Trading Rules
Coinbase Exchange Trading Rules
Coinbase Markets is Coinbase's set of Central Order Books that are accessed by Traders through Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange trading platforms. The following set of Trading Rules governs Orders placed via these markets.
1. Trading on Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange
1.1 Coinbase operates a Central Order Book trading platform, and settles trades in a number of Digital Asset and Fiat Currency Trading Pairs. Each Trader’s Account will list which Order Books are available to the Trader.
1.2 Orders
1.21 To place an Order on an 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.
1.22 When a Trader places an Order, that quantity of the relevant Asset becomes subject to a Hold.
1.23 A Trader can place an Order in a variety of manners, including a Limit Order, an Iceberg Limit Order, a Market Order, a Stop Order, a Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss Order, or an Iceberg Stop Order.
1.24 A Trader may have the ability to cancel an open Maker Order or Stop Order at any time before it is Filled. No fees are charged for successfully canceled Orders.
1.3 Limit Orders
1.31 A Limit Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity or notional amount of an Asset at a specified price.
1.32 A Limit Order will only Fill at the specified price or a better price.
1.33 A Limit Order with ‘post-only’ selected will be posted to the Order Book only if it would not be posted at the same price as an existing Order on the Order Book. A Limit Order with ‘post-only’ selected will always be a Maker Order. ‘Post only’ orders cannot be placed during an Auction.
1.34 A Limit Order without ‘post-only’ selected 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.
1.35 Limit Orders may be placed with one of the following Time in Force Instructions, which may vary by platform:
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.
Good til time: if posted, the Order will remain on the Order Book until a certain time is reached or the Order is canceled by the Trader.
Immediate or Cancel: the Order will be posted to the Order Book only 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.
1.36 Iceberg Limit Orders
1.36.1 An Iceberg Limit Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price without revealing the entire size of the Order to the market. This is achieved by splitting the Order into a Trader determined visible portion that is displayed to the market, while the non-displayed portion remains confidential or hidden from the market. The minimum visible portion of the Order will be the base increment of the asset or 10% of the total Order quantity, whichever is larger. Once the visible portion of the Order is filled, the non-displayed hidden portion is decremented, and a new visible portion is placed on the order book, with new time priority, meaning it will be added to the end of the queue at that price level.
1.36.2 An Iceberg Limit Order will only Fill at the specified price or a better price.
1.36.3 An Iceberg Limit Order can result in a Maker Order or a Taker Order, or an Order that is partially a Maker Order and partially a Taker Order.
1.36.4 An Iceberg Limit Order may be placed with one of the following Time in Force Instructions, which may vary by platform:
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.
Good til time: if posted, the Order will remain on the Order Book until a certain time is reached or the Order is canceled by the Trader.
Immediate or Cancel: the Order will be posted to the Order Book only 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.
1.4 Market Orders
1.41 A Market Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at the current best available market price of existing Orders on the Order Book.
1.42 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.
1.43 Depending on the volume and prices of Orders on the Order Book 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. This is commonly referred to as ‘slippage’.
1.44 A valid Market Order will be immediately posted to the Order Book. A Market Order is always a Taker Order.
1.5 Stop Orders
1.51 A Stop Order is an instruction to post an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset but only if and when the last trade price on the Order Book equals or surpasses the Stop Price.
1.52 Once a Stop Order has been placed, it is considered ‘active’ until it executes by posting the relevant Order when the Stop Price is triggered.
1.53 A Stop Order is not posted to the Order Book and is not visible to other Traders, but any resulting Order is posted and visible. All Stop Orders are placed without 'post-only' enabled.
1.54 A Stop Order must be placed as a Stop Limit Order, which posts a Limit Order when the Stop Price is triggered.
1.55 A Stop Limit Order is not guaranteed to Fill. The Web Interface will display a warning each time a Trader attempts to place a Stop Order.
1.56 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.
Good til time: if posted, the Order will remain on the Order Book until a certain time is reached or the Order is canceled by the trader.
1.57 Iceberg Stop Orders will function the same way as a Stop Order, but when the stop price is triggered an Iceberg Limit Order will be posted.
1.58 A Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss Order is a Limit Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price, with stop limit order parameters embedded in the order. Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss Orders functions the same way as a Limit Order, but if the stop price is triggered before an execution on the original Limit Order, the original Limit Order will be repriced to the stop limit price. If the original Limit Order is partially filled, the stop price and stop limit price will not be triggered, and the open portion of the Limit Order will remain at the original Limit Order price.
