Prices and fees
The tick ladder
Option prices are quoted in micros of the underlying (see
Units) on a ladder with two tick sizes:
| Price | Premium per contract | Tick | Tick value |
Below 30000 (0.03) | $0.00 – $2.95 | 500 | $0.05 |
30000 to 1000000 | $3.00 – $100.00 | 1000 | $0.10 |
A price that is not on the ladder is refused, never rounded. A price of
0 is
valid.Bounds
An option is never worth more than it can pay, and the exchange refuses an order
priced above that:
- A call's price is at most
1000000 − K. - A put's price is at most
K.
A price exactly at the bound is accepted. Nothing else limits the price you
name: there is no price band and no floor at intrinsic value.
The exchange accepts a sell priced below intrinsic value and fills it. The
Hypervolic web client warns before you send one; an order sent directly to the
API gets no warning.
Quantity
An order is for a whole number of contracts, from 1 to 230.
Fees
A fee is charged per fill, on the premium of that fill. The resting order pays
the maker rate and the order that took it pays the taker rate.
- Rates are whole basis points of premium, from 0 up to (not including) 10,000. There are no rebates.
- Each instrument's rates are fixed when it is listed and never change. A new schedule is a new listing.
- Every participant pays the same rates.
- No fill, no fee.
A fee is
premium × rate ÷ 10000, and it is always a whole number of
micro-USDC. One contract at 0.40 ($40.00) at a 50 bps taker rate pays
200000 micro-USDC, $0.20.Each instrument's rates are published in the instrument
catalog.
The fee cap
Every signed order carries
maxFeeBps, the most it agrees to pay, from 0 to 255
bps. The gateway refuses an order whose cap is below either of the
instrument's rates, and the settlement contract refuses any fill above either
side's cap. Since a resting order can end up as maker or taker, set the cap to at
least the higher of the two.Who reserves the fee
- A buy is admitted against its premium at its limit plus the fee at the higher of the two rates. While it rests it holds premium plus the maker fee.
- A sell reserves no fee. Its fee comes out of the premium it receives.