An introduction to the Bitfinex OTC service

An introduction to the Bitfinex OTC service

Over the counter (OTC) cryptocurrency trading has been growing in popularity since confidence has grown in the market, and more institutions are purchasing Bitcoin. While the exact volume can’t be verified due to the specificities of this market, Bloomberg reported in April 2018 that the daily OTC worldwide market volume was anywhere between US$250 million and US$30 billion. 

Bitfinex’s OTC Trading Services

In response to the growing interest from traders to OTC cryptocurrency trading, Bitfinex has been offering OTC trading services since December 2016. 

For traders looking for easy and instant settlements for large transactions, Bitfinex OTC trading desk is probably one of the best options. This service enables traders to execute large orders without having to go through the public order books and without additional fees or exchange commissions. In addition, these transactions will not affect the market price of the relevant cryptos.  A wide array of trading pairs are available on Bitfinex’s OTC desk, for the traders’ enhanced convenience.

How do you open an OTC trade?

It’s easy to get started, you will need to visit the OTC tab on the main platform page, select ‘Account Info’ and create your OTC nickname. Once completed you can visit the OTC tab again to have access to our OTC trader Bill Brindise contact details. Now you can select your agreed price and discuss how you would like the order to be executed. 

Once accepted, the trade instantly clears into the clients’ account. If a trader would like to clear trade with another Bitfinex user, they simply enter the counterparties OTC nickname and trade detail into the OTC order form, click request trade and wait for the counterparty to accept it.

Although there is no minimum size limit, OTC trading is generally over US$100,000 and we have had OTC trades as high as US$50,000,000. Our usual clients are Hedge Funds, Institutions and High Net Worth individuals but anyone who meets Bitfinex’s eligibility test can use the OTC markets and trade with other Bitfinex users. 

We have recently upgraded the OTC platform and with the launch of Bitfinex Pulse, you will now be able to post markets for other users to see! Stay tuned for more upgrades as well in the near future!

Why choose Bitfinex?

As one of the longest-running exchanges in the cryptocurrency exchange business, Bitfinex has an impeccable track record of providing reliable services to our users as well as the crypto community at large. Compared to the other major exchanges,  recent research conducted by CryptoCompare suggests Bitfinex is the most liquid spot exchange based on order book depth. 

The research revealed that when Bitcoin prices collapsed within mere hours on March 12, 2020, Bitfinex was the one that represented the majority of top-tier exchange trading volume. Furthermore, within the first hour of the crash, Bitfinex generated the most volume among the other major exchanges, which was about US$11.8 million worth of trades per minute whilst remaining fully operational and stable. 

With such persistency, even during the market crash, Bitfinex has attracted major investors to take the leap of faith towards the crypto market. One of our milestones within the first quarter of the year was when we successfully onboarded Fulgur Alpha, a US$280 million Bahamas-based crypto hedge fund to our platform last March. This milestone cemented Bitfinex’s position as the go-to venue for major crypto funds, market makers and arbitrageurs.