1. Frequent Terms & Definitions
|
Term |
Definition |
Formula |
|
Total Margin |
All assets eligible for margin trading (in USD) |
= Wallet Balance + Fixed Earn assets + Unrealized P&L |
|
Margin Used |
Margin used for all current positions in the latest price (in USD) |
= Total position value / Trade leverage |
|
Utilization Rate |
The ratio of margin used in total margin |
= Margin used / Total margin * 100% |
|
Maintenance Margin |
Minimum amount of margin required to maintain the position safety |
= Position value * Maintenance margin ratio |
|
Position Value |
Value of current positions (in USD) |
= All positions * Real-time price |
|
Risk Ratio |
When the risk ratio≥100%, your positions will be in line for liquidation When Total margin≤Maintenance margin, liquidation will be triggered |
= 100% - (Total margin - Maintenance margin) / Max [(Total margin - Unrealized P&L), Total margin] |
|
Risk Level |
Risk level of the user’s account |
Risk ratio = 0%, No positions Risk ratio = (0%，30%), Low risk Risk ratio = [30%，70%), Medium risk Risk ratio = [70%，90%), High risk Risk ratio = [90%，100+%), Extreme risk |
|
Current Leverage |
Used to evaluate the account’s risk. When Current leverage = Liquidation leverage, all positions will be liquidated. |
Current leverage = Total position value / Total margin Liquidation leverage = 1 / Maintenance margin ratio |
Maintenance Margin Ratio
|
Level |
Position (10k USD) |
Maintenance Margin Ratio (Liquidation Call) |
|
1 |
(0, 10] |
2.00% |
|
2 |
(10, 100] |
2.50% |
|
3 |
(100, 250] |
3.00% |
|
4 |
(250, 500] |
4.00% |
|
5 |
Above 500 |
5.00% |
2. Pricing Currencies Supported
WhaleFin spot trading supports USDⓈ, USDT, and BTC as pricing currencies. On WhaleFin, all USD assets, including USDC, PAX, TUSD, and BUSD, will be denominated in USDⓈ .
3. Order Status
Pending: order is standing by and not running. Triggered limit orders will become “running” orders
Running: order is filling but not finished
Insufficient margin: not enough margin for the order to be executed. Order will be paused before margin top-up
Canceling: order is in the process of canceling
Filled: orders that have finished
Canceled: order cancelation process completed
4. Service Fees & Rates
(1) When is the service fee charged?
Service fees are charged after orders are filled in both directions.
Service fee = Execution amount * Service fee rate
(2) How is the service fee charged?
We charge all service fees in USD.
a. When there is enough USD in the user’s account, we will charge USD directly from the account.
b. When there is insufficient USD in the user’s account, we will sell other assets of the user in USD to cover the service fee.
5. Supported Cryptocurrencies & Trading Volume Limits
Cryptocurrencies available for trading and the amount limit of orders
6. Position Limit
(1) Position limit is the maximum number of positions an investor can open. Different position limits apply for different leverage levels; the default position limit is 80,000,000 USD.
|
Leverage Level |
Leverage Multiplier |
Position Limit |
|
1x |
1.0 |
= Default position limits * 1.0 = 80,000,000 USD |
|
2x |
0.9 |
= Default position limits * 0.9 = 72,000,000 USD |
|
3x |
0.8 |
= Default position limits * 0.8 = 64,000,000 USD |
|
4x |
0.7 |
= Default position limits * 0.7 = 56,000,000 USD |
|
5x |
0.6 |
= Default position limits * 0.6 = 48,000,000 USD |
(2) There are also position limits for single trading pairs:
Single trading pair position limit = Default position limit * leverage multiplier * Base liquidity * Quote liquidity
e.g. If the trading pair is ETH/BTC, ETH’s liquidity index as the base is 1.0, BTC’s liquidity index as the quote is 0.8. At the 5x leverage level, the maximum ETH/BTC position limit = 80,000,000 * 0.6 * 1.0 * 0.8 = 24,000,000 USD
7. Liquidity Discount Rate
(1) What is a liquidity discount rate?
WhaleFin operates under the cross margin mode, all eligible currencies will be calculated in USD to determine the total margin level. Since liquidity of different margins varies, the value of each currency is not calculated solely based on the latest quote price. Instead, we introduce the liquidity discount rate to manage potential risks.
e.g. If the user has 1 BTC and 2 ETH in the account:
BTC market price is at 30,000 USD with a liquidity discount rate of 0.9; ETH market price is 2,000 USD with a liquidity discount rate of 0.8.
Total margin (in USD) = 1 BTC * 30,000 * 0.9 + 2 ETH * 2,000 * 0.8 = 30,200 USD
Liquidity discount rate is a factor introduced to reasonably calculate the asset value in terms of risk control, which is usually within the range of [0, 1].
(2) What are open and liquidation discount rates?
Open discount rate calculates the user’s eligible assets for opening positions.
Settlement discount rate calculates the user’s risk ratio and current leverage.
Settlement discount rate is usually higher than the open discount rate, which means it is a safer standard in terms of risk control.
(3) Discount rate details
See the “common” sheet of WhaleFin Online Parameters List for maximum and minimum trading volume.
8. Funding Fee
(1) What is funding fee?
