Vertex Guide
You asked, we answered. Insilico Terminal is proud to announce the first of its kind partnership with Vertex Protocol, a Decentralized Derivatives Exchange (DEX).
In a departure from our usual Centralized Exchange focus, we are bringing the comprehensive trading suite of Insilico Terminal to Arbitrum, in the first of its kind crossover venture between trading execution products and decentralized exchange venues. We are very optimistic on the continued growth of Vertex Protocol as an exchange and onchain derivatives in general.
We understand that many of our users may be unfamiliar with onchain derivative exchanges, or even utilizing onchain apps, so we've put together a guide for users, both new and familiar. Soon we will provide you with a full video guide as well.
Onchain basics
The basics of onchain wallet management is very simple: you have your wallet, your funds and the chain that you are on. We recommend Rabby Wallet, but you can also use MetaMask. Good wallet management should also include a hard wallet, we personally recommend Trezor or Gridplus.
If you're withdrawing from a Centralized Exchange (CEX), you will be able to withdraw USDC, USDT or ETH to the Arbitrum Network. This is an Ethereum Layer 2 (L2), where gas fees are cheaper than Ethereum mainnet making onchain derivatives possible. You will still need ETH to execute transactions, so please also send a small amount of ETH, too.
If you have assets on Ethereum, or any other EVM chain (Avax, Optimism), you can use our recommended bridge Synapse, for fast and easy bridging. Make sure you're selecting Arbitrum as your destination chain!
Finally, once you have a small amount of ETH and your preferred collateral assets on Arbitrum, you're ready to trade.
Setting up in the Vertex app
Before starting to trade please make sure to read their documentation: https://vertex-protocol.gitbook.io/docs/getting-started/overview
Onboarding on Vertex is relatively simple: head to Vertex and click "Connect Wallet" in the top right, connect your address and make sure your chain is set to Arbitrum, and run through the checklist that the Vertex website provides you. The only essential ones are depositing and enabling one click trading. Enabling one click trading (1CT) is mandatory for the terminal, so you don't have to sign every single transaction and a CEX like experience can be provided. Also tick the "Remember Me" option when enabling it in Vertex. For more details on 1CT please refer to the Vertex docs.
On Vertex your portfolio is cross-margined by default and you can use a variety of assets as collateral, for example USDC, USDT, wrapped BTC (wBTC) or wrapped ETH (wETH). Although USDC is being used to pay fees you don’t necessarily have to have some deposited - in case you have 0 USDC, vertex will automatically borrow any necessary USDC to facilitate fee payments and it will appear as a negative balance in your portfolio.
Connect the Terminal to your wallet
In the Terminal click on Settings / Accounts / Add Account / Vertex. Here you also find the some useful information and our referral link which we kindly ask you to use: https://app.vertexprotocol.com/portfolio/overview?referral=ZIwHfLgHUR. First, choose a Name for the Account, then click on Connect and sign the PopUp from your wallet. Now your Account is set up and you are ready to trade! Your deposited funds you will be able to see in the Balances component.
Also, you don’t need to keep your wallet connected in the Vertex app or in the Terminal in order to trade with it in the terminal. This means, you can also connect multiple wallets in the Terminal. For this you first have to disconnect the Terminal app from inside your wallet, but we will add a more comfortable wallet connection menu shortly.
Then change your address in your actual wallet. Now you can add a new Account in the Terminal Account menu with this other address. Make sure you repeat the steps from Setting up in the Vertex app: enable one click trading and make a deposit. Then you can freely switch in the Terminal between multiple Vertex connections and your other accounts from the account selection drop down menu.
The connection with your wallet is facilitated from your browser (and not from our server) and it is double encrypted using a key unique to you. We don't store your private key. We don't store anything about you on our servers other than the email+password you login with (which is held with Auth0).
Our Team will never ask you for your Seed Phrase or Private key!
If you use Rabby, be aware of it's function to "flip" your currently active wallet extension:
Fees and Order particularities
There are a few small differences when trading onchain compared to a centralised exchange. The minimum size for placing Limit/Maker orders on Vertex is a bit higher than elsewhere, for example for the BTC-PERP contract it usually is 0.03 btc which is around 2000 USD at current prices. But only for users trading through the terminal Vertex has lowered those minimum size requirements to about 25%. Market/Taker orders don't have this minimum size requirement. In the Orderform, a red colored price will indicate if you are below the minimum Limit order size. Further, there are no reduce only limit orders. So in general you will have to rely more on market and trigger or stop orders, which have the same fees as Limit Orders elsewhere.
