What Is Nitro Spreads and How to Trade on OKX Nitro Spreads

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Nitro Spreads is an innovative order book for spread trading within the liquidity market, enabling traders to seamlessly execute spread and basis strategies. Spread trading is a powerful technique that capitalizes on price differences—known as spreads—between related financial instruments, typically involving the same underlying asset traded across different markets or contract types.

Traditionally, executing a spread trade required manually placing two separate orders in distinct order books, which introduced execution risk and potential slippage. With Nitro Spreads, OKX streamlines this process into a single-click solution. When you place an order, both legs of the trade are executed simultaneously in equal quantities—or not at all—eliminating legging risk and minimizing price slippage. This advanced functionality supports a range of popular strategies, including funding rate farming, spot-futures carry trades, and calendar rolls.

👉 Discover how one-click spread trading can boost your strategy efficiency

Understanding Spread Trading Mechanics

Spread trading typically involves pairing instruments such as:

A skilled trader profits from temporary price discrepancies between these correlated assets. The strategy involves opening two opposing positions—long on one instrument and short on the other—with equal notional values. These trades are designed to be delta-neutral, meaning they are insulated from directional price movements in the underlying asset.

What Does Delta Neutral Mean?

Delta measures how much an instrument’s price changes relative to the underlying asset. For example, if BTC/USDT spot rises by $1, a BTC/USDT quarterly futures contract should also rise by approximately $1. If a trader holds a long position in one and a short in the other, the gains in one leg offset the losses in the other, resulting in a net-zero delta exposure.

This neutrality protects traders from market volatility while allowing them to profit from convergence or divergence in spreads—making it an attractive strategy for risk-averse or arbitrage-focused investors.

How to Trade on Nitro Spreads: Step-by-Step Guide

  1. Log in to your OKX account and navigate to:
    Trade → Liquidity Market → Nitro Spreads

  2. Select your desired market. Currently supported pairs include:

    • BTC/USDT
    • ETH/USDT

  3. Choose the spread order book you want to trade:

    • Select Bid if you want to buy the spread
    • Select Ask if you want to sell the spread

    The Nitro Spreads grid displays available spreads at a glance.

  4. Once the order book appears, enter your desired:

    • Price
    • Quantity
  5. Click Execute after reviewing your order details

Important Notes:

  • To access the Liquidity Market, you must complete identity verification.
  • If your order price crosses the best available price (bid when buying, ask when selling), it executes immediately.
  • Orders not filled within 7 days are automatically canceled.

👉 Learn how fast execution reduces slippage in spread trading

How to Cancel an Open Order

You can cancel open orders in two ways:

Option 1:

  1. On the Nitro Spreads grid, click the tile showing a number inside a circle—this indicates active orders.
  2. Under Open Orders, select and click Cancel on the order you wish to remove.

Option 2:

  1. Go directly to the Nitro Spreads page and locate the Open Orders section.
  2. Find your order and click Cancel.

Need Immediate Execution?

If you have an open order but want instant execution, use the Send as RFQ option under Open Orders. This sends a request for quotation directly to qualified market makers for immediate pricing and execution—ideal when waiting isn’t an option.

Fee Structure on Nitro Spreads

This pricing model rewards high-volume traders while ensuring fair access for all users.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What assets and instruments are supported on Nitro Spreads?

Currently, Nitro Spreads supports:

Additional tokens and instrument types will be added in the future. Always check the platform for updates.

What spread combinations are available?

Supported spread types include:

Futures currently include quarterly and biquarterly contracts.

The displayed spread price reflects the executed price difference between the two instruments. The far-term instrument’s price minus the near-term instrument’s price determines the spread value.

Instrument ranking from farthest to nearest maturity:
Biquarterly Futures > Quarterly Futures > Perpetuals > Spot

What is BBO Compensation?

BBO (Best Bid Offer) Compensation is a real-time indicator shown beneath the spread price before order placement. It compares the best available price on Nitro Spreads with the implied best price if you executed the same strategy manually in the central order book.

For Bid side:
Implied price = Lowest ask of far-term instrument – Highest bid of near-term instrument

For Ask side:
Implied price = Highest bid of far-term instrument – Lowest ask of near-term instrument

Are Nitro Spreads liquidity and central order books shared?

No. Liquidity on Nitro Spreads is isolated and not shared with individual instrument order books. Orders placed in Nitro Spreads are invisible in the central order book, and vice versa.

Can I trade individual legs after settling a spread?

Yes. After buying or selling a spread on Nitro Spreads, each leg becomes a separate position that can be independently traded in the central order book.

Can I use existing positions or assets as margin for Nitro Spreads trading?

Yes. Since everything operates within the OKX ecosystem, any existing positions in the central order book can be used for margin and trading on Nitro Spreads.

Core Keywords: Nitro Spreads, spread trading, delta neutral, funding rate farming, spot-futures carry trade, calendar roll, OKX trading platform