On Tuesday, September 2nd, at approximately 8:00 AM UTC, we will implement several important updates to our platform. These changes are designed to enhance user understanding, improve market liquidity, and ensure the long-term sustainability of our services.
1. Enhanced Onboarding Questionnaire
We are introducing a new onboarding step to ensure all users have a strong foundational knowledge of key concepts like market impact and derivatives settlement. This helps promote a responsible and informed trading environment for everyone.
2. New Maker-Taker Fee Model for Perpetuals
To further incentivize liquidity provision (complementing our existing Market Quality Program or MQP), we are moving from a flat fee structure to an asymmetric maker-taker model for perpetuals.
Tier 1:
- Future, Perpetuals, Rolls: Changing from a flat 2.5 bps to 1.0 bps (maker) / 5.0 bps (taker)
- Options: Will remain flat 2.5 bps
Tier 2: (>$50M 30-days trading volume)
- Future, Perpetuals, Rolls: Changing from a flat 1.0 bps to 0.5 bps (maker) / 1.5 bps (taker)
- Options: Will remain flat 1.0 bps
Liquidation Fee: Increased from 25 bps to 50 bps for all tiers.
What does Maker/Taker mean?
Limit orders that are placed into order books are providing liquidity. Exchange users that place such orders are said to be "making the market". A fill (trade) on an order in an order book is a maker trade, and is charged the maker fee rate.
If an order is placed such that it immediately trades against other orders in an order book, it is removing (taking) liquidity. Such order is charged the taker fee.
A limit order can be partially filled against the book orders when it is placed. In this case, the immediately filled portion of the order consists of taker trades. The unfilled portion of the order is placed into the order book, and can later be filled with maker trades.
3. New Withdrawal Fee for Low-Balance Accounts
To disincentivize very small, frequent withdrawals that slow overall processing times, a new fee will apply to accounts that meet all of the following criteria:
- Are in Fee Tier 1
- Hold Thalex ABCs
- Had less than $250 worth of assets (excluding ABCs) at the time of the last daily settlement
Fee: A withdrawal fee of 50 ABCs will be charged. This allows us to process the vast majority of withdrawals much more quickly by reallocating operational resources.
These updates represent our commitment to creating a more efficient, liquid, and robust platform for our users.