PRE-SALE TOKEN GENERATION EVENT STARTS Q1What is Xtrade? As of September 2017, there are almost 50 standalone cryptocurrency exchanges, facilitating trading in more than 1000 individual markets. Daily trading volume for cryptocurrencies is now equivalent to several billion USD, with a total market cap of over $150 billion. The majority of the trading is concentrated among the top 20 exchanges, denominated in multiple currencies ranging from crypto ones including Bitcoin and Ethereum to sovereign ones such as USD, GBP, JPY, CNY, and KRW, among others. Predictions point to growth toward a $1-2 trillion market capitalization in several years, and a corresponding 1-2% average daily trading volume of $10-$20 billion.
Asset managers are beginning to see increased demand for cryptocurrency exposure in their portfolios, over 70 active funds are being created to enter the market, and the regulatory climate is warming.2 However, the market is nascent, and large spreads are common between exchanges on the same crypto pairs, allowing for ample arbitrage opportunities that don’t exist in more efficient markets.
The inefficiency is a product of cryptocurrency trading markets being highly fractured in terms of execution, account setup, automated access, liquidity, execution speed, pricing, and security.
XTRADE was created by finance and trading professionals to solve those problems by both improving on and consolidating current trading practices
Issues in the Crypto Space
COMPLEX WEB OF EXCHANGES A combination of differing KYC policies, means of funding, interfaces and APIs results in a fragmented patchwork of liquidity for cryptocurrencies. Trading in an automated fashion with full awareness of best pricing and current liquidity necessitates the opening and use of accounts on multiple exchanges, coding to multiple API’s, following varying funding and withdrawal procedures. Once those hurdles are cleared, market participants must convert fiat currency to BTC or ETH and then forward the ETH on to an exchange that may not accept fiat, necessitating yet another transaction to convert back to fiat. Major concerns for market participants range from unmitigated slippage3 and counterparty risk to hacking prevention and liquidity.
HIGH FEES Execution costs are even more of a factor. Typical exchange commissions are in the 0.1% – 0.25% range per transaction (10 to 25 basis points), but the effective fees are much higher when taking into bid and ask spreads maintained by the exchanges. As most exchanges are unregulated, there is generally no central authority or regulator to examine internal exchange orders that separate proprietary activity from customer activity and ensure fair pricing.
THIN LIQUIDITY A large institutional order, representing a sizable percentage of daily volume can move the market for a product, and related products in an exchange by a factor of 5-10%. That means a single order to buy $1,000,000 worth of bitcoin can cost an extra $50,000-$100,000 per transaction given a lack of liquidity if not managed correctly and executed on only one exchange. By way of comparison, similar trades on FX exchanges barely move markets a fraction of a percent; those price changes cost traders money, and deter investment.
The Xtrade SolutionSTAGE 1 – IMPLEMENTATION OF A MULTI EXCHANGE FIX APIThe Financial Information eXchange (FIX) protocol was created in 1992 to serve as the “universal” communication language for international financial transactions. Since all order systems are different, there was a strong need to communicate all executions between brokers, exchanges, mutual funds, investment banks, and direct market access participants using a universal format.
STAGE 2 – LAUNCHING THE XTRADE PRO TRADING PLATFORMMost finance professionals and active traders don’t use web based trading platforms to consume market data and trade. Instead, they use robust, secure, standalone, downloadable applications that allow for fast order entry, immediate execution, advanced charting, and custom order types. Those applications provide customer support including feature development tailored to their customers’ demands. The most successful of these applications become platforms that are used to manage trading across multiple systems and asset classes.
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STAGE 3 – SPA (SINGLE POINT OF ACCESS) LIQUIDITY AGGREGATION/CROSSEXCHANGE EXECUTIONXtrade creates a single unified point of access to aggregate liquidity across exchanges for traders. This aggregation allows traders to clear at the best possible prices while delivering the lowest possible transaction costs as well as atomic swap capability 4 all with just one client-side account.
The Xtrade ProjectRoadmapNew updated roadmap coming.
The Xtrade Token Generation EventXTRD TOKENS Trading fees will be collected through the cryptographic economy, facilitated by the XTRD token. XTRD is an ERC20 compliant utility token generated on the Ethereum blockchain and will be used as a means of payment by trading participants for services provided by Xtrade. XTRD tokens will be created via a token generation event scheduled.
Xtrade will utilize the funds generated form the token generation event to: • Facilitate the creation of the FIX API and Xtrade GUI platforms; • Maintain a large balance sheet allowing for cross-exchange execution with Xtrade SPA; • Make markets in multiple crypto currencies to minimize spreads and increase liquidity for market participants; • Employ legal and compliance teams to ensure regulatory compliance and proactively engage with regulators; • Onboard sales and marketing teams to develop a client base; and • Create a venture arm to seed emerging trading technologies in the crypto execution space deemed complementary to Xtrade’s mission
Token Distribution
Use of Funds
TeamTHE XTRADE.IO TEAM HAS EXTENSIVE EXPERIENCE DEVELOPING SOPHISTICATED TRADING PLATFORMS FROM THE GROUND UP, SPECIALIZING IN MARKET DATA, EXECUTION, CLEARING, COLOCATION, AND ALL FACETS OF HIGH FREQUENCY AND DMA TRADING INFRASTRUCTURE.
XTRADE PRINCIPALS AND ADVISORS HAVE WORKED IN ACTIVE TRADING FIRMS ALL OVER THE WORLD AS WELL AS LARGE FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS SUCH AS GOLDMAN SACHS AND JP MORGAN IN TECHNOLOGY, OPERATIONS, AND SALES ROLES.
IN ADDITION, THE TEAM HAS STRONG ENTREPRENEURIAL EXPERIENCE, HAVING LAUNCHED SUCCESSFUL COMPANIES IN INDUSTRIES RANGING FROM FINANCE TO AI BASED VISUAL ANALYTICS.