Warnings
The Web Interface will either display the slippage on a transaction, or otherwise provide a warning to Traders who attempt to place an Order which would completely or partially Fill at a price which is more than 2% away from the last trade price (slippage warning).
1.6 Posting of Orders to the Order Book
1.61 (Taker Order) If an Order is posted to the Order Book at the same price as one or more existing Orders, it is a Taker Order which will result in an immediate Fill at that price, to the extent of the total quantity of those existing Orders.
1.62 (Maker Order) To the extent that an Order is posted to the Order Book at a different price to all existing 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; or
It is completely Filled by one or more Taker Orders placed by another Trader at the same price.
Order Protections
1.63.1 Market Orders, Limit Orders, and Iceberg Limit Orders are subject to a price protection point (PPP). Market Orders, Limit Orders, and Iceberg Limit Orders will Fill at prices up to the PPP from the mid-point price between the best bid and best offer on the Order Book at the time the Order was placed. If a Market Order, Limit Order, or Iceberg Limit Order would Fill against Orders beyond the PPP, the Order will partially Fill up to the PPP level and the matching engine will cancel all remaining portions of the Order.
For a list of PPPs by asset please see https://exchange.coinbase.com/markets.
1.63.2 At the discretion of Coinbase Market Operations, select Order Books may also employ limit order controls to maintain market health. The “high bid limit” (HBL) order control will limit how high a Buy Limit Order or Iceberg Limit Order can be filled based on the last sale price or the current best bid price. If a Limit Order or Iceberg Limit Order would Fill against Orders beyond the HBL, the Order will partially Fill up to the HBL level and the matching engine will cancel all remaining portions of the Order. The HBL will be calculated as either the current best bid price on the order book or the last execution price, plus the HBL percentage.
Order Minimums/Maximums
1.64 Order Minimums: All Market Orders, Limit Orders, and Stop Orders placed on Coinbase Markets are subject to the minimum order size requirements listed at https://exchange.coinbase.com/markets. Iceberg Limit Orders and Iceberg Stop Orders also have a minimum displayed order size. The minimum visible portion of the Order will be the base increment of the asset or 10% of the total Order quantity, whichever is larger.
1.65 'Post-only' Limit Orders do not have a maximum order size. The size can be in any increment of the base currency above the minimum order size requirements.
1.66 Updating Order Parameters: Coinbase Markets will periodically update these Order Minimums and total number of Orders allowed per Order Book to reflect the current state of our marketplace and the notional value of the assets. See https://exchange.coinbase.com/markets
1.67 Auctions
1.67.1 Coinbase Market Operations may conduct an Auction to initiate trading in an asset pair on Coinbase Markets. In addition, Coinbase Market Operations may also initiate, at its discretion, an Auction on a listed asset pair based on prevailing market conditions and to ensure fair and orderly markets.
1.67.2 Traders can place Limit Orders on the book over a period of time without matching. Coinbase Advanced Trade and Exchange applications (including API and data feeds) will show an Indicative Price. Using this Indicative Price as an indicator of the eventual open price, Traders can cancel and resubmit orders until the Auction takes place. Upon completion of the Auction, orders crossing the final opening price will be matched and the book will move to Full Trading,Limit Only, or Cancel Only.
1.67.3 For orders matched at an Auction when the market opens, both sides are charged Taker fees. Orders that remain on the Order Book upon completion of Auction are charged Maker fees.
1.67.4 An Iceberg Limit Order cannot be entered during an Auction. Existing Iceberg orders will be canceled if a book is transitioned to Auction mode.
1.67.5 A Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss Order cannot be entered during an Auction. A Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss order that has not been partially filled or repriced will be canceled if a book is transitioned to Auction mode. A Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss order that has been partially filled or has been repriced will remain on the Order Book and participate in the Auction.
1.7 Matching Engine and Order Priority
1.71 Coinbase Markets matches Taker Orders with Open Maker Orders on each Order Book based on Price-Display-Time Priority.
1.72 Price-Display-Time Priority means that each time a Taker Order is posted: The Taker Order is matched with the earliest in time 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. If a Maker Order is an Iceberg Limit Order at the price, the Taker Order will match against the displayed amount of the Iceberg Limit Order, then subsequent Maker Orders at that price. If the Taker Order is not completely Filled by all Maker Orders and the displayed interest of Iceberg Limit Orders, it will then match against the non-displayed portion of the earliest in time Iceberg Limit Orders at the price. 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.