Fees on Vertex are really low, 0% maker fee for limit orders, and 2 bps or 0.02% taker fee for market orders. However, with onchain in general and also with ETH L2s there is still a nontrivial flat fee per order. Thus Taker orders will always pay a minimum fee which is calculated using the Min Size value (Vertex' native minimum size for limit orders) if your order's size is below this value. You find the Min Size values and the calculation here: https://vertex-protocol.gitbook.io/docs/basics/perpetual-and-spot-market-specifications . So for example with any BTC-PERP Market/Taker order below Vertex' native Min Size of 0.03 BTC, the Taker order minimum fee will be calculated using these 0.03 BTC - although the minimum size for limit orders in the Terminal has been lowered to 0.008. Please be aware of this if you usually trade smaller size and/or you would like to use order types which execute multiple market orders, like Swarm or TWAP. To make things easier for you, we calculate and display your order fees in the Orderform.
But users also get paid back parts of their fees! Make sure to check out the Vertex reward program and claim your rewards after every epoch!
Market and Trigger order types and their maximum order size are sensitive to your slippage tolerance settings. That's why we have implemented a small Slippage widget in the Orderform for trading on Vertex. By the way, liquidations are based on Vertex' oracle price, not on last price, to prevent liquidation on potential wicks.
Additionally we have implemented a new order type: the Market Scale. In case the minimum size for limit orders would put constraints on your usage of the scale order you can use this new order type instead. Essentially it is the same as the Limit scale order, it just works with stop / trigger orders.
Spot market
Also, we have integrated Vertex spot markets, so you can trade your spots assets there, too! Monitor your assets with the Balances component and utilize the possibilities of Vertex' cross margined portfolio model! Leveraged Spot trading will be rolled out with a coming update.
FAQ
I want to disconnect / change my wallet
Check this section in our docs: https://docs.insilicoterminal.com/documentation/setup/vertex-guide#Connect-the-Terminal-to-your-wallet
Is the connection with my wallet safe?
The connection with your wallet is facilitated from your browser (and not from our server) and it is double encrypted using a key unique to you. We don’t store your private key. We don’t store anything about you on our servers other than the email+password you login with (which is held with Auth0).
How do do I send my funds to Vertex?
Bridge your funds to the Arbitrum network using a bridge app, e.g. https://synapseprotocol.com/ or withdraw from a CEX using the Arbitrum chain. Don’t forget to send a small amount of ETH, too, to cover gas fees. Once you have your funds in your wallet on the Arbitrum chain you can connect to Vertex and deposit the funds into there.
What coins / assets can I use to trade / as collateral?
On Vertex your portfolio is cross-margined by default and you can use a variety of assets as collateral, such as USDC, USDT, wBTC or wETH.
I want to sign up but I get the error pop up about 1CT / One click trading. / Can I use Vertex / the Terminal without 1CT?
One click trading (1CT) is mandatory for the terminal to ensure a CEX like experience. Please enable it, and also tick the “Remember me” option. for more information please see here: https://vertex-protocol.gitbook.io/docs/basics/one-click-trading
Why is my fee so high for my (small) order / why is fee “stuck” / not changing when I modify my order size?
Taker orders will always pay a minimum fee, this is displayed in the fee amount. For more details please see our docs https://docs.insilicoterminal.com/documentation/setup/vertex-guide#fees-and-order-particularities or Vertex’ docs https://vertex-protocol.gitbook.io/docs/basics/perpetual-and-spot-market-specifications
Why is my fee for TWAP, Swarm and Markt Scale so high?
Taker orders will always pay a minimum fee, this means all “child-orders” / sub orders will each pay the minimum fee. For more details please see our docs https://docs.insilicoterminal.com/documentation/setup/vertex-guide#fees-and-order-particularities or Vertex’ docs https://vertex-protocol.gitbook.io/docs/basics/perpetual-and-spot-market-specifications
Oooh, but this is expensive?
With onchain in general and also with ETH L2s there is still a nontrivial flat fee per order, so all Market/Taker orders need to pay this minimum fee.
The minimum size for Limit Orders / Scale Order is so high
Onchain trading is different to a CEX experience. On the native Vertex app the minimum size is higher, only for the Terminal they have lowered the minimum size for Limit Orders to 25%. You can use Trigger-/Stop-Order / the Market Scale instead, the fee is very low with 0.02% which is the same as Limit Orders have elsewhere.
I can’t place reduce Limit orders
Vertex has no reduce-only Limit orders, you will have to rely more on Trigger-/Stop-Orders, which have the same fee as Limit Orders elsewhere (0.02%)
Why is my maximum size for Market Order types lower then expected?
Your Maximum Order on Vertex size depends on your Slippage Setting, please try to adjust your Slippage Slider.
How is liquidation triggered on Vertex?
Liquidations are based on Vertex’ oracle price, not on last price, to prevent liquidation on potential wicks.
Is Vertex liquid enough?
We believe for 99% of the users using the Terminal the front of Orderbook liquidity is large enough for trading majors
Can I see the Fees on other exchanges, too?
Soon
Can I use the Market Scale order type on other exchanges, too?
Soon
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