Speed Trading on Level01: Where Matches Are Made

It is 04.00am and you are wide-awake — so don’t just lie under the blankets. Embrace your jet lag, spring out of bed and whip out your phone and view the latest derivatives deals matched to you on Level01. You find that there is a certain thrill in deciding on the movements of a market asset. So why not make the most of your irregular rhythms and make more money?

For people who don’t know this robust Peer-to-Peer Derivatives Exchange platform, Level01 can feel overwhelmingly efficient when compared to traditional Derivatives Exchange. Contained in a global Blockchain infrastructure that spans from Seattle to Hong Kong, this brokerless platform hosts a vibrant digital eco-system flush with the movement of its native LVX token used to facilitate derivatives trade of trillions of investment assets across the globe. If you are a new user on Level01, you will be totally roused by the vast array of derivatives you can trade: Forex, Cryptocurrencies, Commodities, Stocks and Indices.

A quick refresher in derivatives trading for those who are not familiar: A derivative price is intrinsically linked to the price of something else like cryptocurrencies, indexes or commodities. Derivatives enable traders to dabble in popular asset categories like currencies or stocks without having to go through markets clearing houses or other financial market infrastructure. It is a versatile financial instrument that can be used in every market condition to achieve every investment goal.

How it works is simple: Derivatives trading involve studying market patterns and deciding on the direction of the price movement in a market asset and if it will be higher or lower than the ‘exercise price’ (also known as ‘strike price’) at the expiry time of a given derivative contract. For a contract to go into effect, it must be matched by a counterparty that will accept the opposing side of the trade. At the contract maturity/expiry time, the asset price is compared against strike price and one of the parties will profit on the contract’s predetermined investment amount. The allure of this financial instrument’s speed and convenience casts your qualms aside and draws you into this fascinating marketplace where you can make profits in a jiffy.

You glance through Level01’s data feed that is streaming live from Thomson Reuters, and your mind wanders to a conversation you had with a retired investor on your plane ride with him earlier. He told you that during 1970s, the global investment market was thriving with activity from derivative trading. Back then, your aged companion added as he took a sip of his whisky, complex methodologies priced derivatives and people used computers 24/7 to crunch numbers. Computers were pivotal for the boom in trade. But things are so different now, he tells you. There is a wild quality to the traditional derivative marketplace and it is best to tread carefully: governing authorities warned of fraud cases by brokers and here there are no lifebuoys for drowning investors who venture too far without conducting thorough research. Apart from the high rate of losses and frauds, traders on the traditional market have to deal with hidden fees, slow processing through several middlemen and lack of accurate and credible information. It seems to you that there are more pitfalls to watch for on the traditional Derivatives Exchange. It is a massive contrast to the clean and efficient trading environment on the Level01 platform.

A DIRECT WAY TO TRADE
You decide to make a trade, so you open your Level01 app and set a Trading Allowance (A) with the platform’s LIST (Level01 Intent Sealed Transaction) smart contract. LIST is a smart contract protocol on Blockchain that works like a trusted god-father of all transactions. LIST can:

securely store trade match parameters of all users
initiate trade investment token transfers
serve as the transparent trustee of fund tokens vested into a trade match
perform automated trade settlement upon trade contract expiry
determines of contract payoffs to the profiting party.
Once you have set a token allowance amount, your transaction is cryptographically signed with your wallet’s private key. This functions as a pre-authorization for LIST to transfer out and temporarily hold tokens upon a trade matching until trade settlement and profit distribution occurs.

You are now free to trade on the platform by creating derivative contracts in any asset class up to the value of A. Your derivative contract contains parameters that allow other users to decide if they want to be the counterparty to your offered contract. Level01’s dashboard empowers you to set your trade parameters such as: expiry time of the contract (E), strike price and position (>SP, <SP), and notional value (NV), where (NV ≤ A).

The electric kettle in your room whistles, and you make your cup of morning coffee. You read Level01’s user guide and learn that all derivative contracts that are created and placed on the Level01 platform are known as trading intent (TI). When you create a derivative contract, it is sent to a pool of TIs on the off-chain servers’ trading engine, where it is curated, sorted, and displayed to other users based on their underlying asset interest and search criteria at that moment. (see Figure 01 below)

Halfway around the world, your trade match could be viewing her curated list of derivative contracts to match with, and she will consider the matching price (MP) amount for every derivative contract in the list, which can be dynamically adjusted to reflect changes in the current market price of the underlying asset. The MP is displayed based on Level01’s FairSenseTM algorithm, which is basically artificial intelligence that analyzes trade intent patterns of users on the platform and matchmakes or suggests them to counterparty users. MP is also partially calculated based on the notional value (NV, contract size) of the contract. If the contract is in an unfavourable position, it may require a bigger portion from NV to match with; and vice versa if the contract is in a favourable position, it will cost lesser portion of NV to be a counterparty matcher.

If your trade match is keen to become counterparty to your derivative contract; she can accept the current MP, and the platform system will automatically seal and finalize all parameters into a trade match (TM). The TM will be delivered at lightning speed to the LIST smart contract. LIST then automatically processes the contract upon its expiry, and ensures immediate trade settlement. Either you were right about the market price, or she is. Time will reveal whether the profiting party’s analysis of the market data is correct. (see Figure 01 above)

In a matter of hours, you would have lined up a few more derivative contracts that could result in profits that would make the down payment for your next sports car. Life is good with Level01, the World 1st Brokerless Derivatives Exchange in Partnership with Thomson Reuters. You make money legally, quickly and you do not have to worry about fraud, manipulated data or third party fees. All of your investments and profits are made and decided by you.