1.73 All Traders on accessing Coinbase Markets are subject to the same Price-Display-Time Priority.
1.74 Subject to Time in Force Instructions, an Order may be matched with a number of corresponding Orders at the same price.
1.75 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.
1.8 Fills and Settlement
1.81 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.
1.82 Coinbase Markets settles all Filled Orders immediately, by debiting and crediting the relevant balances of Assets in both Traders’ Accounts.
1.83 Subject to daily withdrawal limits a Trader may immediately withdraw all Assets in their Account.
1.9 Trading Fees
1.91 Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange charge 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 and is calculated as a percentage of the Order quantity.
1.92 A fee is charged by debiting the Trader’s Available Balance for the amount of the fee at the time that the Order is posted.
1.93 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.
1.94 Fees may vary between Order Books. The current fee rates can be found at coinbase.com/advanced-fees and exchange.coinbase.com/fees.
1.95 Volume-based fee discounts are available to all traders based on trades over the trailing 30 day period across all Order Books. Additional fee rebates may be available based on availability of such rebate programs, and Trader meeting eligibility criteria, which may include minimum maker volume, total volume, or similar across specific time horizons.
1.96 Additional Services: Coinbase may, at its sole discretion, make additional services available to Traders. Coinbase reserves the right to modify these services at any time for any reason, in our sole discretion, including, but not limited to the preservation of market integrity, service limit updates related to maximum/minimum size, rate of use, and participation, technical reasons, or if required by law or regulation. Additional Services may be subject to fees as set forth in the fee schedule located at https://exchange.coinbase.com/fees, or as otherwise communicated.
2. Market Integrity
All trades are final.
2.1 All Fills are final and will not be reversed unless:
Coinbase 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 these Rules - in which case Coinbase will make all reasonable efforts to restore all Traders to the position they would have been in had the error not occurred.
2.12 Coinbase may cancel Open Orders for any reason, in our sole discretion, including, but not limited to, 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 error with respect to price, quantity, or other parameters - a ‘clearly erroneous transaction’.
If required by any applicable law or regulation, including specifically where Coinbase is required to suspend or terminate a Trader’s Coinbase Advanced Trade, Coinbase Exchange Account or Coinbase Account.
If required for technical reasons.
2.2 Access to Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange
2.21 All Traders have equal access to the Coinbase APIs and Web Interfaces. Coinbase does not provide prioritized access to any Trader.
2.22 Coinbase Market Operations 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 Trader access to Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange, restricting order types to post-only or limit only, canceling orders resting in the Order Book, updating the criteria for Trader access to Request For Quote, or any other actions deemed to be in the best interest of the Exchange.
2.23 Traders participating as RFQ Liquidity Providers and responding to RFQs must ensure quotes adhere to the following rules to avoid rejections: (a) all required fields must be present in the quote message, and (b) quote response must be received before the expiration time indicated in the RFQ. A RFQ Liquidity Provider's bid and offer response to a RFQ shall be accompanied by the number of Assets at that price the RFQ Liquidity Provider is willing to buy or sell. A RFQ Liquidity Provider that enters a bid (offer) in an Asset must enter an offer (bid). Every RFQ message issued, and every RFQ Liquidity Provider responsive quote, must be for an initial minimum size of at least one (1) Asset. RFQ Liquidity Provider bids and offers are firm for all orders for the number of Assets specified in the bid and offer for the time indicated in the RFQ. Bids and offers are not firm if: (a) a system malfunction or other circumstance impairs Coinbase’s ability to disseminate or update market quotes in a timely and accurate manner; or (b) during the pre-opening phase. Coinbase reserves the right to revoke a Trader's status as a RFQ Liquidity Provider and participation in the RFQ program if the above criteria are not met, if it believes the RFQ Liquidity provider is not participating in good faith, or if it deems it to be in the best interest of the Exchange.
2.3 Interruptions
2.31 If technical reasons prevent or degrade Traders’ ability to place or cancel Orders, or prevent or degrade access to Coinbase APIs or the Web Interfaces or affect the operation of Coinbase Markets Order Books or matching engines, then Coinbase 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 (Cancel-only Mode).
Disable sign-in.
Disable the Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange APIs.
Disable access to the Web Interface.
2.32 If access to Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange through the Web Interface is unavailable for 5 minutes or longer, Coinbase may move Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange to Cancel-Only Mode.
2.33 If Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange 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 Coinbase deems it is safe to restore Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange to fully operational.
2.34 Coinbase will notify Traders of the move to or from Cancel-only Mode via @CoinbaseSupport on X (formerly Twitter) or status.exchange.coinbase.com.
