Glossary
Definitions for the microstructure terms used across MarketTrace. Plain English explanations, with examples from crypto perpetual futures.
- Order FlowReading price action through executed trades and the resting order book, the umbrella concept that includes CVD, OBI, footprint and liquidations.
- Cumulative Volume Delta (CVD)Aggressive buying versus aggressive selling, summed over time.
- Order Book Imbalance (OBI)Resting bid versus ask pressure on the live limit order book.
- LiquidationForced close of a leveraged crypto position when margin runs out. Mechanics, prevention, and how the price differs across venues.
- Funding RatePeriodic payment between long and short perpetual holders that anchors the perp to spot. 8h on CEX, 1h on Hyperliquid.
- BasisThe gap between a perpetual's price and the spot index, in basis points. Positive means the perp trades above spot; it ties directly to funding.
- Open InterestThe total value of outstanding perpetual contracts, committed capital, not traded volume. Aggregated across 4 venues.
- Conditional OutcomesThe measured base rate of what happened historically after a market condition. History, not predictions. A MarketTrace MCP feature.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP)An open standard connecting AI agents to external tools and data. MarketTrace exposes its market data through the MarketTrace Crypto MCP, a read-only server.
- Footprint ChartTraded volume at every price inside each candle, split into aggressive buys vs sells, where absorption and delta build.
- Volume ProfileVolume traded at each price over a window: the point of control (POC) and value area that mark where trading concentrated.
- VWAPVolume-weighted average price: the fair-value line the market's cost basis is measured against, plus anchored VWAP and bands.
- Perpetual FuturesA futures contract with no expiry, held near spot by funding. The core leveraged instrument MarketTrace tracks.
- Mark Price vs Index PriceThe fair price used for margin and liquidation (mark) versus the spot composite it references (index). The gap is the basis.
- Realized Volatility & ATRHow much price actually moved, annualized (RV), and the Average True Range (ATR) used for stops and sizing.
- Bid–Ask SpreadThe gap between the best bid and the best ask, the immediate cost of crossing the book, in basis points.
- Taker vs MakerAggressive orders that cross the spread (takers) versus resting limit orders (makers). Taker flow is what CVD measures.
- Funding Term StructureFunding across venues at once, whether the whole market pays more to be long, and how venues diverge.