In two days, OKX has quickly launched two pre-market trading projects, one is the TON game project Hamster Kombat (hamster) token HMSTR, and the other is the TON ecosystem's popular MEME project DOGS (Telegram Dog).
This is definitely big news in the crypto industry that has been overlooked by many people.
Pre-market trading is a very old niche trading sector in the crypto industry, which allows traders to trade currencies that have not yet been launched. In the past, pre-market trading was mainly over-the-counter trading, with a third party acting as a trusted intermediary to match the two parties' transactions. Even though there are many inconveniences and risks such as double betting and missing orders, the potential high returns in the crypto market make both parties still enjoy it.
In 2023-2024, many star projects entered the final moments of TGE, the market trading enthusiasm was extremely hot, and the demand for pre-market trading increased exponentially. The traditional model has obviously become an "industry pain point". When can the trust problem of over-the-counter trading in the pre-market trading model be completely solved? The liquidity problem? The industry is waiting for an "iPhone moment".
In fact, from DEX to CEX, the 24-year pre-market trading market has entered a "white-hot" competition stage, and the launch of OKX's pre-market trading function is undoubtedly a milestone in the maturity of the market.
From the perspectives of functional professionalism, number of users, trading volume, and market influence, the entry of OKX has undoubtedly fueled "pre-market trading", pushing it from a niche to the mainstream.
We carefully studied the pre-market trading function of OKX and found some interesting things. In addition, we also studied some functions of OKX. From the development history of CEX products, it is indeed very innovative and can be said to provide more professional weapons for trading users.
OKX pre-market trading has three major characteristics, a milestone in the maturity of the segmented track
What exactly is OKX's pre-market trading? We have sorted out some key information. As follows:
1. It is essentially a USDT-based contract;
2. The leverage ratio is 0.01-2 times;
3. Ordinary users have a position limit requirement of 10,000 USD;
4. Only position-by-position mode;
5. The price of tokens traded before the market is determined by the market behavior of buyers and sellers;
6. The pre-market trading tokens on OKX will not necessarily be listed on OKX spot trading after TGE;
7. If the token is listed on OKX coin market after TGE, the settlement will be made before the listing; if not, the contract may be taken offline in advance. The specific settlement will be subject to the announcement.
Looking at these rules, they can be summarized into three major characteristics.
First, the USDT-margined delivery contract.
This is the most interesting part of OKX's pre-market trading function, which is very different from the current more common spot delivery pre-market trading. Traders who have played spot delivery should know that the model can be described in two words: difficult to play. Buying and selling is very inconvenient, liquidity is frustrating, and the spread is large.
The nature of OKX's USDT-margined futures contract makes it almost easy to understand and operate, especially for contract traders. How to play the BTCUSDT-margined contract on OKX is the same as how to play the token operation in pre-market trading.
In addition, buying and selling operations can be performed at any time, which provides an extremely convenient trading method for trading targets with great uncertainty and price fluctuations, and it can better achieve the purpose of optimizing trading strategies.
Second, the rules are conservative.
The maximum leverage is 2x, the position limit is 10,000 USD, and it is position-by-position. This is undoubtedly a compromise after balancing the risks and potential opportunities of pre-market trading. It is very helpful for traders who are not very effective in controlling "risk". Behind the conservativeness is that the risk of traders is more controllable.
Third, there is a price difference between tokens.
The price of tokens on OKX is determined by the market behavior of buyers and sellers, and pre-market trading tokens may be listed on different trading platforms such as DEX or even CEX, but they cannot be smoothed out through third-party arbitrage like post-TGE tokens, and there are price differences on different platforms. This is undoubtedly a risk, but also a potential trading opportunity to rediscover the price of tokens.
Since its official launch on August 5, as of press time on August 8, the trading volume of HMSTR contracts in the past 24 hours was approximately US$40,000; the trading volume of DOGS contracts in the past 24 hours was approximately US$30,000.
It has to be said that compared with the 24-hour trading volume of BTCUSDT contracts of $23.4 billion, pre-market trading is still a "small ant". However, low trading volume should also be a "feature" of pre-market trading at the current stage of development, and it is an unavoidable challenge in the development of this segment.
After an in-depth experience, I believe that the pre-market trading function currently provided by OKX has provided traders with a very "powerful" trading tool in terms of the USDT-margined delivery contract model. For a large number of unlisted tokens, it can also help the market form a price consensus in advance.
OKX's pre-market trading function is simple and easy to use. It is currently the latest advanced version of the pre-market trading function. It is bound to push this trading model into a more mature stage and push the competition in this field into a "white-hot" stage.
At present, what needs to be observed is perhaps which star projects will be launched on OKX in the future, and what the trading volume, trading depth, and number of trading users of these project tokens will be. This will determine who can become the most important trading tool in this market and who can seize more market share.
Test OKX pre-market trading, get started with zero basics, 4 potential opportunities to capture Alpha
To experience the pre-market trading function, you must first upgrade the OKX APP to the latest version 6.78.0. Then directly click on the middle "Trade" and select "Pre-market Trading" in the pop-up dialog box. Or in the "Discover" column, click "Market" and you will see that "Pre-market Trading" is between contracts and options.
As mentioned above, the pre-market trading function of OKX is basically the same as contract and even spot trading, and it is easy to operate. I wanted to share it in more detail, but it is too simple and I feel there is nothing to share.