2.4 Self-trade Prevention
2.41 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.
2.42 If two Orders of the same quantity would result in self-execution, both Orders are canceled.
2.43 If two Orders of different quantities would result in self-execution, the smaller Order is canceled and the larger order is decremented by an amount equivalent to the smaller quantity. The remainder of the larger order remains Open.
2.5 Flash Crashes and Circuit Breakers
2.51 Coinbase Markets does not use circuit breakers or automated trading halts based on predetermined price bands. As provided in Section 2.22 and 2.31, Coinbase Markets Market Operations may, in its discretion, halt trading.
2.6 Market Manipulation Prohibited
2.61 Traders are prohibited from engaging in Market Manipulation.
2.62 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, mislead, or improperly take advantage of other Traders or Coinbase;
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 Coinbase Advanced Trade, Coinbase Exchange and/or outside of Exchange.
2.63 Market Manipulation specifically includes, without limitation: front-running, wash trading, spoofing, layering, churning, and quote stuffing.
3. Access to Information
3.1 All Traders have equal real-time access to Market Data. Market Data is made available through the Web Interface or the Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange APIs.
3.12 Market Data comprises the following:
All Limit Orders placed on the Order Book (price, quantity, and time).
The displayed amounts of all Iceberg Limit Orders placed on the Order Book (price, displayed quantity, and time).
All canceled Orders on the Order Book (price, quantity, and time).
All Fills or Executions (price, quantity, and time).
3.13 Market Data does not include the following:
Resting Stop Orders (Stop Orders that have been placed but not triggered)
The non-displayed amounts of all Iceberg Limit Orders placed on the Order Book.
Any information about which Trader placed or canceled an order.
3.14 Coinbase may offer different data feeds, tiers or packages of Market Data from time to time. Please review any applicable information about available Market Data packages. Please verify the scope and type of Market Data in your package before using it. Information regarding enhanced limit WebSocket Market Data subscriptions may be found at https://help.coinbase.com/en/exchange/managing-my-account/market-data-connections
3.2 Coinbase Corporate Operations
3.21 Coinbase, Inc., which owns and operates Exchange, also trades its own corporate funds on Exchange.
3.22 Coinbase does not have any special priority and is subject to the same Price-Display-Time and fee structure as all other Traders.
3.23 The Coinbase application which trades on Coinbase Markets only trades based on Market Data and does not have access to inside information. It does not engage in any front-running.
3.3 Coinbase Employee Access
3.31 Coinbase policies prohibit all Coinbase employees from using inside, corporate, or proprietary information to trade Digital Assets.
3.32 Coinbase Employees are required to trade Coinbase supported assets on Coinbase products (either Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange), subject to Coinbase’s employee trading policy and trade surveillance program.
4. Scheduled Downtime
4.1 From time to time, Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange may suspend trading temporarily for maintenance or upgrades. Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange will endeavor to follow the following process for closing and re-opening trading, when appropriate:
Step 1: Announce Scheduled Downtime
Announce scheduled downtime via status.exchange.coinbase.com or X (formerly Twitter)
Step 2: Scheduled Downtime Begins
Step 3: Immediately after Scheduled Downtime is Completed
All books enter 'Cancel-only' Mode
Step 4: At least 1 minutes after Step 3; or longer if necessary
All books enter 'Auction' Mode
Announce the above via status.exchange.coinbase.com or X (formerly Twitter)
To ensure a fair and orderly marketplace, Coinbase Market Operations may in its discretion cancel some or all resting limit orders in an Order Book before moving the market to Limit-only or Full Trading Mode
Step 5: At least 10 minutes after Step 4; or longer if necessary
All books enter Limit-only or Full-trading Mode
Announce the above via status.exchange.coinbase.com or X (formerly Twitter)
4.2 Coinbase reserves the right to re-open trading in a Limit-only or Full-trading state without utilizing the above process. Such action would be announced via status.exchange.coinbase.com or X (formerly Twitter)
5. Definitions
In these Coinbase Markets Trading Rules, the following words and phrases have the corresponding meanings.
Account means a Trader’s Coinbase Advanced Trade or Exchange Account.
Asset means a Digital Asset or Fiat Currency.
Auction Mode means Traders can place Limit Orders on the book over a period of time without matching. The Exchange application (including API and data feeds) will show an Indicative Price.
Available Balance means a Trader’s Total Asset Value less any amounts held for Open Orders and fees.
