Spot trading on Polyester allows users to trade actual assets.
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All spot trades are executed using uAssets, backed 1:1 by their external-chain counterparts through Zipper.
Where Spot Trading Happens
Spot trading takes place inside the Unified Trading Account, which functions as the margin account for trading.
To place orders, funds must be transferred into the Unified Trading Account from the Funding Account or from Lending. Users can also choose to deposit directly into Trading during the deposit flow.
See Transfer Funds or Depositing to Trading for details.
Markets and Trading Pairs
Each spot market represents a trading pair between two uAssets, such as BTC/USDT or USDC/USDT.
View current trading pairs on the Markets page or in the left pullout menu on a Trading page.
Placing Orders and Fund Reservation
When users place a spot order, the required funds are reserved in their Unified Trading Account.
Reserved funds are soft-locked for the lifetime of the order and released automatically when it fills (partially or fully) or is canceled. While an order is open, reserved funds cannot be transferred or withdrawn.
Trade Execution and Settlement
Orders are matched and executed by PolyEngine, Polyester’s trading engine.
When a trade executes, all parts of the trade are settled atomically. Balances are updated immediately and fees are applied as part of settlement. Execution and settlement occur entirely within the exchange using unified balances.
For more details on how orders are matched and settled, see PolyEngine Matching Engine or PolyEngine Settlement.
Fees in Spot Trading
Spot trading fees are charged when trades execute.
Fees differ based on whether the user is a maker (the order was resting in the order book) or a taker (removing liquidity from the order book). Maker fees are lower than taker fees, and at certain VIP Tiers, makers qualify for maker rebates.
When selling, fees are always paid in the quote asset. When buying, fees may be paid in either the base asset or the quote asset, depending on what the market supports and each user's selected preference.
Full fee schedules, VIP tiers, and fee calculations are detailed on the Trading Fees page.
For example, in BTC/USDT, BTC is the base asset and USDT is the quote asset.
Order Types
Polyester supports a broad set of spot order types, including market, limit, post-only, GTC, IOC, FOK, stop-loss, take-profit, trailing stop, MIT (market-if-touched), LIT (limit-if-touched), and advanced execution types such as TWAP, Ladder, and iceberg orders.
Detailed behavior and usage for each order type is covered on the Order Types page.
Orders, Trade History, and Activity
Users can view their trading activity in multiple places:
- All open orders and full order history across pairs are available on the Orders page
- Pair-specific open orders and order history are also shown directly on each Spot Trading market page
Completed trades for a pair are visible in the Recent Trades section on the Spot Trading page and all completed trades are visible on Polyester Scan.
Speed and Real-Time Market Data
The system operates at microsecond-level latency, enabling rapid order placement, matching, and settlement, and supporting well over X trades per second.
Market data on Polyester is available at multiple levels of detail. Top-of-book pricing (L1), full order book depth (L2), candles, and completed trades update in real time. Individual order-level data (L3) is provided in a delayed form by default.
Highly qualified users who contribute meaningfully to market quality may gain access to real-time L3 data. See the Order Book page for details.