How to use the pre-market trading function strategically? We have summarized the following after our experience:
1. Participate in hot project transactions in advance.
At present, OKX has launched HMSTR and DOGS within 2 days, both of which are very popular in the TON ecosystem. OKX is very fast in listing tokens, and it is worth paying attention to the newly launched tokens in the future. This is an opportunity to get popular tokens in advance besides airdrops.
2. If you hold relevant tokens airdropped, you can short sell them to lock in profits in advance.
Most of the tokens traded before the market are tokens with clear airdrops. The airdrop shares are estimated, and based on the pre-market trading price, short selling can lock in the airdrop income in advance.
3. Use low liquidity characteristics to increase trading returns.
The price fluctuations of pre-market trading tokens are more obvious, and they are greatly affected by the news of the project. The liquidity is relatively low, and there is an opportunity for re-price discovery in extreme cases.
4. Use pre-market trading prices to predict token prices after TGE.
OKX's pre-market trading has higher liquidity in comparison, so its price discovery ability is stronger, which can be used as a price guide for tokens after TGE to avoid taking over at high prices or selling star coins at low prices in the future.
The potential Alpha opportunities in pre-market trading clearly exist, but this model has low liquidity, price spreads, limited trading participants, especially institutional participants, and is easily affected by news. Prices may not accurately reflect the value of tokens, are highly volatile, and have high trading risks. The author believes that one must fully understand the trading mechanism and the risks involved before participating in the transaction.
Make good use of OKX's innovative trading functions, it will be a "professional weapon" for ordinary traders in the "super cycle"
According to the author's understanding, many traders who have been in the field of crypto trading for many years are still only accustomed to and use the most basic trading operations of CEX, and lack attention to the innovative gameplay of CEX in recent years.
If you pay attention to OKX, its pre-market trading is just "a point" in its expansion of CEX trading functions. It has already launched many explosive innovative functions. And these innovative functions are constantly upgrading with the evolution of the crypto industry, and continue to provide traders with the value of optimizing trading decisions and improving trading experience. If you want to do your work well, you must first sharpen your tools. It is a pity to have good weapons but not know how to use them.
The following two types of functions are worth knowing.
1. Innovative function: "Strategy Trading"
Strategy trading is an automatic trading function that uses advanced mathematical models to replace human subjective judgment, and programmatic trading to assist traders in placing orders intelligently. Looking at OKX's strategy trading, it can be described in three words: diversification. See the table below for details:
Grid strategies: spot grid, contract grid, infinite grid
Average cost: contract martingale (contract DCA), spot martingale (spot DCA), fixed investment strategy
Combination arbitrage: Coin Treasure, Dip Buying, Top Escape, Arbitrage Order
Large order splitting: Iceberg strategy, time-weighted strategy
Signal Trading: Signal Strategies
If you have never been exposed to it, you will definitely feel overwhelmed. Traders must make choices based on their own risk preferences and trading environment, which requires a certain amount of learning time.
Here we take a simple BTC fixed investment strategy as an example. Traders can set the transaction amount, transaction cycle, fixed purchase time, etc., to reduce the risk of emotional trading such as chasing highs. It is very suitable for volatile markets and volatile bull markets.
Compared with strategies obtained through data backtesting and optimization, traders tend to trust themselves more, which may be a psychological challenge for using strategy products. However, the development of the crypto industry is bound to move towards specialization, and we can clearly see this process from the evolution of the above products of OKX.
2. Innovative function of copying orders
Copy trading is a long-standing trading strategy that helps traders "copy" the operations of successful traders. Traders do not need to manually open and close positions (buy and sell) or watch the market. OKX currently provides contract, spot copy trading and strategy copy trading.
Taking the smart copy trading mode as an example, it allows traders to select the maximum copy trading amount and then select the copy trading amount ratio, such as copying 0.02 times the trader's order value. This strengthens the risk control of copy trading, balances benefits and risks, and allows one-click copy trading. There are many more detailed functions for copy trading, which will not be expanded here, but from the experience, these details are extremely important for optimizing trading operations.
In fact, after more than ten years of development, crypto trading products have come to a crossroads where diversified innovations and complex challenges are intertwined, and the entire industry is entering a new stage of development.
Today, CEX is not only facing a confrontation with DEX, but also the pursuit and challenges in terms of security, transparency, compliance, user experience, etc. Even the technological integration of DEX and CEX is bringing unlimited possibilities, and how to serve the massive influx of users in the "crypto super cycle" has also become a challenge. All these factors are driving CEX to innovate and evolve.
OKX's innovation in trading products has not only led the industry in the above process, but is also an aspect of the industry's evolution and upgrading: more professional, more functional, and more convenient to use.
In what areas will CEX compete? In what details will more interesting features emerge? How can CEX empower ordinary traders to acquire the trading capabilities of professional traders?
Looking at OKX, to some extent, it is possible that it, with its constant innovation, will become a "professional weapon" that empowers ordinary traders in the current "super crypto cycle".
Followin reminds: The content of this article is for reference only and only represents the author's views. Please establish correct monetary concepts and investment concepts, look at blockchain rationally, and effectively improve risk awareness.
Disclaimer: The above content is only the author's opinion, does not represent any position of Followin, and does not constitute any investment advice related to Followin.