Base Asset means the Asset being traded on the Order Book; the first Asset in the Trading Pair. For example, on the BTC-USD Order Book, BTC is the Base Asset and USD is the Quote Asset.
Bracket Order/Take Profit Stop Loss Order is a Limit Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price, with stop limit order parameters embedded in the order.
Cancel-only Mode means that Traders cannot place new Orders. Traders are able to cancel open Orders. No Orders will be Filled.
Digital Asset means a blockchain-based digital currency, app coin or protocol token which is offered for trading on Coinbase Advanced Trade or Coinbase Exchange.
Fiat Currency means a government-issued currency.
Fill means a match of two Orders. Also referred to as an execution.
Full-Trading Mode means normal operation of Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange. Traders can place Market Orders and Limit Orders and can cancel Orders.
Hold means the setting aside of Assets allocated to an Order.
Iceberg Limit Order an Order to buy or sell a specified large quantity of an Asset at a specified price without revealing the entire size of the order to the market.
Iceberg Stop Order means an instruction to post an Iceberg Limit Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset but only if and when the last trade price on the Order Book equals or surpasses the Stop Price.
The Indicative Price provides Traders with a probable price at which a Trading Pair will open or re-open upon completion of an Auction, given the current book and order activity. The Indicative Price may change until the Auction is complete.
Limit Order means an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at a specified price.
Limit-only Mode means that Traders can place and cancel only Limit Orders. Only Limit Orders can be Filled during this mode. Market Orders will be rejected.
Market Order means an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset at the best available price of existing Orders on the Order Book.
Order means an instruction to buy or sell a specified quantity of the Base Asset at a specified price in the Quote Asset.
Order Book means each Order Book on which Orders are placed for trading in a Trading Pair.
Open Order means a Maker Order which has been posted but not Filled, canceled or expired, or a Stop Order which is currently active.
Post-only Mode means that 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.
Price-Display-Time Priority is defined in Sections 1.71 and 1.72.
Quote Asset means the Asset in which trading is 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.
Request for Quote (RFQ). An electronic message disseminated for the purpose of soliciting two-sided quotes for specific Trading Pair. RFQ details can be found at https://docs.cdp.coinbase.com/exchange/docs/fix-msg-order-entry-50#rfq-request-ah
RFQ Liquidity Provider. Any Trader who is enabled to interact with RFQ requests and indicates interest in receiving RFQ requests.
Scheduled Downtime means a planned temporary outage for maintenance or upgrades. See section 4.
Stop Order means an instruction to post an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset but only if and when the last trade price on the Order Book equals or surpasses the Stop Price.
Stop Price means the price specified in a Stop Order.
Total Asset Value means 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.
Trader means each customer trading on Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange. Trading Halt means that Traders cannot place or cancel any Orders.
Trading Pair means each pair of a Base Asset and a Quote Asset offered on Coinbase Advanced Trade and Coinbase Exchange. Web Interface means the user interface available through https://www.coinbase.com/advanced-trade and https://exchange.coinbase.com.
Coinbase Prime Trading Rules
Coinbase Prime provides clients with access to trade execution and automated trade routing services, and may provide additional services offered by Connected Trading Venues through the Coinbase Prime Trading Platform. The following Trading Rules govern the receipt, execution and settlement of orders placed via the Trading Platform. Capitalized terms used herein without definition shall have the meaning assigned to them in the Coinbase Prime Broker Agreement.
1. Accepted Order Types
1.1 The Trading Platform shall accept the following types of Orders to purchase or sell specified Digital Assets as specified below, provided that the Trading Platform may also accept other order types as Coinbase may make available from time to time.
1.11 Limit Order: A Limit Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of a Digital Asset at a specified price and will only Fill at the specified price or a better price. Limit Orders may be placed with Time in Force Instructions, which may include:
Good til canceled (GTC): if submitted, the Order will remain open until canceled by the Trader. GTC acts as the default Time in Force Instruction; or
Immediate or Cancel: the Order will only be submitted to the extent that it would be immediately Filled; any remaining unfilled quantity is canceled.
Fill or Kill: the Order will only be posted to the Coinbase Exchange Order Book if it would be immediately and completely Filled. If the Order would not be filled, the Order will be canceled.
Post Only: A Limit Order with ‘post-only’ selected will always be a Maker Order. A Limit Order with ‘post-only’ selected will be posted to the Order Book only if it would not be a Taker Order. If such a Limit Order would be a Taker Order, it will be repriced to either the prevailing best bid or offer, respectively.
