Scale Orders

Scale Orders Feature Overview

Scale Orders is an advanced trading feature that allows you to create multiple limit orders distributed across a price range, rather than placing a single order at one price point.

Key Benefits

  • Reduced Market Impact: Large orders are broken into smaller pieces to minimize price disruption

  • Improved Fill Rates: Multiple price levels increase the probability of execution

  • Automated DCA: Systematic accumulation or distribution across price ranges

  • Liquidity Provision: Create order grids for market making strategies

  • Risk Distribution: Spread execution risk across multiple price points

Core Concept

Instead of placing one large order at a single price, Scale Orders automatically creates multiple smaller orders spread across a price range. For example:

  • Instead of: 1 order for 10 BTC at $110,000

  • You get: 10 orders of 10 BTC each, spread from $100,500 to $115,000

Key Parameters

Price Range

  • From Price: Starting price for the order ladder (can be percentage or absolute)

  • To Price: Ending price for the order ladder

  • Price Input Modes:

    • Percentage mode: -1% to +1% (relative to current market price)

    • Absolute mode: $49,500 to $50,500 (fixed dollar amounts)

Distribution Controls

  • Price Skew (-1 to +1): Controls where orders are placed (density across limit price range)

    • 0: Even distribution

    • +1: More orders concentrated near the "To Price" (higher price end)

    • -1 More orders concentrated near the "From Price" (lower price end)

  • Size Skew (-1 to +1): Controls how much is allocated to each order (quantity distribution)

    • 0: Equal size for all orders

    • +1: Larger orders at the edges (both from and to price), smaller in the middle

    • -1: Larger orders in the center, smaller at the edges

Visual Representation of Price and Size Skew

Price Skew

Price Skew = -1 (crowded at start):
$99.00 ●●●●●●●●●●
$99.25 ●●●●●●●
$99.50 ●●●●
$99.75 ●●
$101.00 ●

Price Skew = 0 (linear):
$99.00 ●●●●●●●●●●
$99.50 ●●●●●●●●●●
$100.00 ●●●●●●●●●●
$100.50 ●●●●●●●●●●
$101.00 ●●●●●●●●●●

Price Skew = +1 (crowded at end):
$99.00 ●
$99.25 ●●
$99.50 ●●●●
$99.75 ●●●●●●●
$101.00 ●●●●●●●●●●

Important Context:

  • Buy orders: p_from > p_to (descending prices: $99.00 → $99.90)

  • Sell orders: p_from < p_to (ascending prices: $100.10 → $101.00)

Size Skew

Size Skew = 100% (larger sizes at the prices near the 'from' price when you're buying):
Order 1: $99.00 ████████████ (20% of total)
Order 2: $99.25 ████████ (15% of total)
Order 3: $99.50 ██████ (12% of total)
Order 4: $99.75 ████ (8% of total)
Order 5: $101.00 ██ (5% of total)

Size Skew = 0 (uniform distribution):
Order 1: $99.00 ████████████ (20% of total)
Order 2: $99.25 ████████████ (20% of total)
Order 3: $99.50 ████████████ (20% of total)
Order 4: $99.75 ████████████ (20% of total)
Order 5: $101.00 ████████████ (20% of total)

Size Skew = -100 (larger sizes towards the 'to' price when you're buying):
Order 1: $99.00 ██ (5% of total)
Order 2: $99.25 ████ (8% of total)
Order 3: $99.50 ██████ (12% of total)
Order 4: $99.75 ████████ (15% of total)
Order 5: $101.00 ████████████ (20% of total)

Do the opposite when you are selling (so 100% Skew if you want most of the qty sold to be at the limit prices near your market prices, -100% if you most of the quantity sold near the higest limit prices)

The visualizations shows that Size Skew affects the thickness/quantity of each order, while Price Skew affects the spacing/density of orders across the limit price range.

Order Count

  • Number of individual orders to create (1-40 orders)

  • Each order gets a portion of your total quantity

Order Properties

Each generated order inherits:

  • Strategy and execution parameters from the base order

  • Duration and scheduling settings

  • Account and pair specifications

  • Risk management settings (passiveness, discretion, etc.)

Limitations and Considerations

  • Minimum Order Sizes: Each individual order must meet exchange minimum size requirements

  • Maximum Order Count: Limited to a maximum of 40 orders per batch

  • Price Precision: All prices rounded to exchange tick size requirements

  • Capital Requirements: Total quantity must be available in selected accounts

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

  • Insufficient Liquidity: Reduce order count or narrow price range

  • Minimum Size Violations: Increase total quantity or reduce order count

  • Price Range Too Narrow: Widen range to accommodate minimum tick sizes

Error Messages

  • "Need one of the qty fields": Specify either base or quote quantity

  • "order_count must be > 0": Set order count to at least 1

  • "total_qty must be > 0": Specify a positive total quantity

  • "Unable to get price for pair": Verify pair is available on selected exchange

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