Order Book
A live list of buy and sell orders for a crypto asset on an exchange, showing prices, amounts, and market depth.
An order book is a real-time record of open buy and sell orders for a crypto trading pair on an exchange, such as BTC/USDT. Buy orders, or bids, show how much traders are willing to pay and how much they want to buy. Sell orders, or asks, show the prices and amounts sellers are offering. The highest bid and lowest ask form the current spread, which helps indicate the immediate cost of trading.
Order books matter because they show market depth and liquidity: how easily an asset can be bought or sold without moving the price much. Traders use them to place limit orders, spot large demand or supply areas, and estimate slippage before making a trade. For example, if many sell orders sit just above the current price, a buyer may need to pay higher prices to fill a large order. Like a queue at a marketplace, the best-priced orders are usually matched first.
Other terms in Crypto Trading
Basis Trade
A trading strategy that seeks to profit from the price gap between a crypto asset’s spot price and its futures or perpetual contract price.
Funding Rate
A periodic payment between perpetual futures traders that helps keep the contract price close to the spot market price.
Leverage Trading
Leverage trading is using borrowed funds to open a larger crypto position than your own capital would normally allow.
Limit Order
An order to buy or sell a cryptocurrency only at a specified price or better.