1.12 Market Order: A Market Order is an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of a Digital Asset at the best available all-in price, or such other pricing methodology as may be agreed with Coinbase from time to time. For the purposes of these Trading Rules, “all-in price” shall mean a price that is reflective of all transactional or other associated fees, costs, interest charges or expenses applicable to executing that Order. Due to changing market conditions, there is no guarantee that a Market Order will Fill at a specified price or that the specified quantity will be fully executed. A Market Order may Fill at a number of different prices. Depending on volume and prices on the Connected Trading Venues at the time a Market Order is submitted, the Market Order may Fill at a price less favorable than the most recently observed trade price, in some cases significantly so. A valid Market Order will be immediately routed from the Trading Platform to the Connected Trading Venues.
1.13 TWAP Orders: The Time Weighted Average Price Order (“TWAP Order”) seeks to complete the Order by splitting it into small pieces that will be independently traded at different time intervals in a linear fashion across Connected Trading Venues using a range of execution strategies. A Trader can specify a TWAP Order’s: i. Buy/Sell direction; ii. Quantity; iii. Limit Price; iv. Start time; and v. Duration.
1.14 VWAP Orders: The Volume Weighted Average Price Order (“VWAP Order”) seeks to complete the Order by splitting it into small pieces that will be independently traded at different time intervals in a non-linear fashion in line with historical volume patterns across Connected Trading Venues using a range of execution strategies.
1.15 Stop Orders: Coinbase Prime may make Stop Orders available to clients.A Stop Order may only be placed as a Stop-Limit Order. A Stop Order is an instruction to post an Order to buy or sell a specified quantity of an Asset but only if and when the last trade price on the Order Book equals or surpasses the Stop Price. The triggering price will be determined solely by trading on Coinbase Exchange, but the resulting limit order may be executed on any applicable Connected Trading Venue.
Coinbase Prime will require the triggering price to be a minimum distance from Coinbase best bid (for sell orders) or Coinbase best offer (for buy orders).
At time of order placement, the limit price will be subject to a maximum distance from the specified Stop Price.
1.16 RFQ Orders: The Request for Quote Order (“RFQ Order”) is an Order to buy or sell a specific amount of an Asset at a confirmed all-in price, or such other pricing as may be agreed with Coinbase from time to time, by first disseminating an electronic message to Coinbase Exchange for the purpose of soliciting quotes for the specific Asset. Upon receipt, these quotes may be accepted and executed or rejected by the client. For the purposes of these Trading Rules, “all-in price” shall mean a price that is (i) reflective of all transactional or other associated fees, costs, interest charges, applicable trade financing fees or expenses applicable to executing that Order, and (ii) as per the terms of any relevant agreements related to the components of such all-in price. Should a Trader elect to use RFQ Orders, such Orders will not interact with Coinbase Exchange Central Order Book or other Connected Trading Venues. Traders acknowledge that quotes may be different from prices that would be available via order routing services offered by Coinbase Prime that interact with the Connected Trading Venues. Trader understands and accepts that RFQ Orders may not result in an actionable quote. RFQ Liquidity Providers responding to RFQs must ensure quotes adhere to the parameters set forth in Coinbase Exchange Trading Rules Section 2.23.
1.17 Enhanced Execution Engine (EXN): Orders for specific quantities of particular Digital Assets, for such order types as Coinbase makes the EXN available, and that are routed to the Coinbase Exchange, may be filled either on the Coinbase Central Order Book or by a RFQ Liquidity Provider. Once an Order is submitted and if it is routed to Coinbase Exchange, Orders executed by the EXN will trigger anonymously requested firm quotes - either two-sided (both a bid and offer), or one-sided based on a RFQ Liquidity Provider’s abilities to meet demand on a particular side of the market. EXN will then automatically execute the better of either the best price provided by the RFQ Liquidity Provider, or the best price available on the Coinbase Central Order Book for the specified Digital Asset. RFQ Liquidity Providers responding to Orders submitted via EXN must ensure quotes adhere to the parameters set forth for RFQ Liquidity Providers in Coinbase Exchange Trading Rules Section 2.23.
2. Order Routing
2.1 Coinbase directs Orders to the Connected Trading Venues on an automated basis using Coinbase Prime’s trading algorithms. The trading logic incorporates a variety of factors relating to the Order and the Connected Trading Venues, which may include but will not be limited to:
available prices;
size of the order;
order type;
the likelihood of execution;
availability of the Connected Trading Venues;
Coinbase Prime’s credit with the Connected Trading Venues; and
any other considerations relevant to the execution of an order, which considerations will be determined solely by Coinbase Prime.