Every leveraged position in margin trading indicates the lending and borrowing of assets. The differences between lending and borrowing interests are calculated as funding fees.
Long BTC/USD means borrowing USD and paying the relevant interests, while lending BTC and getting deposit interest.
Short BTC/USD means borrowing BTC and paying the relevant interests, while lending USD and getting deposit interest.
Since users and platforms are borrowing and lending assets in margin trading, both have to pay interests. The difference between interests on both sides is called “funding fee”.
Therefore, the user may get funding fees or pay them, depending on the difference between the paid interests of the platform and the user.
(2) How to calculate funding fees?
All assets have respective lending and deposit interest rates at any day, so the funding fee is calculated as follows:
Funding fee = Position * Funding fee per position = Position volume * Real-time price * Funding fee ratio
Funding fee ratio = Borrowing interest rate - Deposit interest rate
e.g.
BTC lending interest: 0.300%, deposit interest: 0.200%
USD lending interest: 0.450%, deposit interest: 0.350%
Long BTC/USD funding fee = 1*10000* (0.450% - 0.200%) = 15 USD
Short BTC/USD funding fee = 1*10000* (0.300% - 0.350%) = -5 USD
(3) How is the funding fee settled?
Funding fees are settled every 24 hours at 04:00 of the current time zone. If the funding fee rate is positive upon settlement, the user has to pay the fee; if the rate is negative upon settlement, then the user will get fees.
9. Forced Liquidation
(1) When will forced liquidation happen?
When Total margin≤Maintenance margin, liquidation will be triggered. Therefore, we have two more indicators to evaluate liquidation conditions:
a. When the user’s risk ratio≥100%, liquidation will be triggered
b. When the user’s current leverage≥liquidation leverage, liquidation will be triggered
Risk ratio is correlated with the P&L of the user’s account, and the 100% indicator is applicable to all positions; Current leverage indicator is correlated with the position to total margin ratio, meaning that liquidation leverage level varies between different position values. Therefore, it is recommended for regular users to keep an eye on the risk ratio.
(2) What happens to the remaining assets or insufficient margin after the liquidation?
a. Remaining assets after liquidation will be kept in the user’s account.
b. Insufficient margin after liquidation will be displayed as negative balance, which is subjected to interest repayment and settlement rules.
(3) How is forced liquidation executed?
a. After liquidation is triggered, all spot and margin orders will be canceled and the user’s account will be labeled as “liquidation in progress”. At this time, the user may not place any trade orders.
b. WhaleFin will reconfirm the user’s position risks. If once again the liquidation call is reached, all positions of the user will be liquidated.
c. Position value determines the level of maintenance margin ratio. If the user’s position is above level 1, positions will be reduced to the previous level to check if it has surpassed the current liquidation level. If the liquidation is still triggered at level 1, all positions will be closed.
d. Reducing or liquidating the user’s position will depend on the actual situation in section c. If a partial liquidation is triggered, every position will be reduced accordingly based on the position value to total position value ratio.
e. When position reduction or liquidation is completed, the settlement will continue.
10. Settlement
(1) Why is settlement triggered?
Negative balance resulting from liquidation or other reasons will trigger settlement.
(2) Settlement process
a. Negative balance occurs due to liquidation or other reasons.
b. The settlement system will automatically cover the negative balance, which will be done by selling assets with a positive balance (by the order of USD, USDT, BTC, and ETH; and then other assets in alphabetical order).
c. Available balance in the account will be used to settle in the first place. If the available balance is insufficient, Locked-in Spot will be used to settle the negative balance. WhaleFin will cancel all your spot orders and release the Locked-in Spot.
d. If Locked-in Spot is still insufficient for settlements, Fixed Earn assets will be redeemed and sold to complete the settlement.
e. Settlements will be done in the default currency (USD), which means other assets will be converted to USD to complete the settlements.
11. FAQ
- (1) What are the eligible leverage levels?
WhaleFin supports leverage levels of 1x, 2x, 3x, 4x, and 5x at maximum.
- (2) Can Earn assets be used as collateral?
The user can enable [Cross margin with Earn] to use all Earn assets as collateral for margin trading. Earn assets used for collateral also enjoy the same yields and could be used to hedge the P&L of the margin trading.
- (3) What is “Settle Earn assets”?
When enabled, the user’s Earn assets will also be settled, which means if the user has insufficient balance in the Wallet, Earn assets will be used to complete the settlement.
- (4) What is an auto swap?
WhaleFin accepts USD, USDT, and ETC as the quote currency. However, when auto swap is enabled, the P&L of all positions will be calculated in USD, as it is the default currency.
- (5) What is “negative balance protection”?
When negative balances occur in the user’s account due to settlements, assets with a positive balance will automatically cover the negative balance according to the settlement rules.
- (6) What is “Automatic settlement”?
Open positions for all currency pairs will be automatically settled before funding fees are charged.
When enabled, the “Automatic settlement” function will be switched on for all open positions. Users can switch off this function for a single trading pair.
When disabled, the “Automatic settlement” function will be switched off for all open positions. Users can switch on this function for a single trading pair.
- (7) What happens when [Email notifications] are switched off?
In trade settings, [Email notifications] function is switched on by default. Switching it off will stop receiving trading email notifications (fee deductions, warnings, and liquidation notices not affected).