Over the Counter

BEQUANT's OTC Services

• 20+ sources of liquidity

• 50+ coins available

• FIAT settlements in USD, EUR, GBP, CHF and more to come

• Diverse banking relationships

• Availability of OTC DeFi strategies, such as lending and borrowing, in a compliant and secure OTC environment

• Multiple external custodians to minimize counterparty risk and provide added security to traders

• Algorithmic execution available to automate trading strategies

• Post-trade settlements

OTC Insight

Since the collapse of FTX, the OTC crypto trading market has accelerated its development. One major development has been the increased scrutiny of centralized exchanges as the main source of liquidity. This has led to a number of changes, such as increased off-exchange settlement based on uncollateralized or partially collateralised trading limits, introduction of atomic swap settlements (similar to DVP settlements in trade-fi) and growth of custody solutions offering off-exchange settlement for CEXes. 

Another trend that has emerged in the OTC crypto trading market is the growth of decentralized exchanges (DEXs), which allow traders to buy and sell cryptocurrencies without the need for a centralized intermediary. Although DEXes offer more transparency, execution costs and usability remain an issue.

In addition to these trends, the OTC crypto trading market has also seen a growing interest in using algorithmic trading strategies and order types that improve cost efficiency and minimize slippage of trading activities along with TCA (trade cost analysis) tools. These technologies can help traders to better understand market conditions and make more informed trading decisions, which can lead to improved profitability and risk management.

Regulatory Environment

The ISDA (International Swaps and Derivatives Association) is working on developing legal standards to support the crypto derivatives market, with input from various stakeholders. The goal is to align the crypto derivatives market with the existing spot market by creating strong legal foundations. They have established the ISDA Digital Assets Legal Group and have published a paper exploring key issues that need to be addressed in any contractual standards for OTC derivatives, including disruption events, valuation, and documentation. 

They are now looking closely at how these disruption events and other specificities of crypto assets should be addressed in contractual standards and how they should be integrated within the existing ISDA documentation architecture. This work is a priority for ISDA this year, and they will be working on standard terms for products that are already traded in the market today. The goal is to promote greater efficiency, deeper liquidity, and reduced risk in this fast-growing market.

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The BEQUANT Team

This document contains information that is confidential and proprietary to Bequant Holding Limited and its affiliates and subsidiaries (the “BEQUANT Group”) and is provided in confidence to the named recipients. The information provided does not constitute investment advice, financial advice, trading advice or any other sort of advice. None of the information on this document constitutes or should be relied on as, a suggestion, offer, or other solicitation to engage in or refrain from engaging in, any purchase, sale, or any other investment-related activity with respect to any transaction. Cryptocurrency investments are volatile and high-risk in nature. Trading cryptocurrencies carries a high level of risk, and may not be suitable for all investors. No part of it may be used, circulated, quoted, or reproduced for distribution beyond the intended recipients and the agencies they represent. If you are not the intended recipient of this document, you are hereby notified that the use, circulation, quoting, or reproducing of this document is strictly prohibited and may be unlawful. This document is being made available for information purposes and shall not form the basis of any contract with the BEQUANT Group. 

Any transaction is subject to a contract and a contract will not exist until formal documentation has been signed and considered passed. Whilst the BEQUANT Group has taken all reasonable care to ensure that all statements of fact or opinions contained herein are true and accurate in all material respects, the BEQUANT Group