Coinbase Prime carries out regular reviews of the quality of the Connected Trading Venues to evaluate its execution practices.
Clients electing to exclude particular Connected Trading Venues acknowledge that Coinbase Exchange will not be excluded, the trading logic may not necessarily incorporate the above listed factors, including available prices, to the fullest extent compared with Orders not subject to any such exclusion, and Coinbase Prime has no obligation to provide pricing data for any excluded Connected Trading Venue.
2.2 Trading Controls: To help reduce the likelihood of human error, Coinbase Prime has implemented trading controls that apply to Order entry and Order execution.
2.3 A Client may elect to use the services offered by Coinbase Execution Services. Coinbase, acting as agent, would match client orders over-the-counter and as governed by the provisions of the relevant trading agreement. In such a case, the Client’s order may not be executed on a Connected Trading Venue. By electing to use Coinbase Execution Services, the Client understands and accepts that Coinbase Execution Services may, unless otherwise agreed, eliminate any positions on both sides of the market within an Account after the transaction has been executed.
3. Order Requirements
3.1 Available funds: To submit and execute an Order, Client must have sufficient funds or credit in its Trading Balance to cover the total value of the Order plus any applicable fees. After an Order is submitted, the associated funds become subject to hold until the Order is Filled or any part of the remaining Order is canceled.
3.2 Order Minimums: All Orders placed via the Trading Platform may be subject to minimum order size requirements specified by Coinbase.
3.3 Order Maximums: All Orders placed via the Trading Platform may be subject to maximum order sizes specified by Coinbase.
4. Order Actions
4.1 Submission
4.11 Client may submit Buy or Sell Orders through its account on the Trading Platform by specifying the Order type, quantity, asset type, and any other supported criteria required for a particular Order type.
4.2 Confirmation
4.21 Orders marked as complete or confirmed cannot be canceled, reversed or modified.
4.3 Client Cancellations and Modifications
4.31 A Trader may cancel an open Order at any time before it is completed. Additionally, a Trader may be able to modify certain Order criteria or fields for certain Order types. We do not guarantee that Orders can be canceled or modified once submitted to the Trading Platform.
4.32 No fees are charged for canceled portions of Orders.
4.4 Coinbase Prime Cancellations and Modifications
4.41 In its sole discretion, Coinbase may cancel Open Orders in the following circumstances and will attempt to promptly notify clients of such cancellation:
Orders placed by Clients that have engaged in abusive use of the platform.
Orders associated with an asset that has been delisted or disabled.
Orders which Coinbase determines involve an obvious error with respect to price, quantity, or other relevant parameters. These Orders are commonly referred to as “clearly erroneous” transactions or orders.
If required by any applicable law or regulation, including specifically where Coinbase is required to suspend or terminate a client’s Coinbase Prime account.
If required for technical reasons.
4.42 In its sole discretion, Coinbase may modify a client’s completed Order due to a remarking or repricing performed by the applicable Connected Trading Venue with respect to the relevant Order.
5. Supported Trading Pairs
5.1 Coinbase Prime supports specified trading pairs that will be made available to the client when accessing its account on the Trading Platform.
6. Access and Market Integrity
6.1 Coinbase Prime provides the Coinbase Prime APIs, Trading Platform, and any additional services offered by Connected Trading Venues to clients on a non-preferential basis, subject to Coinbase Prime’s rules regarding Market Manipulation and subject to Coinbase Prime’s API Supplement, and any additional trading rules of the relevant Connected Trading Venues. Coinbase Prime does not provide prioritized access to any Client. Coinbase Prime 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 Client access to Coinbase Prime, restricting order types to post-only or limit only, canceling resting orders, or any other actions deemed to be in the best interest of preserving market integrity on Coinbase Prime.
6.2 All Fills are final and will not be reversed unless:
Coinbase 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 these Rules - in which case Coinbase may make commercially reasonable efforts to restore all Traders to the positions they would have been in had the error not occured.
6.3 Coinbase generally acts in an agency capacity for purposes of Orders, but may also act in a principal capacity with respect to certain Orders. For example, in order to Fill residual Order size such as when a portion of an Order may be below the minimum size accepted by the Connected Trading Venues, Coinbase Prime will Fill the order from its inventory. Such residual portions of an Order will be Filled at a fair market price and will be reflected in the Order Confirmation.
