Information

14.1. All Users have full and equal real-time access to Market Data. Market Data is made available through the User Interface of the Platform or the Blocktrade API.
14.2. Market Data comprises the following:

  • All Limit Orders placed on the Order Book (price, quantity, and time).
  • All Trades (price, quantity, and time).

14.3. Market Data does not include any information about which User placed or canceled order.

15. Blocktrade Corporate Operations

Blocktrade does not trade on its own account.

16. Blocktrade Employee Access

16.1. Blocktrade policies prohibit all Blocktrade employees from using inside, corporate or proprietary information to trade Crypto-Assets.
16.2. Blocktrade employees are prohibited from trading personal accounts on the Platform

 17. Maintenance Schedule

From time to time, Blocktrade may undergo a temporary downtime for maintenance or upgrades. Absent Extraordinary Circumstances as set out in article 17. Of this Rulebook, Blocktrade will follow this process for closing and re-opening trading.

Step 1: Announce Maintenance Schedule at least 24 hours in advance via Website and @Blocktradecom on Twitter
Step 2: Maintenance Schedule Begins
Step 3: At least 10 minutes after Step 2:

  • All Order Books can accept only Limit Orders
  • Announce the above via Website

To ensure a fair and orderly marketplace, Blocktrade Market Operations may in its discretion cancel all resting Limit Orders in an order book before moving the market on Platform to Limit-Only Mode

Step 4: At least 10 minutes after Step 3:

  • All Order Books enter Full-Trading Mode
  • Announce the above via Website

18. Extraordinary Circumstances

In extraordinary circumstances, including, but not limited to:

  • Severe security breaches,
  • Force majeure events,
  • Judicial orders,

Blocktrade may, at its sole discretion, halt all of the operations on Platform for the necessary time to ensure fair and orderly marketplace. In such case, Blocktrade will announce the above via Website and @Blocktradecom on Twitter, generally at least 24 hours in advance, if possible. Should the circumstances require immediate halt of the operations on the Platform, Blocktrade will publish the notification via Website retroactively without delay. The restart of the Platform operations will follow the steps 2-4 in 16. Maintenance Schedule.

Appendix I: PROTECTION LEVELS

Trading Pair Protection Levels (% deviation from the current best bid/ask price)
XLM/BTC 2
XLM/ETH 2
ETH/BTC 2
BTT/ETH 2
XRP/BTC 2
XRP/ETH 2
AXPR/BTC 2
AXPR/ETH 2
LTC/ETH 2
BCH/BTC 2
BCH/ETH 2
BAT/ETH 2

Appendix II: LOT SIZES

Base Asset Lot size
BTC 0.001
BCH 0.01
ETH 0.01
XRP 10
LTC 0.1
XLM 10
BTT 10
AXPR 100
BAT 10

Appendix III: MINIMUM TICK SIZES

Trading Pair Minimum tick size
ETH/BTC 0.00001
XRP/BTC 0.00000001
XRP/ETH 0.00000001
LTC/BTC 0.00001
LTC/ETH 0.00001
BCH/ETH 0.001
XLM/BTC 0.00000001 
BCH/BTC 0.00001
XLM/ETH 0.00000001
BTT/ETH 0.00000001
AXPR/ETH 0.00000001
BAT/ETH 0.00000001

Appendix IV: MINIMUM DEPOSITS

Asset Minimum deposit
n/a n/a

Appendix V: MINIMUM BLOCK CONFIRMATIONS

Asset Minimum block confirmations
BTC 1
ETH 10
XRP 3
BCH 12
LTC 6
BTT 10
BAT 10
XLM 3
AXPR 10

Appendix V: MINIMUM BLOCK CONFIRMATIONS

Asset Minimum block confirmations
BTC 0.00005026
ETH 0.00301501
XRP 0.000051
BCH 0.00001006
LTC 0.00070351
BTT 5.02500001
BAT 1.00500001
XLM 1.00501 
AXPR 10.05000001