6.4 Coinbase, Inc., which owns and operates Coinbase Prime, also trades its own funds on Coinbase Prime for testing, operational and commercial purposes. Coinbase maintains procedures for avoiding and managing conflicts of interest when undertaking principal trading activities. Any Coinbase-owned account on the Trading Platform does not have any special priority, access to material non-public information with respect to the Trading Platform’s price quotes, does not engage in front-running ahead of clients and is subject to the same rules of access as any other client.
6.5 Coinbase policies prohibit all Coinbase employees from using inside, corporate or proprietary information to trade Digital Assets. Coinbase Employees are required to trade in accordance with Coinbase’s employee trading policy and under the supervision of the Coinbase trade surveillance program.
7. Interruptions
7.1 If Coinbase determines that a client’s account has been compromised, or if technical reasons prevent or degrade the client’s ability to submit or cancel Orders, or prevent or degrade access to Coinbase Prime APIs or the Trading Platform (including connecting to any Connected Trading Venue), then Coinbase Prime may, in its sole discretion, take one or more of the following actions:
Temporarily disable depositing or withdrawing client balances (cash and/or Digital Assets);
Cancel Open Orders;
Disable the ability to place new Orders (“Cancel-Only Mode”);
Disable sign-in;
Disable the Coinbase Prime APIs;
Disable access to the Trading Platform.
7.2 If access to Coinbase Prime through the Trading Platform is unavailable, Coinbase may move Coinbase Prime to Cancel-Only Mode as soon as possible. If Coinbase Prime is in Cancel-only Mode, it will be restored to fully operational only after access through the Trading Platform becomes available and Coinbase deems it safe to restore Coinbase Prime to fully operational. Coinbase will notify clients of the move to or from Cancel-Only Mode.
7.3 Downtime: From time to time, Coinbase Prime may experience unscheduled downtime. Coinbase Prime may also suspend trading temporarily for scheduled maintenance or upgrades. Absent extenuating circumstances, Coinbase Prime will announce the commencement and completion of scheduled downtime via: status.prime.coinbase.com.
7.4 To ensure a fair and orderly marketplace, Coinbase Prime may in its discretion cancel all open orders prior to reopening the Trading Platform.
8. Self-Trade Prevention
8.1 Where available, Orders may be subject to self-trade prevention (“STP”). Where utilized, STP would help ensure that cancellation of two Orders from the same Client to avoid self-execution.
8.2 All Clients that operate algorithmic proprietary trading applications may be subject to STP. Such clients include any Client that trades for its own account and does not trade for end-customer accounts. Such clients may submit a request to opt-out or otherwise override the use of STP controls. Such requests will be granted at Coinbase’s sole discretion.
9. Settlement
9.1 Coinbase Prime settles all Filled Orders immediately upon receipt of confirmation from the Connected Trading Venue(s), by debiting and crediting the relevant balances of Digital Assets in Trader’s Account. Subject to applicable daily withdrawal limits a Trader may immediately request to withdraw all Digital Assets in their Account.
9.2 Coinbase may offer the ability to take settlement of trade proceeds in the form of other Digital Assets. Coinbase may value digital asset proceeds using the same valuation methods and processes that are otherwise used when a Trader sells a Digital Asset, or any other commercially reasonable valuation method as determined by Coinbase in its sole discretion.
If a Trader elects to take settlement in the form of an offered stablecoin, they consent to Coinbase converting proceeds to such stablecoins as the Trader chooses. Such conversions shall be governed by the Stablecoin Conversion Program, found here https://www.coinbase.com/legal/institutional/usdc-terms-of-use.
Trader acknowledges and accepts that there may be a variety of risk factors, including market, liquidity, and legal risk with such conversion of trade proceeds.
10. Flash Crashes and Circuit Breaker
10.1 Coinbase Inc. does not use circuit breakers or automated trading halts based on predetermined price bands. Coinbase Prime may, in its sole discretion, halt trading on the Trading Platform. The Connected Trading Venues may apply circuit breakers, which could lead to disruptions of services provided via Coinbase Prime from time to time.
11. Market Manipulation Prohibited
11.1 Traders are prohibited from directly or indirectly engaging in Market Manipulation on the Trading Platform, including any Market Manipulation that may harm a Connected Trading Venue. 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 Clients;
Artificially control or manipulate the price or trading volume of a Digital Asset; or
Aid, abet, enable, finance, support, or endorse either of the above. This may include actions on, or outside of, the Trading Platform.
11.2 Market Manipulation specifically includes, without limitation: front-running, wash trading, spoofing, layering, churning, and quote stuffing.